GOP Delegates Divided Over Abortion Issue : Convention: Nearly half say the nation is heading in the wrong direction but all agree that Bush will be reelected.

The Ventura County delegation to this week’s Republican National Convention is confident the Bush-Quayle ticket will be reelected but is divided over questions of abortion and whether the country is headed in the right direction, according to a Times survey.

The six delegates and alternates to the convention in Houston approve of the way President Bush has handled domestic and foreign affairs--giving him higher marks on foreign policy--but are critical of his approval of a budget deal with the Democrat-led Congress to raise taxes in 1990.

The Times survey also found that delegation members enthusiastically support a ticket of Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle, contrary to some within the party who favor replacing Bush and others who want Quayle pushed aside. Members expressed confidence in Quayle’s ability to step in as President if necessary, but preferred HUD Secretary Jack Kemp to Quayle as the party’s 1996 nominee.

Members also said they see James A. Baker III’s move from secretary of state to campaign coordinator as highly beneficial for Bush.

In a telephone survey conducted between July 30 and Aug. 7, The Times interviewed the six Ventura County delegation members as well as 30 of the 32 San Fernando Valley area delegates and alternates. Two Valley members declined to participate.

The combined Ventura-Valley delegation is composed of 23 women and 15 men, all of whom are pledged to Bush under the Republicans’ winner-take-all primary formula.

“I think it’s a strong ticket,” said Gwen Tillemans, a Bush delegate from Oxnard and a former chairwoman of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee. “There is nobody else who can bring this country back like George Bush. There is no comparison between (Democratic nominee Bill) Clinton and George Bush when it comes to the capability to lead this great country.”

Tillemans will be joined by Peggy Sadler of Simi Valley, a member of the county’s GOP Central Committee, as Ventura County delegates at the convention, which will begin Monday and conclude with Bush’s renomination Thursday.

Tillemans and Sadler are Bush delegates from the 23rd Congressional District, which includes all of Ventura County with the exception of most of Thousand Oaks, as well as part of Carpinteria in Santa Barbara County. The district’s third delegate is Emily Wullbrandt, an 18-year state committee member from Carpinteria.

The alternates, who attend the convention but vote only if a delegate is unable to do so, are Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi, who is also a candidate for the state Assembly; Dorothy Lee, who has taught for 36 years at the Will Rogers Elementary School in Ventura and is a member of the state Board of Education, and Barbara Hurd, a retired nurse and longtime Republican activist from Carpinteria.

The combined Ventura and Valley delegation is relatively conservative, well-educated, middle-aged to elderly, affluent and experienced in both party politics and national conventions, the survey found. Its members include party and elected officials, business executives, lawyers, conservative Christian activists and homemakers.

Most are over 45 years old. Nearly one-third are 65 or older. More than two-thirds have attended one or more conventions previously. The delegation is largely Anglo, but includes at least four Latinos, three Asians and one black.

More than half the delegation members said their household income is more than $75,000 annually. More than a third said that it is more than $100,000. Only one respondent’s household makes less than $20,000. Delegates generally must pay their own way to the convention, a costly undertaking.

Despite the lingering recession, four-fifths of the members said they are better off now than they were four years ago. Nonetheless, like their counterparts who attended the Democratic Convention last month, they agreed that the economy will be the most decisive issue in the fall campaign.

More than five out of six describe themselves as somewhat or very conservative. The rest call themselves moderates. There are no self-described liberals among them.

They contrast sharply with the Democratic delegates from Ventura and the Valley on major issues. All but one of them approved of the Persian Gulf War last year; two-thirds of their Democratic counterparts opposed the war.

Almost nine out of 10 said the federal budget should be balanced strictly by cutting spending. The rest said that the deficit should be shaved through both reduced spending and tax increases. By comparison, half of the area’s Democrat delegates said that higher taxes as well as lower spending would be necessary to wipe out the red ink.

