CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS ’92 : CONGRESS / 36TH DISTRICT : GOP Heavy-Hitters : 3 Names--Beverly, Flores, Reagan--Pack a Political Punch

Design a congressional district for Republican candidates and it might resemble Los Angeles County’s 36th, a largely coastal constituency ranging from middle-class meat and potatoes to upscale white wine and quiche.

No wonder the new South Bay-based district’s open seat has drawn an 11-member GOP field led by Maureen Reagan, daughter of former President Ronald Reagan; William Beverly, son of state Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach), and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores.

Democrats in the 36th are also waging a lively, well-populated primary campaign. But the Republican contest is stirring far broader interest, given a shootout featuring the likes of Beverly, Flores and Reagan and district voter registration favoring a GOP general election victory.

Not only do those three names pack a political punch, their owners represent divergent currents within the state GOP on such “hot button” issues as abortion. Their clash in the June 2 primary, experts say, will tell a lot about the leanings of California Republicans on the eve of the presidential election and nearly midway through the term of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.

“Beverly and to some degree Maureen Reagan reflect moderate views within the party, and then you have Joan Flores, who is Madonna to the GOP’s conservative wing,” said H. Eric Schockman, a USC political science professor. “I’m looking at the 36th as a bellwether that will help tell where the heart and soul of the California GOP will be going.”

The district, a major center of aerospace jobs and seaside recreation, follows the coast from San Pedro to Venice, taking in turf that includes the Palos Verdes Peninsula, South Bay beach cities, Torrance, Lawndale, Lomita, Westchester and Marina del Rey.

Party registration is 46% Republican and 42% Democratic, a margin magnified at the polls by the tendency of Republicans to turn out more strongly than Democrats and to show more loyalty to their party’s candidates.

Some experts say a well-financed, moderate Democrat might be able to carry the 36th District in a general election clash with a right-wing Republican, but most believe that demographics heavily favor the GOP. Alan Heslop, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, said: “Whoever wins the Republican primary will be the next congressman.”

That raises the stakes in the Republican race--a contest looming large thanks to its trio of big-name front-runners. Of the three, Maureen Reagan, 51, a former talk show host and Republican National Committee co-chairwoman, caused the biggest stir when she announced for the seat in February.

Reagan lost badly in California’s GOP primary for the U.S. Senate in 1982, undermined by reports that her father did not want her in the race. This time she has made sure the Great Communicator is solidly--and publicly--on board. The former President endorsed her early on, has helped her raise more than $250,000 in campaign money--tops in the GOP field--and plans to preside today with Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Jack Kemp, at a Memorial Day picnic for her in Redondo Beach.

Opponents charge that Reagan, a product of Ronald Reagan’s eight-year marriage in the 1940s to actress Jane Wyman, is using her name to win in a district that she does not know and that does not fully know her. They cite differences between father and daughter--her support for abortion rights and the proposed Equal Rights Amendment--and point out that she moved to the district only this year, shifting residence from West Los Angeles to Westchester.

Reagan admits disagreeing with her father on some issues but both insist that this does not undermine his support for her. In a statement issued last week, the former President said: “No one can expect two people to agree on every single subject,” asserting that “the more important issue” is that his daughter shares his agenda of business incentives and limited government.

Though the other Republicans in the race favor that approach, the elder Reagan made clear that Maureen is his choice in the primary. “I’m excited about her campaign and think she is the best person for the job,” he said.

Maureen Reagan cites her experience as a member of the California World Trade Commission from 1983 to 1985, chairwoman of the U.S. delegation to the 1985 U.N. World Conference for Women in Nairobi, Kenya, and her stint from 1987 to 1989 as co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.

She also bridles at the portrayal of her as an out-of-touch outsider, addressing the subject during a visit last month to Chadwick School, a private school on the Palos Verdes Peninsula where she boarded in grades three through seven.

“I’m not an extraterrestrial,” Reagan said at one point, gazing down a sun-splashed campus walkway. “I remember in 1949 walking right down here to the dining hall and a teacher with a newspaper stopped me and said: ‘Your mother won an Academy Award!’ Everything I am started right here on this hill.”

But rival Flores asserts that what started on the hill was a career long on privilege and short on genuine personal achievement. Flores, an 11-year councilwoman who started out as a City Hall stenographer, pressed the point in a hard-hitting mailing that was scheduled to go out late last week.

Titled “What’s in a Name,” it includes a letter from right-wing Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), a former speech writer in the Reagan White House, that calls Flores the “real Reagan Republican” in the race and bluntly questions Maureen Reagan’s qualifications.

