Assembly Races Yield Split Decision for Wilson Allies

In two Assembly races billed as tests of Gov. Pete Wilson’s brand of pragmatic Republicanism, one Wilson-backed candidate in a Northern California contest appeared headed for victory Tuesday. But in Orange County, a conservative opposed to the governor’s policies upset a Wilson ally.

In the 5th Assembly District in the Sierra foothills near the capital, the governor’s anointed candidate, B. T. Collins, held a healthy lead in the partial returns over fellow Republican Barbara Alby, whose grass-roots campaign tried to tap voter anger at Wilson’s willingness to increase taxes.

But in Orange County’s 67th Assembly District, Orange City Councilman William G. Steiner conceded defeat to conservative activist Mickey Conroy. A onetime Democrat, Steiner, 54, was never formally endorsed by the governor, but one Wilson aide acknowledged the governor’s “quiet involvement” in the campaign.

Conroy, 63, tried to turn his campaign against front-runner Steiner into an anti-tax crusade. Not an officeholder, Conroy is best known for mobilizing a relentless, statewide letter-writing campaign calling for the ouster of Democratic Assemblyman Tom Hayden of Santa Monica because of Hayden’s role as a protester during the Vietnam War.

Wilson aides said the governor was willing to risk embarrassment at the hands of the electorate to send a message to GOP Assembly members who refused to accept tax increases, delaying passage of this year’s budget.

The governor wants the lawmakers to know that “unlike his predecessor, Wilson is going to be active in the primaries next year,” said one of his top advisers.

In both Assembly races, the winners failed to capture more than 50% of the vote and must compete in a runoff in September. Collins will face David M. McCann, a Libertarian, and Conroy will run against Democrat Gregory Robert Ramsay. Some write-in candidates may also qualify for the ballot when results are complete.

Wilson recruited Collins to enter what became a crowded field of eight Republicans and one Libertarian in the race to succeed Republican Tim Leslie of Auburn, who had moved to the state Senate. The governor appeared at Collins fund-raisers and persuaded the Republican National Committee to provide at least $35,000 in Collins’ behalf.

Collins, 50, started out with a decided edge because of his high name identification among voters. He had served three governors in top appointed posts, including chief of staff to Democratic Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. and director of the California Youth Authority under Wilson.

“If I do win this thing I might bring some color into the Republican Party,” Collins, known for his flamboyance and sometimes overly candid statements, said as early returns showed him to be a likely winner.

Alby did her best to make Wilson the issue in her campaign, pointing out that both the governor and his candidate supported abortion rights and that Collins backed the recent increases in sales and income taxes as a way of balancing the state budget.

Alby, 44, is founder and president of the Women’s Lobby, a group organized in opposition to abortion and pornography.

During the campaign, she argued that Wilson and Collins were out of touch with the increasingly conservative bent of voters in the district.

Collins, on the other hand, played heavily on his record as a Marine hero who lost an arm and a leg in Vietnam.

In the Orange County race to replace Republican John Lewis of Orange, who had moved to the Senate, a number of Wilson supporters went to work for Steiner in his race against Conroy, four other Republicans and Democratic candidate Gregory Robert Ramsay.

Times staff writer Dave Lesher in Orange County contributed to this story.