CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / ASSEMBLY : Favorites Emerge in 4 Races Left Wide Open by Lack of Incumbents

On paper, the races for four state Assembly seats in the Southeast area had the makings of Pier 6 brawls.

Veteran incumbents decided to abandon Assembly seats in the 48th, 52nd, 58th and 59th districts to seek greener pastures in the state Senate or Congress, creating the potential for wide-open contests.

But strong favorites, buoyed by huge advantages in party registration and fund raising, have emerged in each district and are expected to roll to victory in the Nov. 6 election.

Republican candidates are expected to capture the 52nd and 58th districts, while Democrats appear to be shoo-ins in the 48th and 59th districts.

In one of the scrappier races, Republican Thomas J. Mays is trying to hold off Democrat Luanne Pryor for the 58th District seat vacated by Dennis Brown (R-Los Alamitos), who departed after six terms to become a minister.

Mays, mayor of Huntington Beach, holds the edge in a district in which 50% of the registered voters are Republicans and 39% are Democrats. The district includes parts of Long Beach and Huntington Beach, and all of Seal Beach, Signal Hill and Santa Catalina Island.

Mays expects to spend about twice as much as Pryor, a longtime community activist in Long Beach who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of that city two years ago. Mays has raised $215,215, to Pryor’s $56,095, according to campaign disclosure statements.

But Pryor said she’s not dissuaded by the financial disparity. “I don’t think this is a race that will be won by money,” she said. “I think it’s a race that will be won by people.”

Pryor has focused on two issues: abortion and the environment.

She supports the right of women to have abortions, while Mays wants to limit abortions to instances of rape, incest, or when a woman’s life is endangered by pregnancy.

Pryor also maintains that developers have been allowed to overbuild in the district and calls for more controlled growth. She accuses Mays of being too close to developers.

Mays defends his environmental record, pointing to his opposition to offshore drilling and malathion spraying. But Mays emphasized that California must create a better environment for business or risk losing thousands of jobs.

The state must “allow the business community to operate without overregulation,” Mays said.

Pryor has also campaigned for gun control. “I think the spectacle of children shooting children is something any officeholder would have to be horrified by,” she said.

Mays said he opposes gun control because “it doesn’t work” and is an infringement on the right of ordinary citizens to defend themselves.

Pryor has also promised to fight for more public education money.

Mays said almost all issues--including crime, education and the environment--are ultimately linked with the overall state of the economy, which he pledges to improve.

“Basically the quality of life is the key issue for our district,” he said. “My main focus is cooperation between the public and private sectors to help find solutions to all the problems that face us.”

A third candidate, Libertarian Scott Stier, has said he will raise and spend less than $1,000 on his campaign.

In the 52nd District, Republican candidate Paul V. Horcher is still working to unify party locals after a vicious primary. But Horcher is considered the favorite over Democrat Gary Neely because the district’s registration is 48.1% Republican and 42% Democrat.

Horcher is also expecting to outspend Neely by a large margin. Horcher has raised $342,794, which includes a $237,000 loan he made to his own campaign, according to campaign disclosure statements. Neely has received $22,586 in contributions.

“I don’t think my opponent has put on much of a campaign,” said Horcher, 39, a lawyer and Diamond Bar councilman.

Neely, 41, is pinning his hopes on a considerable crossover vote, and on winning over the more than 9% of the district’s voters who do not belong to either major party. “It’s going to hinge on those crossover Republican votes,” said Neely, a Diamond Bar marketing consultant.

The 52nd District stretches from La Mirada and Whittier into the San Gabriel Valley, including Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Walnut, Diamond Bar and part of West Covina. The seat was vacated when Frank Hill (R-Whittier) was elected to the state Senate.

Two loosely organized groups of Republicans have opposed Horcher. One is campaigning directly for Neely, while members of the other group are asking Republicans not to vote for Horcher, spokeswomen for the groups said.

