Off and Running--but Not in the Mainstream : Politics: Candidates short on money but long on offbeat convictions are campaigning in the face of stiff odds.

One wants to wall off the U.S.-Mexico border. Another hopes to throw it open. A third thinks Californians should pack firearms. And a fourth wants to put prisoners to work cleaning up the environment.

Here come the long shots, a motley collection of South Bay state legislative and congressional candidates with next to no campaign money and even less name recognition, but a dogged desire to run.

Ranging from a private nurse to a gun show promoter, they take positions a careful front-runner would avoid--some thought-provoking, some bizarre. However long the odds, though, the would-be dark horses gallop ahead, relentlessly optimistic.

Consider Nate Truman of Gardena, the lone Republican running in a congressional district that stretches from Los Angeles into the heart of the South Bay. Truman, a first-time candidate, doesn’t mind that his opponent in the general election is likely to be Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), a well-organized incumbent.

Nor does he worry that the district, the 35th, is 80% Democratic, the most lopsided party registration advantage among Los Angeles County’s 17 congressional districts. Said Truman: “I’m looking for some crossover votes.”

South Bay long shots can be found in virtually all races and all parties--the Democratic and Republican as well as the Libertarian, American Independent, Green, and Peace and Freedom.

Their proposals are nothing if not diverse.

Consider Joseph Fields, an American Independent in the San Pedro-based 54th Assembly District who proposes to close and wall off the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration.

Fields, a San Pedro resident, successfully sued the owners of the Alpine Village restaurant in Torrance in the mid-1980s after he was evicted from the establishment for showing up at an Oktoberfest celebration wearing a swastika lapel pin.

He now dismisses his use of the Nazi symbol as something that occurred when he was young, and he denies being a Nazi sympathizer. But he goes on to propose that blacks, Anglos and Latinos in the United States should “separate on friendly terms,” moving apart and forming distinct nations.

Asked for details, Fields, who gives his profession as political activist, said: “This is something to be hammered out.”

Contrast that with Libertarian candidate David Rosen in the 27th Senate District, which runs from the Palos Verdes Peninsula to Downey. Rosen recommends throwing open the country’s borders and welcoming all comers.

“We’d say, ‘Come to America, the land of opportunity,’ ” said Rosen, who is attempting to start a word-processing service. “There’s still plenty of room.”

And bring your guns. Clark Hanley of Los Angeles, another Libertarian running in the Inglewood-based 51st Assembly District, says last week’s rioting shows that citizens should be allowed to carry firearms.

Some training in gun use would be required, but those who receive it would be permitted to carry firearms at all times.

“It’s becoming clear to most people that they cannot rely on police to protect them,” said Hanley, an aerospace worker. Asked what types of firearms would be condoned, he said: “Effective ones.”

Meanwhile, Patrick McCoy of Long Beach, a Peace and Freedom candidate in the 27th Senate District, proposes to abolish the Assembly and Senate and replace them with a single house.

Instead of having a representative for each political district, as is currently the case, the new house’s membership would be determined by the proportion of votes each party wins at the polls. A small party receiving just 10% of the vote would control 10% of the seats, for instance.

That, McCoy argues, would help California by making its legislature reflect more parties--and thus more points of view.

“If I had $10 for every time I’ve talked to people who said they’d vote for me if they knew I could get elected, I’d be able to retire early,” he said. “The way things are set up now, it’s an all or nothing game.”

Not all the proposals are so extreme.

Democrat Charlene Richards of Venice, a private nurse running in the coastal 36th Congressional District, wants to level the political playing field by reforming campaign laws. Richards says campaigns should be paid for with public dollars and receive equal amounts of funding, air time and postage.

To weed out crackpots and ensure that incumbents come into contact with voters, Richards would require candidates to personally gather signatures to qualify for the ballot.

“They’d have to go out to the shopping centers and the sidewalks themselves and meet people they don’t know,” Richards said. “They’d have to show some commitment.”

Democrat Colin O’Brien, also running in the 36th Congressional District, recommends forming a rail transit planning consortium that would include Southern California aerospace firms, unions and government agencies. The consortium would encourage the development of the region’s rail system, creating work for high-tech firms hit hard by defense cuts.

And Richard Greene of Marina del Rey--another candidate in the 36th district who, appropriately, is running under the banner of the Green Party--cites restitution by criminals as a key issue in his campaign.

But it’s restitution with a twist. To help cut down on the cost of incarceration and ensure that criminals contribute money to their victims, Greene proposes that convicts be put to work in recycling and pollution cleanup projects.

The bulk of the income earned by inmates doing the environmental work would go to crime victims, with the rest split between the state and a special account for the convict.

“Who better than the people who have despoiled society to clean up places society has despoiled?” said Greene, a self-described environmental educator and attorney. “There’s a quid pro quo there.”

Making such proposals is one thing, delivering them to a large number of voters is another. Here’s where some long shots show true grit, however.

Republican Marleah Sena of Manhattan Beach, a substitute teacher competing in the coastal 53rd Assembly District, says she had saved $1,000 to visit her 89-year-old mother in Baltimore.

Determined to run for office but unlikely to raise much in the way of political donations, she decided to can the trip and use the money to campaign. She has been spending it on such items as district street maps to guide her precinct-walking and the printing of thousands of campaign leaflets.

“I told my mother I wasn’t coming,” Sena said. “I said I feel the state needs a change.”

Her main campaign proposal: to charge people who use local beaches to raise more money for police and fire service.

Then there are the Bullocks, Don L. Bullock, a gun show promoter, and his son, Don J. Bullock, operator of an insurance claims business. Both of Long Beach, they formed a team to run in two districts, the father in the 54th Assembly District and the son in the 27th Senate District.

They have no shortage of issues. Don L. Bullock wants the state restrictions on gun owners repealed. Don J. Bullock, wants to put a five-year moratorium on state regulations and freeze key state taxes to entice businesses to stay in the state. But their main reason for running, apparently, is to campaign together--father and son.

“He and I are very close, and we had always wanted to do something together,” said Don J. Bullock. “This seemed like something important and intriguing to do.”

And it will be done using the world’s oldest forms of campaign advertising. “It’s basically a word-of-mouth situation,” he said.