One Hot Race and Several Familiar Issues : Election: Republican Steve Horn and Democrat Evan Anderson Braude, both moderates, are locked in a close fight for the 38th District seat. Underdogs in four other races are sounding anti-incumbent themes.

In the next seven weeks, a Republican university professor who worked for President Nixon and a Democratic lawyer who has spent six years on the Long Beach City Council will wage what is expected to be one of the state’s toughest congressional campaigns.

Both Cal State Long Beach political science professor Steve Horn and Councilman Evan Anderson Braude are considered moderates. Both support the right to an abortion and both are given a roughly equal chance of winning the district, which has more Democrats than Republicans, but where many Democrats voted for Presidents Reagan and Bush.

The 38th Congressional District race is expected to be the most dramatic of the five congressional campaigns under way in Southeast Los Angeles County and Long Beach. In three of the congressional districts, voter registration is so lopsided in favor of the Democratic Party that the races hold little suspense. In a fourth district, a veteran Republican state senator with a string of victories behind him has the upper hand.

Nonetheless, underdog candidates, sounding anti-incumbent themes, are busy walking precincts and passing out campaign leaflets in hope of changing a few minds. Independent candidates, in particular, say the outpouring of support for Ross Perot illustrates the depth of dissatisfaction with the major parties.

“This is not a good year to be a politician,” Peace and Freedom candidate Tim Delia said. “People are looking for options. I think the Perot phenomenon certainly opened people’s minds.”

Most candidates are stumping on familiar ground: the sagging economy, jobs, health care reform, education, crime and the federal deficit. The Southeast area, with its core of aerospace and manufacturing companies, has borne the brunt of the recession and the downsizing of the defense industry. With companies folding and others laying off hundreds of employees, candidates say one of the key questions they are being asked is: “What is going to happen to my job?”

Here is a look at the candidates and their platforms in the Southeast area congressional races:

33rd District

In a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3 to 1, where 84% of the residents are Latino, and Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles) is something of a folk hero, his daughter, Lucille Roybal-Allard, is considered as unbeatable as candidates come.

An assemblywoman since 1987 and a liberal Democrat, Roybal-Allard trounced her Democratic challengers in the June primary and is expected to do the same to her three opponents in the general election.

Roybal-Allard counts among her achievements her leadership in the fight to keep a toxic waste incinerator out of Vernon, and her sponsorship of laws that make it harder to locate such facilities in poor, minority communities.

The assemblywoman is calling for programs to create jobs, more funding for education, tougher penalties for those involved in drug and gang-related crimes, and affordable and accessible health care for all residents.

Although Roybal-Allard is considered the leading candidate, it does not mean Republican Robert Guzman, Libertarian Dale S. Olvera and Peace and Freedom candidate Tim Delia are retreating. None of the three has the money or the connections to match Roybal-Allard, but they say they have been busy handing out resumes on street corners and in shopping centers.

All four candidates emphasize the need to create jobs, provide better education, and combat crime in a district that is home to some of the poorest, most crowded communities in the country.

Guzman, 38, is an education consultant who switched to the Republican Party two years ago because he believes the Democratic Party “takes advantage of minorities.”

“They know we tend to vote Democrat, so why bother listening to us?” Guzman said.

A moderate Republican, Guzman favors state and private business partnerships to provide job training and teach English to immigrants. He also supports more money for education and the development of a comprehensive anti-drug, anti-gang program.

Olvera is a 67-year-old retired salesman and Libertarian who is campaigning against “Demopublicans”--the Democrat and Republican parties. Like most Libertarians, Olvera believes government’s role in the lives of Americans and American business should be all but nonexistent. He would like to eliminate foreign aid and “provide jobs for our people before we provide them for others . . . (and) take every able-bodied person off welfare.” He supports the Libertarian Party’s call to legalize drugs and do away with income tax.

Delia, 37, is a special-education teacher who lives outside the district in Pasadena. (Living in the district is not a requirement.) Like Olvera, he complains that the Democratic and Republican parties are “so similar, they are essentially one party.” Unlike Olvera, the Peace and Freedom candidate says government needs to be more actively involved in the health and welfare of its citizens. He favors a health care system that is available and affordable to all Americans, and he wants more funding for education.

34th District

Like Roybal-Allard to the west, Rep. Esteban Torres (D-Pico Rivera) has a strong lead going into the general election. Registered Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans, and Torres, who combines liberal policies with a strong anti-abortion stance, has proven so popular in the district that no one challenged him in the Democratic primary.

Torres has been fighting to clean up contaminated ground water in the San Gabriel Valley and wants to create a public-private partnership to work on it. Anti-gang legislation, which makes gang-related crimes punishable under federal law, is also considered among his top accomplishments.

