ELECTIONS : Incumbents Are Expected to Keep Jobs : Politics: New campaign techniques by challengers marked this electoral season, but in only one race is a challenger posing a real threat to a veteran lawmaker.

Tuesday’s election brings to a close a San Gabriel Valley campaign season marked by new environmentalist interest in water politics, the coming of age of cable television advertising and challengers charging--as usual--that incumbents have been around too long.

But despite new campaign techniques by challengers and the statewide movement to limit terms, nearly all of the area’s incumbents are expected to be reelected.

Only one of the area’s legislative contests involving an incumbent--the race between state Sen. Ruben S. Ayala (D-Chino) and his Republican challenger, Assemblyman Charles W. Bader of Pomona--is considered too close to call.

The other incumbents--three state senators, five Assembly members and five congressmen--are considered likely winners even though several challengers have mounted vigorous campaigns.

In addition to the state and federal elections, voters in Alhambra will choose City Council and school board members; voters in La Verne and San Marino will consider tax measures to pay for police and fire protection, and voters in three water districts will pick board members in races enlivened by the participation of environmental groups for the first time.

At least three new state Assembly members will be elected in Tuesday’s balloting, filling two seats that are now vacant and a third that is being given up by Bader in his quest for election to the state Senate.

Bader’s likely successor in the 65th Assembly District, which stretches from Pomona eastward through Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga to Hesperia, is his former chief aide, Jim Brulte of Ontario. Brulte, a mainstream Republican with strong party support, is opposed by conservative Democrat Bob Erwin, a county Probation Department counselor from Chino.

A tough race has developed in the 52nd Assembly District, a seat held by Republican Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier) before he moved up to the Senate in a special election this year.

Hill endorsed Diamond Bar Councilman Paul Horcher at the end of a bitter Republican primary, helping him edge seven other candidates. But the harsh tone of that campaign has hurt Horcher, with three of his Republican primary opponents refusing to endorse him in the general election, and some Republicans organizing against him.

Democrat Gary Neely, a marketing consultant from Diamond Bar, is hoping that the Republican split and his own conservatism will pull enough votes to overcome a Republican registration advantage. But he is being heavily outspent by Horcher, who has put more than $300,000 of his own money into the campaign.

In the 59th Assembly District in the western San Gabriel Valley, Democrat Xavier Becerra, a deputy attorney general from Monterey Park, is running against Leland (Lee) Lieberg, president of an Alhambra department store, and Steven Pencall, an engineering technician from Alhambra. Becerra is favored because Democrats in the district outnumber Republicans 2 to 1.

The seat previously was held by Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier), who in April won a special state Senate election to replace Joseph B. Montoya, who resigned after being convicted on political corruption charges.

Calderon is seeking a full four-year term in the 26th Senate District against the same opponents he defeated in the April special election: Republican Joe Aguilar Urquidi, a businessman, and Libertarian Kim Goldsworthy, a computer programmer.

In the 24th Senate District, where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 3 to 1, Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) is being challenged by Republican Keith F. Marsh, an attorney, and Libertarian David L. Wilson, a carpenter.

Sen. Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield), who won a close election in 1986 in the 16th Senate District, which includes parts of Altadena and Pasadena, is facing a determined, but under-financed, Democratic challenger this time, former Assemblyman Ray Gonzales. Through Oct. 20, Rogers had spent $348,157 on his campaign, compared with $95,767 spent by Gonzales. Also on the ballot is Libertarian Kenneth J. Saurenman, a Pasadena contractor.

By far the most expensive race in the San Gabriel Valley is the 34th Senate District contest between Ayala and Bader. Bader had spent $527,939 and still had $267,143 in cash as of Oct. 20, whereas Ayala had spent $684,230 and had more than $50,000 left for the final days of the campaign. Bader has put much of his money into campaign mailers, whereas Ayala has used a combination of mailers and cable television ads.

Cable television ads are being used by both candidates in the 34th Congressional District, where Rep. Esteban E. Torres (D-La Puente) is facing a strong challenge from Republican John Eastman, a former spokesman for the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.

Other San Gabriel Valley congressional races match Rep. David Dreier (R-La Verne) against Democrat Georgia Houston Webb, a college admissions officer from Claremont, and Libertarian Gail Lightfoot, a public health nurse from San Dimas, in the 33rd Congressional District, and Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park) against Republican Reuben D. Franco, a businessman from Montebello, and Libertarian G. Curtis Feger, a Monterey Park computer systems manager, in the 30th Congressional District.

Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale) is seeking his 10th term in the 22nd Congressional District against Democrat David Bayer, a Burbank educator; Libertarian William H. Wilson, a Pasadena compensation analyst, and Jan B. Tucker, a Toluca Lake private investigator running as the candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party.

Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles) will extend his term in Congress to 30 years if he defeats Republican Steven J. Renshaw, a Los Angeles attorney, and Libertarian Robert H. Scott, a data processing director from Pasadena. Roybal’s 25th Congressional District includes parts of Altadena and Pasadena.

Assembly members Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park), Richard L. Mountjoy (R-Monrovia), Pat Nolan (R-Glendale), Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) and William H. Lancaster (R-Covina) are seeking reelection.

Tanner’s opponent in the 60th Assembly District, Ron Aguirre, a former administrative analyst with the city of West Covina, has sought to label Tanner as “soft on crime,” but she has countered with a strong endorsement of her record from the influential Police Officers Research Assn. of California.

In the 42nd Assembly District, the Democratic nominee, South Pasadena Mayor Evelyn Fierro, has accused Mountjoy of being ineffective, and especially weak on environmental issues. She has been endorsed by the Sierra Club and the California Teachers Assn. Mountjoy has strong backing from statewide police groups and the South Pasadena Police Officers Assn., which labeled Fierro as a “strident critic of the Police Department.” Also on the ballot is Libertarian Scott Fritschler, a San Gabriel gunsmith.

In the 41st Assembly District, Democrat Jeanette Mann, a Pasadena City College trustee, has made Nolan’s involvement with the savings and loan industry a key issue. According to a study by Common Cause, a political watchdog organization, Nolan received $154,000 in campaign contributions from the industry in the 1980s. Nolan sponsored a 1982 bill that eased restrictions on savings and loans, which Mann says paved the way for speculative investments that led to the collapse of a number of savings and loans. Nolan’s bill passed with virtually no opposition in the Legislature and was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Nolan has countered Mann’s efforts with a strong campaign stressing his achievements and endorsements. He has spent more than $450,000 on his reelection bid. Others in the race are Libertarian Curtis S. Helms, a Pasadena registered nurse, and David Velasquez, a Glendale student running as the Peace and Freedom Party candidate.

In the 62nd Assembly District, Democrat Selma D. Calnan, a former teacher, is stressing the need for change in her race against Lancaster, who has been in the Legislature for 18 years. Polanco is without Republican opposition in the 55th Assembly District, but is facing a Libertarian candidate, Dale S. Olvera, a retired salesman.

The Sierra Club and the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters have endorsed candidates in local water district elections for the first time. The elections have taken on new interest because of concern over widespread pollution of ground water.

In the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, Bob Nicholson, board chairman of the San Gabriel Valley Water Co., and Al Wittig, a retired building contractor, are seeking reelection.

Nicholson is opposed by Anthony R. Fellow, a college professor who is endorsed by the Sierra Club.

Wittig has four opponents: Marvin Joe Cichy, an attorney; Patrick F. Hauk, assistant manager of a retail store; Janice Marugg, former executive director of the Monrovia Chamber of Commerce, and William Redcay, Azusa’s water superintendent. Redcay said he supports Wittig and filed as a candidate only in case Wittig had failed to recover from a blood-vessel hemorrhage in the brain he suffered in June. Cichy has the endorsement of environmental groups.

In the San Gabriel Municipal Water District, environmentalists are backing Carol A. Montano against former Azusa City Councilman Donald F. Clark, who has served 20 years on the board without opposition.

In the Three Valleys Municipal Water District, environmentalists are supporting two incumbents, Muriel F. O’Brien of Claremont and Paul E. Stiglich of Diamond Bar, but have made no endorsement in the race between board Chairman William Koch of Pomona and his opponent, Nolie Glover, a Pomona sales account representative.

O’Brien is opposed by Claremont businesswoman Dorothy R. Davis. Stiglich is being challenged by Philip G. Crocker, manager of the San Gabriel County Water District, and Joe McManus, a businessman.

In San Marino, voters will decide whether to retain for four more years a public safety tax that has been in effect since 1982. The tax raises $1.5 million a year for police, fire and paramedic services. The measure is listed on the ballot as Proposition P.

In La Verne, Proposition H is an advisory measure that seeks voter endorsement of a plan to raise $1.2 million a year for emergency services through a fee of $96 per home. City Council members have declared that they will enact the tax only if voters approve.

In Alhambra, Councilman Michael A. Blanco is running for reelection in the 5th district against a candidate he defeated four years ago, Sonia McIntosh, a homemaker.

Five candidates, including incumbent Dora Padilla, are running for two seats on the Alhambra City and High School Districts board. The other candidates are Ronald N. Hirosawa, an assistant principal at Hollenbeck Junior High School in Boyle Heights; Charles C. Ling, director of admissions at Poly Languages Institute in Pasadena; Jeffrey Schwartz, a contractor and business manager, and Sophie E. Wong, a businesswoman with real estate and savings and loan interests.