They attack Horcher for “flip-flopping” on various issues, including abortion. Horcher discounted the threat, saying the groups have little support. “They’re just two people,” Horcher said.

But Neely said his campaign is picking up support from Republican voters. Neely has labeled himself a conservative Democrat, pointing to his support of the death penalty and of Proposition 136, which requires two-thirds voter approval for all special tax increases.

Horcher countered that Neely’s conservative demeanor is just a campaign ploy to win votes.

Horcher is stressing that he favors abortion rights. He is also depicting himself as an environmentalist, citing his endorsement by the group Californians Against Waste, a Sacramento-based political action committee that advocates recycling.

But Neely, just as the maverick Republican groups are doing, is accusing Horcher of flip-flopping. Horcher has strongly opposed publicly funded abortions, but he recently modified his position and said he fully supports state funding of abortions for the poor.

“I’ve heard a lot of good arguments,” he said. “My mind is not closed on that issue. I’ve gotten a lot of lobbying on that issue from both sides.”

He denied that he ever opposed public funding.

In addition, a local Sierra Club official, Emil Lawton, said Horcher may have intentionally misstated his position on environmental issues to receive the club’s endorsement.

Lawton said he recommended that Horcher receive the endorsement last month because Horcher appeared to be against Proposition 138, a timber industry-backed initiative strongly opposed by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups. However, there were not enough votes on the club’s political committee to endorse Horcher.

Lawton said he found out later that Horcher actually favors the proposition.

Horcher said he never meant to mislead the Sierra Club, and he telephoned Lawton to clarify his position.

He added that he reluctantly will vote for 138, although he believes that it does not go far enough in protecting forests.

While Republicans are favored in the 58th and 52nd districts, the political tide changes in the 59th District, where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one. Democrat Xavier Becerra, 32, finds himself a heavy favorite over Republican Lee Lieberg, 27.

“People tell me I should be in Hawaii and fly back on Nov. 7,” said Becerra, who upset the two top contenders in the primary and is expected to easily win the Assembly seat held by Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier) before he moved up to the state Senate.

The district includes Alhambra, Monterey Park, Montebello, Pico Rivera, South El Monte, part of Whittier and small parts of the City of Industry and Rosemead.

Citing the overwhelming Democratic majority in the district, Lieberg--president of Lieberg’s department store in Alhambra--said he has had a tough time raising money.

“The bottom line is that money is tight, and people will find a million reasons not to give it to you,” Lieberg said.

Campaign statements show Becerra’s war chest is considerably deeper than Lieberg’s. Becerra has $219,228, while Lieberg gathered $14,910.

Despite long odds and low funds, Lieberg said he is not giving up: “I think Xavier is too liberal for this district. I think his ties to Art Torres will hurt him.”

Becerra, a deputy attorney general who has lived in the district about three years, is supported by state Sen. Torres (D-Los Angeles), who has opposed the completion of the northbound Long Beach Freeway, which comes to an abrupt end at Valley Boulevard in Alhambra.

Lieberg said he supports the completion of the freeway into South Pasadena as a way to alleviate traffic congestion in Alhambra.

Becerra said the “idea of completing the freeway has merit. What I’ve been told is that there is no better alternative.”

But, he said, he would also like to examine other possibilities.

Among the other issues cited by both candidates are ground-water contamination in Monterey Park, land use in all cities, crime and education.

Libertarian candidate Steven Pencall, 30, of Alhambra said his goal is to “just widen the knowledge of and support for the Libertarian Party in the 59th District.” Pencall has said he will raise and spend less than $1,000 on his campaign.

Voters in the 48th District are also expected to elect a Democrat, Marguerite Archie-Hudson, who won an unexpectedly easy primary over Los Angeles City Councilman Robert Farrell and three other candidates.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans, 8 to 1, in the district, which includes Lynwood, South Gate and South-Central Los Angeles.

Republican Gloria A. Salazar and Libertarian Jose Castaneda are the other candidates.