The veteran congressman said he is working with a state task force to keep the Northrop Corp.’s Pico Rivera plant open and fully staffed, and is working with the Long Beach Naval Shipyard to ensure that it, too, stays open.

However, Torres must defeat Republican J. (Jay) Hernandez, and Libertarian Carl M. Swinney, before beginning his sixth two-year term.

Hernandez, a 53-year-old owner of an optical laboratory in Whittier, has trumpeted the anti-incumbent message. He said voters are discontent with the veteran congressman.

“Mr. Torres has been in . . . the House of Representative for the last 10 years and I’ve got to think that things are no better today in the 34th District, or for that matter around the country, than they were when he first took office,” Hernandez said. “I think we need a massive infusion of new ideas and people on (Capitol) Hill.”

Hernandez paints Torres as a “very liberal, free-spending politician,” and said his own campaign emphasizes welfare reform, a strong military, tax incentives for business, a reduction in government regulation of small business and a revamp of the educational system to allow parents to choose between public and private schools.

Torres said Hernandez is “ill-informed.”

“I’ve been the congressman who has high priorities for educational excellence. I’m the congressman who has championed the quality of life in the district,” he said. “Mr. Hernandez doesn’t understand the magnitude of what we do apart from spending dollars. The dollars I voted for are well-spent on behalf of Southern California and the district.”

Libertarian Swinney is an X-ray technician who has run for office several times. The Whittier resident said he is intent on reducing the size of government and favors drastic cutbacks in government spending. For example, Swinney said U.S. taxpayers should not be spending money for military bases in Japan. Japan should pay for its own protection, or the United States should leave, he said. Swinney also supports the repeal of personal income tax as a way to stimulate the economy.

“If we rolled back income tax, it would be equivalent to a raise for every working person in the country,” he said. “People would have disposable income to buy things with. Businesses will have to gear up for production. They would have to hire more people. Unemployment would go down.”

37th District

Compton Mayor Walter R. Tucker III is the odds-on favorite to win this race after he successfully won one of the toughest Democratic primaries in the state.

His only competitor for the seat once held by retiring Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) is lawyer and black activist B. Kwaku Duren from the Peace and Freedom Party. Duren, 49, is given little chance of beating the high-profile mayor in a district where 76% of the voters register as Democrats and less than 1% are Peace and Freedom Party members.

In addition, Duren may face questions about his past. As a youth, he said he served four years in prison for armed robbery. According to Melissa Warren, media director for the secretary of state’s office, felons can legally run for office as long as they have served their terms and are no longer on parole.

During his time in prison, Duren said he was exposed to the works of blacks such as Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver and W.B. Dubois. After serving his sentence, he became a leader of the Southern California Black Panther Party during the 1970s, and the National Black Independent Political Party. Both parties have since folded.

Duren said his criminal record should not be considered a reason not to vote for him.

“It’s irrelevant,” he said. “It happened 30 years ago and really is about another person.” A key plank in Duren’s platform includes a new “social and economic bill of rights” which would, among other things, pay black Americans for their ancestors’ years in slavery. He also supports abortion rights, equal rights for homosexuals, and said the United States “must, if necessary,” provide military support to the African National Congress to overthrow the ruling white government of South Africa.

Tucker, whose campaign motto is, “It’s time for tough new leadership,” calls for tax breaks to lower- and middle-income Americans and use of the “peace dividend” to fund public works projects and programs to help single parents, the homeless, the hungry, drug abusers and senior citizens. He also supports pay raises for teachers, and tax breaks and incentives for small businesses.

38th District

Of the four candidates competing for the seat once held by Rep. Glenn M. Anderson, Evan Anderson Braude has two factors generally thought to be working in his favor: There are nearly 24,000 more registered Democrats in the district than Republicans, and he is Anderson’s stepson. The congressman, who raised Braude, hand-picked him as his successor.

Braude brings to the race a solid six-year record on the Long Beach City Council. He says job creation is the key issue in the district, where thousands have been laid off by McDonnell Douglas. More jobs will be lost by the closure of the Long Beach Naval Station and naval hospital in 1996.

The councilman is calling for a plan to convert defense-based industries into producers of high-tech transportation, environmental and consumer products. Defense cuts should be spent to retrain workers for high-paying manufacturing jobs and to reduce the deficit, he said.

Braude faces a stiff challenge from Republican political science professor Steve Horn, an intellectual moderate who is hammering away on campaign finance reform.

Horn is the author of books on reforming congressional ethics, budgeting and organization, and has refused all money from political action committees. Still, he expects to spend at least $400,000 on the campaign.

