ELECTIONS : ASSEMBLY : 5 Incumbents Are Favored in Local Races : Politics: There will be three new faces in the Assembly, however, as two former assemblymen have moved up to the state Senate and one is trying to get there.

By MIKE WARD

Oct. 21, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Challengers to five San Gabriel Valley state Assembly members accuse the incumbents of being soft on crime, weak on the environment and indifferent to the area’s changing needs.

But mostly they accuse them of being incumbents.

South Pasadena Mayor Evelyn Fierro, trying to unseat Republican Richard Mountjoy of Monrovia in the 42nd Assembly District, said voters want change.

“What we’re seeing is a real disdain for incumbents,” the Democratic candidate said. “The atmosphere and climate is there for change. People are fed up with both parties.”

But change has not been the norm in San Gabriel Valley legislative elections. Area voters have not rejected an incumbent member of the Assembly in eight years. Besides Mountjoy, those seeking new terms in November--and solidly favored to win--are William Lancaster (R-Covina), who has been in the Assembly 18 years; Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) and Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park), both completing 12 years in office, and Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), who joined the Legislature four years ago.

Even if all survive the Nov. 6 vote, however, the area is assured of three new Assembly members to replace Democrat Charles M. Calderon and Republican Frank Hill, both of Whittier, who moved up to the state Senate in special elections this year, and Republican Charles W. Bader (R-Pomona), who is giving up his 65th District seat to run for state Senate.

Bader’s former aide, Jim Brulte, is running against Democrat Bob Erwin in the 65th Assembly District, which stretches from Pomona east into San Bernardino County.

Brulte, 34, worked in Washington on the staff of Sen. S. I. Hayakawa, the Republican National Committee and the White House advance team for then-Vice President Bush before becoming Bader’s chief of staff.

Erwin, 47, is a group counselor with the San Bernardino County Probation Department and owns a catering service with his wife, Diane, a Chino councilwoman.

Running as a conservative, Erwin opened his campaign by promising to introduce a state law to make burning the U.S. flag a felony. He supports tough criminal penalties, including capital punishment. Brulte, who also supports the death penalty, has the support of the Police Officers Research Assn. of California, while Erwin is favored by the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs.

The candidates differ on abortion. Erwin supports abortion rights for women; Brulte favors abortion only in cases of rape, incest or endangerment of the mother’s life.

Like Erwin, Gary Neely of Diamond Bar is running as a conservative Democrat as he tries to upset favored Republican Paul V. Horcher, a Diamond Bar councilman, in the 52nd Assembly District. The winner will succeed Hill.

Democrat Xavier Becerra, 32, a deputy state attorney general who lives in Monterey Park, is favored to win the 59th Assembly District seat that was formerly held by Calderon. He is opposed by Republican Leland (Lee) Lieberg, 27, president of Lieberg’s Department Store in Alhambra, and Libertarian Steven Pencall, 30, an engineering technician from Alhambra.

Although Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2 to 1, Lieberg said Becerra doesn’t fit the district. “I think Xavier is too liberal for the district,” Lieberg said. “I think the fact that he moved into this district recently will hurt him. I think his ties to Art Torres will hurt him.”

Becerra, who has lived in the district for about three years, was supported in a tight primary election by Sen. Torres (D-Los Angeles).

Lieberg has sought to make a major issue of his support for completion of the Long Beach (710) Freeway to alleviate traffic congestion through Alhambra. Becerra said, “The idea of completing the freeway has merit,” but he would like to examine other options as well. Pencall said he favors freeway completion by a private company rather than by Caltrans.

The two incumbent Assembly members facing the toughest challenges this election are Mountjoy and Tanner.

Aided by an endorsement from the Sierra Club, Fierro, 41, is running hard against Mountjoy’s record on the environment and has accused him of ignoring the needs of the district.

“This area has been neglected by the state because we haven’t had effective representation,” Fierro said. “The proof is that the San Gabriel Valley has the dirtest air and water, practically, in the nation. I’m not blaming that all on Richard Mountjoy, but certainly he could have made an awful lot of noise about it.”

The candidates differ on abortion, with Mountjoy opposed to abortion with certain exceptions and Fierro in support of abortion rights.

Fierro, a former news producer and writer at KNBC, has served on the South Pasadena City Council since 1988.