Archie-Hudson has the endorsement of the California Democratic Party, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and powerful Assemblywoman Maxine Waters, who held the seat for 14 years. Waters is running to succeed retiring Rep. Augustus F. Hawkins (D-Los Angeles) in the 29th Congressional District.

Archie-Hudson, the former Southern California chief of staff for Brown, said she is also sharing campaign headquarters with Waters to reduce costs.

Archie-Hudson, 52, said she does not see her role as “filling the shoes of Maxine, but picking up the responsibility of leadership and carrying it forward.”

In addition to endorsements from political heavyweights, Archie-Hudson has a large war chest. She has raised more than $200,000. Salazar and Castaneda have both said they will not raise or spend more than $1,000.

However, Archie-Hudson said, she is not taking anything for granted. She has been walking precincts, appearing before community groups and area churches.

Archie-Hudson said she wants to support programs that stress job training, economic development, upgrading housing and transportation and improvements in public schools.

Salazar, 41, said providing quality education is also the major issue facing the district. She sees a need for more science and math in the schools.

An auditor in the attendance office for the Lynwood Unified School District, Salazar has never held elective office. She ran unsuccessfully for the Lynwood school board eight years ago.

Castaneda could not be reached for comment.

Times staff writers Irene Chang, Tina Griego, David Haldane and Lee Harris contributed to this story.

58TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT The district: Signal Hill, part of Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, Catalina Island.

Candidate: Party Luanne Pryor: Democrat Thomas J. Mays: Republican

Voter Registration Registered Percent Democrats 69,215 38.6% Republicans 90,297 50.4 Declined to State 15,907 8.9 Minor Parties* 3,775 2.1 Total 179,194

1988 Results Votes Percent Dennis Brown (R) (inc.) 86,096 62.5% Andrew Kincaid (D) 45,763 33.2 Richard Green (P&F;) 3,296 2.4 Scott Stier (Lib) 2,567 1.9

* American Independent, Peace and Freedom, Libertarian and miscellaneous 52ND ASSEMBLY DISTRICT The district: La Habra Heights, La Mirada, Whittier, Hacienda Heights, Diamond Bar, Rowland Heights, Walnut, West Covina.

Candidate: Party Gary Neely: Democrat Paul V. Horcher: Republican

Voter Registration Registered Percent Democrats 66,298 42.0% Republicans 75,918 48.1 Declined to State 12,848 8.1 Minor Parties* 2,869 1.8 Total 157,933

1988 Results Votes Percent Frank Hill (R) (inc.) 73,665 63.4% Terry Lee Perkins (D) 42,468 36.6

* American Independent, Peace and Freedom, Libertarian and miscellaneous 59TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT The district: Montebello, Pico Rivera, part of Whittier, Alhambra, Monterey Park, South El Monte, City of Industry, El Monte, part of South San Gabriel.

Candidate: Party Xavier Becerra: Democrat Leland Lieberg: Republican

Voter Registration Registered Percent Democrats 74,742 61.4% Republicans 34,646 28.5 Decline to State 10,091 8.3 Minor Parties* 2,231 1.8 Total 121,710

1988 Results Votes Percent Charles Calderon (D) (inc.) 67,925 86.5% Steven Pencall (Lib) 10,608 13.5

* American Independent, Peace and Freedom, Libertarian and miscellaneous 48TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT The district: Lynwood, South Gate, Walnut Park, Watts, part of Los Angeles.

Candidate: Party Marguerite Archie-Hudson: Democrat Gloria Salazar: Republican

Voter Registration Registered Percent Democrats 86,830 83.2% Republicans 10,348 9.9 Declined to State 4,846 4.6 Minor Parties* 2,297 2.2

Total 104,321 1988 Results Votes Percent Maxine Waters (D) (inc.) 49,946 100%

* American Independent, Peace and Freedom, Libertarian and miscellaneous