CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS 36TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : GOP Unleashes Feisty Hammock in Determined Bid to Unseat Brown

RIVERSIDE — Ever since he declared himself a conscientious objector during World War II, George Brown has demonstrated a knack for bucking the mood of the moment and doggedly going his own way.

In 1965, he became one of the first members of Congress to raise a voice of protest against the Vietnam War. More recently, he opposed President Ronald Reagan’s military buildup and praised Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale’s proposal to reduce the federal deficit by raising taxes.

There is little doubt about it: George Brown, the rumpled, sleepy-looking congressman from Riverside, remains among the most stalwart liberals in the House of Representatives.

That has not made political survival easy, particularly in a district where Democrats have seen their edge in voter registration steadily slip over the last decade.

Indeed, this year Republicans believe Brown’s time has passed and GOP strategists say the Inland Empire’s 36th District is ripe for a takeover.

To pull off this feat, Republicans have set loose a feisty, 49-year-old challenger named Robert Hammock. A San Bernardino County supervisor since 1976, Hammock boasts name recognition, financial backing and the image of a moderate--a combination that observers say could help him unseat one of California’s most seasoned congressional incumbents this November.

“There’s no question about it in our minds--George Brown is vulnerable,” said David DuBose, a spokesman for the Washington-based National Republican Congressional Committee, which is assisting the Hammock campaign. “This is one of the top five challenger races in the nation, and it’s probably our best shot (to topple a Democratic incumbent) in California.”

Brown, 70, is well aware he’s a marked man, and he’s not crazy about the status.

“They’re writing my obituary,” the congressman grumbled good-naturedly during a recent interview, resting his folded hands on an ample girth as he tilted back in a high-backed, leather chair. “How would you feel? I feel like this is the toughest race I’ve had in a long time and I’m going to have to work very, very hard.”

In fact, Brown has been glancing over his shoulder since 1980. That election year, the congressman got a jolt when his margin of victory--which ranged between 63% and 65% in previous contests--suddenly plummeted to 52% at the hands of an under-funded, Moral Majority-backed Republican who was virtually unknown in political circles.

“It was a big drop, and my staff told me I had become too much of a Washington creature, that I had to work harder and come home more often,” Brown said. “I’ve done that.”

In the meantime, flocks of young families have been pouring into Brown’s district, most of them refugees from soaring home prices in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Many are Democrats, but they can’t be counted on to show loyalty to incumbents they scarcely know.

Many others are Republicans, as evidenced by the voter registration rolls. Two years ago, 55% of the district’s voters were Democrats. Today the figure is under 53%. GOP registration, meanwhile, has grown by about 3%.

Moreover, Brown could be punished by the anti-incumbent mood that seems to have infected a public bombarded with news of the savings and loan crisis, the crushing budget deficit on the federal level and an ongoing corruption scandal in Sacramento.

“It’s a kick-the-(buggers)-out attitude that just won’t stop,” Brown said, acknowledging he is by no means immune to such sentiments. “Anybody but an incumbent--that’s the way most people seem to feel these days.”

Brown, however, is used to dodging such barbs. He has, after all, been a congressman for 26 years.

Born the son of an orange picker near the Imperial County community of Holtville, Brown began his political career in 1954 on the Monterey Park City Council. He went on to serve in the state Assembly and was elected to Congress in 1962. Except for a two-year hiatus caused by an unsuccessful 1970 bid for the U.S. Senate, he has retained his House seat.

With a degree from UCLA in industrial physics, the congressman gravitated toward issues involving science and technology. Pensive, bright and bespectacled, he is a self-described “space nut” and the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Recently, Brown won the 1990 Distinguished Public Service Award from the National Science Foundation.

Early on, Brown developed a reputation as an environmentalist, authoring or co-authoring laws dealing with alternative energy, clean air, global warming and electric vehicle research. On military matters, his voting record has been decidedly with the doves--a reflection, in part, of his Quaker upbringing.

While many Democrats have shed or at least softened their liberal images, Brown has clung to his, remaining committed to the goal that lured him into politics in the first place: the hope of “creating a more just society.”

“I’ve been sort of a prophet of doom, continually pointing to the things that need to be done for the poor, the most handicapped in our world,” Brown said. “It’s your basic Democratic philosophy.”

The Hammock campaign has sought to portray Brown as an aging egghead and peacenik who is oblivious to the day-to-day problems of working folk.

“He is out of touch with the district,” said Hammock, who was prodded to challenge Brown by Rep. Jerry Lewis, a Republican who represents the neighboring district. “We’ve got people on the streets here, we’ve got poverty and crime and drugs--real problems. And George is tinkering around on the space committee.”

The challenger--who hopes to match the $1 million his opponent may spend on the campaign--is also critical of Brown’s opposition to the Reagan-led military buildup: “If George Brown’s defense votes had become law, Saddam Hussein might have gotten to Des Moines, Iowa, by now.”

Hammock, who served on the San Bernardino City Council for seven years before becoming a county supervisor, believes he is an alternative voters are ready for.

Tanned, fit and handsomely coiffed, Hammock looks like a go-getter and fidgets nervously during an interview. A one-time gas station owner who quit college to support three young children, Hammock has yet to articulate a detailed platform. But he talks mostly about law and order, the war on drugs and the need to restore “sanity” to the federal budget process.

“I think your congressman can do more than vote, buy a house in Virginia and act as a caretaker,” said Hammock, who envisions himself as a Jack Kemp-style Republican. “I want to be a leader. I believe I can come back to this district in four or five years . . . and people will tell me I’ve made a difference.”

Both sides have gotten help from some big names. Vice President Dan Quayle has stumped for Hammock, and campaign staffers say other Cabinet members--and perhaps even President Bush--may do the same.

Brown is being aided by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has rounded up support for the incumbent from actor-turned-environmentalist Robert Redford, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin and other notables.

The committee also has filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee, charging that Hammock failed to fully report information on financial disclosure statements as required by law. Among other things, the complaint alleges that Hammock did not report his interests in a beachfront townhouse and in two commercial buildings in Banning.

Hammock, who labeled the complaint “a political trick,” said he voluntarily reported his interest in the beach house property in a supplemental filing 13 days after his initial statement. He did not disclose the Banning properties, he said, because they are held in trust for his three children.

Brown says he remains confident he will be elected to another term. If not, he said, “my ego will be shattered and I’ll look for something else to do.”