The Republican delegates are evenly split over the sensitive, polarizing issue of abortion. Nearly half described themselves as anti-abortion. Almost as many said they favored abortion rights. The men were as divided as the women on the issue. All but two of 39 Democrats surveyed said they support abortion rights.

Several delegates said in interviews that they would like to see modification of the controversial plank in the draft party platform calling for a constitutional amendment banning abortion. They said they would prefer to see the abortion question removed from the political arena entirely.

This has been a particularly bitter issue within the Ventura County GOP in the past year.

“I’m anti-abortion, but I don’t think the government should make the decision for people,” said Sadler, among those who wrested control of the county GOP Central Committee from hard-line anti-abortion forces in ballots cast in the June primary. “I think a woman should be free to choose.”

In contrast to the Democrats, the GOP delegation is also divided over whether things in the nation are going in the right direction or have gotten seriously off on the wrong track. Nearly half the Republican respondents said things were on the wrong track; Democrats almost unanimously agreed that the country was headed in the wrong direction.

“I’m very optimistic,” said Lee, a second-generation Chinese-American who was recently nominated for a second term on the state Board of Education. “I feel the country is on the right track. I feel that I’m better off now than ever before, even as a school teacher.”

To the extent that Republicans believe that the nation has slipped, they are inclined to blame the Democrat-controlled Congress rather than Bush or his predecessor, Ronald Reagan. Bush was given high marks by the two counties’ delegates--all of whom obtained their seats as delegates by supporting Bush in the June 2 primary.

Reflecting the anti-tax and anti-congressional sentiment of the delegations, some delegates took exception with Bush’s agreement to the controversial 1990 budget deal that dramatically raised taxes in an effort to close the budget deficit. Twenty-three survey participants said Bush was wrong to enter into the deal. Five said he was right; eight declined to respond.

“That was a mistake,” said Sadler, who has been active in Republican politics for about 16 years. “He said so himself. He made a deal with (Democrats in) Congress that they would cut spending and they didn’t go along with it. He should never have trusted them.”

Delegation members were as positive about Quayle as they were about Bush. Twenty-five of the 36 interviewed said they regard Quayle very favorably, seven said somewhat favorably and only four viewed him unfavorably.

Thirty said that Quayle is qualified to take over the job as President. Twenty-nine said Bush should keep Quayle on the ticket. Only four said he should be dropped and three said they weren’t sure.

“I know Dan Quayle and I’m very impressed with him,” said Lee, a longtime supporter of Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura). “I think he’s a very intelligent individual and I have a great deal of confidence in him. He has the qualifications to be President.”

Despite the support for Quayle to remain on the ticket in 1992, delegation members have their hearts elsewhere when it comes to the 1996 campaign. Only three said Quayle was their personal choice at this early juncture for the nomination four years hence. Jack Kemp was named by 14. Another four mentioned California Gov. Pete Wilson.

“He’s run before,” Sadler said of Kemp. “He has filled all the offices that he has held very well and he’s very well known, especially in urban areas. I like what he has to say . . . I think he’s possibly more electable because there haven’t been any negatives. He hasn’t been attacked in the press like Quayle has been.”

Despite the Republicans’ substantial deficit in the polls, the Valley and Ventura delegation was optimistic that the party’s ticket will prevail. Thirty said the Republicans will retain the White House. The same number said Bush would carry their own congressional district in November as well. Only two predicted a Democratic presidential victory.

Such confidence in the face of adversity may arise, in part, from the questions surrounding marital infidelity, draft evasion and marijuana experimentation that dogged Clinton in the primary campaign. Twenty-eight respondents said Clinton was very vulnerable on the character issue; only one said he has minimal vulnerability.

“I think people are beginning to realize that our country has to establish moral values,” said Tillemans, who was a Reagan delegate in 1980 and 1984 and has been active in GOP politics for 30 years.

Susan Pinkus of the Los Angeles Times Poll contributed to this story.