Despite low ranking by environmental groups, Mountjoy said he has a strong environmental record. He said he fought against a proposed trash incinerator in Irwindale, opposed a hillside quarry operation in Azusa and voted against funding of aerial spraying of malathion.

Mountjoy said the real issue in the race is crime, not the environment. He has the endorsement of statewide police groups and the backing of the South Pasadena Police Officers Assn., which accused Fierro of being a “strident critic of the Police Department.”

Mountjoy, 58, founded a construction company and served eight years on the Monrovia City Council before gaining a seat in the Legislature by defeating in a primary election a Republican incumbent who had held the office for 32 years.

Also on the ballot is a Libertarian candidate, Scott Fritschler, who lists his occupation as gunsmith.

In the 60th Assembly District, Republican Ron Aguirre, a 27-year-old former administrative analyst with the city of West Covina, is trying to oust Tanner with an anti-crime platform.

Aguirre is getting help from crime victims. Ginny Peterson, who survived an attack by convicted Night Stalker Richard Ramirez, joined Aguirre at a press conference last week to denounce Tanner’s record on crime. Also participating was Collene Campbell, whose son, Scott, and brother, auto racing promotor Mickey Thompson, were murdered in separate incidents. Aguirre said Tanner voted against several measures that would have expanded the use of the death penalty. Tanner said she has supported some death penalty bills and opposed others.

An Aguirre cable television commercial contends that while Tanner was busy sponsoring bills on fishing rights and video games, her district was exploding with crime--drive-by shootings, gang warfare and rampant drug use.

Tanner acknowledged that most of her attention in the Legislature has been devoted to issues other than crime. But she has won the endorsement of statewide law-enforcement groups. She said the measures derided in Aguirre’s commercial were not frivolous but worthwhile bills reaffirming fishing rights in navigable waters and banning alcohol and tobacco ads on video games.

As head of the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, Tanner, 61, has pushed for cleanup of contaminated ground water in the San Gabriel Valley and authored major legislation on hazardous waste.

In the staunchly Republican 41st Assembly District, which covers Glendale and much of Pasadena, Democrats had planned a major assault against Nolan, one of four legislators whose Sacramento offices were searched by the FBI two years ago as part of a corruption investigation.

But although Nolan remains an investigation target, he has never been indicted and the Democratic effort fizzled.

The Democratic nominee, Jeanette Mann, a Pasadena City College trustee, had hoped to gain an infusion of cash from the Democratic Party to blast Nolan on ethics. But, with the ethics issue on hold and her funds dwindling, she has largely folded her campaign into a Democratic effort to ensure a strong turnout for gubernatorial candidate Dianne Feinstein.

Meanwhile, Nolan, 40, who has spent nearly $450,000 this year, has poured his resources into campaign mailings and phone calls to Republicans and Democrats alike. His campaign manager, Jeff Flint, said: “We were geared up for a tough race. It didn’t materialize.”

In the 62nd Assembly District in the eastern part of the San Gabriel Valley, Selma Calnan, 66, is facing the formidable task of trying to oust Lancaster, who has been in the Legislature for 18 years.

Calnan, a former teacher and congressional staff member, is campaigning on women’s issues, particularly reproductive rights. And she is supporting Proposition 131, which would limit legislative terms and reform the system of financing campaigns.

Lancaster, 59, said he wants another term to deal with such tough issues as the budget, water supply and insurance reform. He said he opposes term limitations as an infringement on the right of voters to choose their representatives.

In the 55th Assembly District, which includes part of Pasadena, Republicans have not put forward a candidate to oppose Polanco, who is seeking his third term. The only opposition in the district, where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 3 to 1, comes from a Libertarian candidate, Dale S. Olvera, 66, a retired Los Angeles salesman.

Polanco, 39, is a former legislative aide who was elected to the Assembly in 1986 to succeed Richard Alatorre, who quit to become a Los Angeles city councilman.

Times staff writers Henry Chu, Doug Smith and Tina Griego contributed to this story.

41ST ASSEMBLY DISTRICT The district: parts of Altadena, Glendale, La Canada, Pasadena, L.A. Candidate: Party Jeanette Mann: Democrat Pat Nolan (inc.): Republican Curtis S. Helms: Libertarian David Velasquez: Peace and Freedom

Voter Registration Registered Percent Democrats 61,664 40.55 Republicans 75,355 49.56 Independents 12,304 8.09 Minor Parties * 2,735 1.80 Total 152,058