ELECTIONS / STATE SENATE : Beverly and Finander Clash Over Value of Incumbency : Politics: Finander blames career politicians for the nation’s woes. Beverly says he’s proud of his record during his long tenure in office.

The battle for a Southeast area state Senate seat has heated up with Republican Sen. Robert G. Beverly and his underdog Democratic challenger Brian Finander clashing in their first two joint campaign appearances.

The flash point during candidate forums in Downey and Cerritos last week was Beverly’s length of service--34 years as an elected official, including 25 years in the Assembly and Senate and nine years on the Manhattan Beach City Council.

Finander, a lawyer who operates a Long Beach business consulting firm, complained that the country is “in one hell of a mess” and that Beverly is out of touch with the voters.

He complained that Beverly is a career politician who “has been on the public payroll for 34 years” and urged voters to reject his rival when they go to the polls Nov. 3. Finander also accused Beverly of ducking about half a dozen debates and of moving into the newly drawn 27th District merely to meet the legal requirements that a candidate reside in the district.

In one forum at the Downey Board of Realtors, Beverly defended his public service, saying: “I stand as an incumbent. I’m proud of it. I’m proud of my record.” He later added that “in most professions . . . experience is a plus.”

Beverly dismissed Finander’s charge that he is out of touch, saying he’s represented about half of the district for the past decade and has won endorsements from nearly 100 elected officials, including retiring state Sen. Cecil Green (D-Norwalk).

Beverly, also a lawyer, took his own shots at Finander, saying that if voters want to make a change “it’s not time for a change to another Democratic lawyer in Sacramento.”

Beverly said he was not aware of missing six joint appearances with Finander but acknowledged being unable to attend a forum early last week. He said that the legislative session took up much of his time and that he then had to be back in Sacramento earlier this month for a brief special session.

In response to Finander’s charge that he’s a carpetbagger, Beverly said in an interview that when the California Supreme Court redrew the district lines earlier this year in the once-a-decade reapportionment, he needed to establish residency in the new district, which no longer includes his Manhattan Beach home. So he is temporarily sharing a condominium in Long Beach with a friend he declined to identify.

If he wins reelection, Beverly said, he will find a more permanent arrangement in the district, which includes Long Beach, Signal Hill, Lakewood, Hawaiian Gardens, Cerritos, Artesia, Bellflower, Downey, San Pedro, Catalina Island, Lomita and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Democrats have an edge in voter registration, 47% to 41%.

Also on the ballot are Libertarian David J. Rosen, a Long Beach businessman, and Peace and Freedom Party candidate Patrick McCoy, a Long Beach video producer and teacher.

Beverly has represented about half the district for the past decade and would typically be expected to coast to reelection. He is considered by colleagues as a pragmatic moderate who has friends on both sides of the aisle in the Capitol.

But with the district especially hard hit by aerospace and other job layoffs, he is considered vulnerable, even though he has the ability to attract far more campaign contributions than Finander.

To drum up support, Beverly, who has coasted to reelection in recent years, has been forced to send out mailers, put up lawn signs and make appearances such as those one in Downey and later at the Cerritos Public Library, where he spoke to about 75 people, mostly teen-agers.

Whatever the outcome, Beverly said, the race will be his last hurrah in the Senate because voter-approved term limits restrict him to seeking only one more four-year term. In Cerritos, the 67-year-old Beverly told his youthful listeners: “I’m asking for your vote one more time.”