ELECTIONS: ASSEMBLY : Rival’s Chances Fade as Inquiry Clears Moore

Running in a solidly Democratic district with scant campaign cash, Republican challenger Eric Givens has often said incumbent Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles) would have to be indicted in order for him to win.

That possibility died Tuesday, when federal officials announced that Moore--scrutinized for more than two years as part of an investigation into political corruption in Sacramento--was cleared of wrongdoing.

For Givens, it’s back to the political drawing board. After hearing of Tuesday’s announcement, the 33-year-old home builder said: “I guess we’ll just have to wait to see what 1992 brings.”

Moore’s political territory, the 49th District, is one of two Assembly districts covering the northern portion of the South Bay. The other, the even more solidly Democratic 50th District, promises less competition than Moore’s in the Nov. 6 general election.

The 50th District incumbent, Curtis R. Tucker Jr. (D-Inglewood), drew no Republican opposition. His sole challenger, Peace and Freedom Party candidate Michael L. Long, has done virtually no campaigning and says his only reason for running is that no one else would enter the race.

Asked how he plans to reach voters, Long said simply: “Word of mouth. That’s about it.”

In the 49th District, Moore, 49, is attempting to win a seventh term representing residents of Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey, Westchester, Culver City, Ladera Heights, Baldwin Hills and the Crenshaw area.

Since 1988, she has lived in the shadow of the Capitol corruption investigation, which this year has resulted in the convictions of two elected officials and the indictments of a former Moore aide and a onetime lobbyist.

Unwittingly, Moore carried two bills for a bogus shrimp company set up by the FBI as part of an intricate sting operation. The dummy company had contributed money to her campaign committee.

The two elected officials, state Sen. Joseph Montoya (D-Whittier) and state Board of Equalization member Paul Carpenter, a former Democratic state senator from Norwalk, were convicted on extortion and racketeering charges for taking money in exchange for helping to move Moore’s bills through the Legislature.

Moore, who is well-liked in Sacramento and generally given high marks for constituent service, has consistently denied wrongdoing and predicted that the investigation would not hurt her politically.

She says voters have judged her on her legislative performance, which this year included the enactment of measures to curb loan swindles against homeowners and to prohibit the transport of food in trucks used on other occasions to transport garbage.

“People evaluate me on the basis of my record, and they know I wouldn’t do anything illegal,” Moore said.

Listed on the ballot opposing Moore will be Givens, Libertarian Carin Rogers and Peace and Freedom Party member Alice Mae Miles, who said this week that she has dropped out of the race.

None of the challengers had raised $1,000 in the first nine months of the year, according to recent campaign finance reports. By contrast, Moore reported $93,150 in contributions during the same period.

Givens, whom Moore beat in 1988 by a ratio of more than 3 to 1, says his main priority as assemblyman would be to combat the severe unemployment and high school dropout rates plaguing minorities in his district.

Such problems can be solved, he says, if political leaders and residents involve themselves more deeply in community programs and if government offers special tax incentives to attract businesses to minority areas.

Even before Moore was cleared, Givens had admitted that his chances of an upset victory this year were slim. But he says he hopes that his 1988 and 1990 campaigns will position him for a successful run for the Assembly should Moore seek higher office in the future.

“That’s what I’ve been looking at,” Givens said. “I think I would have a real good shot at it if it was for an open seat.”

Rogers, the Libertarian challenger, says her main campaign proposal is to create a system under which Californians can decide how their tax dollars are spent by earmarking their tax returns.

Like Givens, she acknowledges that her chances of victory are remote.

“I don’t expect to win,” said Rogers, 41, a sound effects editor for the television show “Quantum Leap.” “I just consider myself a citizen upset with the status quo.”

In the 50th District, Curtis Tucker Jr. is running for continued control of political territory spanning Inglewood, El Segundo, Lennox, parts of South-Central Los Angeles and Westchester.

Tucker, 36, won his seat in a special election in February, 1989, four months after his father, a 14-year Assembly incumbent, died in office. Although Tucker is waging his first reelection campaign, he seems solidly entrenched in office.

The freshman legislator has worked hard to consolidate the local political base he inherited from his father. Since taking office, he has made frequent community appearances, ranging from an El Segundo rally against the expansion of the Hyperion sewage plant to a march aimed at sparing an Inglewood Little League baseball diamond from development.

His first-term legislative efforts included bills to ban the bulk use of toxic hydrofluoric acid in densely populated areas and to create a state office of minority health affairs.

The hydrofluoric acid measure, which would would have forced refineries and other plants using the chemical to switch to substitutes or relocate, failed in committee. The health bill, intended to improve health care for minorities, cleared the Legislature but was vetoed by Gov. George Deukmejian.

Tucker says he plans to introduce both measures again next year. In the meantime, he will continue keeping in close touch with his district, he says.

“I have not changed my routine since Day One,” Tucker said. “I will continue to go to everything and see everyone I can.”

Long, the challenger from the Peace and Freedom Party, declined to evaluate Tucker’s record, saying he is not familiar with it. He said his purpose is simply to offer an alternative.

“I’m running because other than me, there wasn’t going to be anybody (challenging Tucker),” said Long, a 38-year-old mail clerk. “It’s to give voters an alternative.”

49TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT

Candidate Party Gwen Moore (inc.) Democrat Eric Givens Republican Carin Rogers Libertarian Alice Mae Miles Peace and Freedom

Voter Registration Registered Percent Democrat 111,021 72.4% Republican 28,119 18.4 Independent 11,228 7.3 Minor parties* 2,875 1.9 Total 153,243

* American Independent, Peace and Freedom, Libertarian and miscellaneous

1988 Results Votes Percent Gwen Moore (D) 83,307 76.7% Eric Givens (R) 25,322 23.3

50TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT

Candidate Party Curtis R. Tucker Jr. (inc.) Democrat Michael L. Long Republican

Voter Registration Registered Percent Democrat 100,890 76.5% Republican 21,127 16.0 Independent 7,549 5.7 Minor parties* 2,378 1.8 Total 131,944

* American Independent, Peace and Freedom, Libertarian and miscellaneous

1989 Special Election Results Votes Percent Curtis R. Tucker Jr. (D) 12,533 70.8% Mike Davis (R) 3,409 19.3 Lois Hill-Hale (D) 1,147 6.5 Carl McGill (D) 417 2.3 Roderick Wright (D) 193 1.1 Total 17,699