“There is nothing in her background to indicate that she has the skills, experience or commitment to carry on President Reagan’s legacy,” says the message from Rohrabacher, who represents much of the 36th but is running for reelection in a new Orange County district. “In fact, on several key issues Maureen opposes the fundamental principles for which her father stood.”

In an interview last week, Rohrabacher charged: “In the infighting that went on in the Reagan Administration, (Maureen) was constantly siding with people who opposed her father’s nomination in the first place. The Reaganites in the White House always knew she was in the enemy camp.”

Flores, who supports government curbs on abortion and did not approve of the Equal Rights Amendment, also has the endorsement of conservative Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), the congressman from 1976 to 1982 for virtually all of what is now the 36th District.

Flores asserts that her main asset is that she is the only candidate with a substantial track record in government. Although all her chief rivals favor enterprise zones and holding down taxes to bolster the economy, Flores points to her opposition to city tax hikes last year and her authorship of legislation creating the city’s first enterprise zones.

Flores’ City Council background has its downside, however, in a district where many residents value living apart from the problems of urban Los Angeles, a view that has assumed a sharper edge in light of the recent riots.

Beverly claims that his polls show an erosion of support for Flores since the looting and burning. Pointing out that only about 10% of Flores’ San Pedro-based council district is in the 36th, he says he expects voters to look past the councilwoman and Reagan to a candidate closer to home.

Like Reagan, the 41-year-old attorney from Manhattan Beach is expected to benefit from the reputation of his well-liked father--who in a 25-year career as an assemblyman and state senator has represented nearly all of the communities in the 36th District. And like Maureen Reagan, Beverly ranks as a moderate on social issues, voicing strong support for abortion rights.

But Beverly is stressing a record of community involvement that has ranged from fund-raising for the South Bay Red Cross to a period as president of the South Bay Union High School district’s board of trustees.

The strategy is reflected in a recent mailer to voters in Torrance, home of the 36th District’s largest share of GOP voters. Highlighting his community service, it contains an endorsement message from popular Torrance Mayor Katy Geissert and Ken Miller, a former mayor of the city.

“What’s important is what you’ve been doing for the people of the district,” Beverly said. Referring to Reagan, he added: “Some people don’t want a celebrity. They want a neighbor.”

As they battle each other, Beverly, Flores and Reagan face aggressive campaigns by other GOP candidates, including San Pedro consultant John Barbieri and former Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Fahey. Barbieri and Fahey cast themselves as refreshing newcomers on the political scene whose tough law-and-order stances have helped them in the aftermath of the riots.

“People want new faces that aren’t running on a business-as-usual platform,” said Fahey, husband of Joyce A. Karlin, the Superior Court judge who has drawn intense criticism for giving a Korean-born grocer probation in the killing of a black girl. “It’s a question of old blood versus new blood.”

On the Democratic side, seven candidates are competing for the right to take on the Republican nominee.

By far the best-financed is Jane Harman, a Washington attorney and former Jimmy Carter White House official who moved into the district this year.

Harman, who has raised more than $150,000 since Jan. 1, has received heavy flak from rivals, including Ada Unruh, daughter-in-law of the late state Treasurer Jesse M. Unruh, and Bryan Stevens, a former president of the California Teachers Assn.

Both accuse Harman of carpetbagging, citing her preponderance of out-of-state contributions. And though her motto is “Pro-Choice, Pro-Change,” they charge that as a congresswoman her loyalties would lie inside the Washington Beltway, not in the district.

“Just go down her fund-raising list and it says, Washington, Maryland, Washington,” said Stevens. “What you have here is a Beltway Democrat.”

Harman says she has plenty of connections to California, having lived in the state until 1970 and served as an aide to former Democratic Sen. John V. Tunney of California in the 1970s. She has tapped numerous out-of-state contributors, she says, because the crush of campaigns in California makes it harder to raise money locally, dismissing criticism of her fund raising as pointless.

“If that’s the worst they can say about me, then fine,” Harman said. “My focus is on November. I want to beat a Republican.”

Reagan and Dymally--2 Names to Beat

Several Los Angeles County candidates face the daunting task of running against opponents whose fathers already have created family name recognition. For example, Ronald Reagan and his daughter, Maureen, who is running in the 36th Congressional District.

In the 37th Congressional District, four Democrats are running in the race with Lynn Dymally, daughter of retiring Rep. Mervyn Dymally.

Vera Robles Dewitt, a Carson City Council member, attempted to deal with the dynasty problem in a mailer.

The cover: “On June 2, you can take back your government from the slick politicians . . . (open to read) . . . and their daughters and sons.”