Horn also calls for term limits for all elected officials and a reduction in congressional staff.

The former president of Cal State Long Beach said the economy must be jump-started by freezing all spending except Social Security and the Head Start program for at least two years. He opposes tax increases and supports investment tax credits. Horn also touts his Operation Urban Storm in which local governments, with federal aid, could increase the size of their police departments with laid-off military personnel.

Also running for the seat are musician and writer Paul Burton, a Peace and Freedom candidate, and Libertarian lawyer Blake Ashley.

Burton has criticized Horn’s crime-fighting plan as a Draconian response, and offers his own proposal: Operation Urban Rainbow. He said that instead of funding more police, the money should go into youth services, counseling, education and job training programs.

Burton, like many Peace and Freedom candidates, identifies himself as a socialist and argues that the poor and people of color are being ignored by the major party candidates. He agrees that the economy is the main issue, and suggests that jobs be created by developing electric cars, transit systems and bullet trains.

Libertarian candidate Ashley disagrees vehemently with Burton’s call for more social programs, saying flatly that “socialism doesn’t work.” The 35-year-old Downey resident said the economy is in a slump because of government interference in the free market. He said over-regulation of business has stifled growth, and government must cut spending with the eventual goal of rolling back personal income tax.

As a congressman, he said he would vote against any increase in spending, taxation, or legislation that would interfere in a person’s private life, such as the choice of taking drugs.

39th District

When Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) decided to give up his seat to run for the U.S. Senate, state Sen. Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim) launched his campaign to be the district’s next congressman.

No one ran against him in the primary, but this fall the conservative senator from Fullerton faces a fight from Democrat Molly McClanahan, a longtime Fullerton councilwoman, and Libertarian Jack Dean.

The numbers are on Royce’s side. Fifty percent of the voters in the district, most of whom live in Orange County, are Republicans.

Royce has made a name for himself in the state Legislature as a fighter for crime victim’s rights and has the endorsement of several such groups. He is perhaps best known for sponsoring a “Stalker” bill, which makes it a felony punishable by up to three years in prison to continually threaten and harass others. He also counts among his successes bills that keep the address and phone numbers of crime victims private.

Royce said reducing the deficit is the greatest challenge the country faces, and has suggested contracting out government work to private business to save money. He said every dollar saved by cuts in defense spending should go directly to reduce the deficit. He also opposes all individual and business tax increases, and supports such things as enterprise zones and tax reductions for businesses in depressed areas.

“I think people have come to realize that we have gotten ourselves into a real box by the amount of regulation and the burden placed on business.”

McClanahan has zeroed in on job creation as the major issue. She said that aerospace and defense workers should be retrained to create new transportation and communication services and to modernize highways and bridges.

“Any nation that can produce most of the Nobel prize winners can move from research . . . to technology to application to jobs,” she said.

McClanahan is calling herself a “reform candidate” and has criticized the influence of political action committees and big business on the political system. She admits that she is accepting contributions from PACs, but said, “I don’t like it.”

McClanahan said that one of the key differences between her and Royce is that she supports a woman’s right to an abortion. However, she said, the economy, jobs, health care and education are the most important issues in the campaign.

Dean could not be reached for comment.

Congressional Candidates 33rd District Lucille Roybal-Allard, Democrat Robert Guzman, Republican Dale S. Olvera, Libertarian Tim Delia, Peace and Freedom 34th District Esteban Torres, Democrat J. (Jay) Hernandez, Republican Carl M. Swinney, Libertarian 37th District Walter R. Tucker III, Democrat B. Kwaku Duren, Peace and Freedom 38th District Evan Anderson Braude, Democrat Steve Horn, Republican Blake Ashley, Libertarian Paul Burton, Peace and Freedom 39th District Molly McClanahan, Democrat Edward R. Royce, Republican Jack Dean, Libertarian Demographics*

Dist. No. Dem. Rep. Anglo Latino Black Asian Congressional 33 66% 21% 8% 84% 5% 4% Congressional 34 61% 29% 27% 57% 2% 9% Congressional 37 76% 14% 12% 45% 34% 10% Congressional 38 49% 39% 58% 26% 8% 9% Congressional 39 39% 59% 61% 23% 3% 13%

Voter registration figures as of Sept. 4, 1992. Registered Peace and Freedom and Libertarian voters make up 1% or less of the total in all districts. Source: Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, Los Angeles County Office of regional Planning.

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Clarification: Steve Horn did not work as a White House consultant during the Nixon Administration. He was however a Nixon appointee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, as well as other commissions and boards.

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