STATE ELECTIONS / 77th ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Baldwin, Connolly Accuse Each Other of Extremist Stances

Armed with a 162-page “white paper,” including chapters on “misleading mailers” and a “witches tape,” state Assembly candidate Tom Connolly is trying to shape his opponent as a pawn of the religious right who “bounds over facts and logic like a reckless child on a pogo stick.”

Republican Steven Baldwin, 36, calls Connolly an “ultra-liberal, pro-big-government, pro-tax, ACLU trial attorney” who, if elected, would be “the most liberal state legislator in the history of San Diego County.”

Baldwin’s references to witches are exaggerated and Connolly is a children’s law attorney, not an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer. But the attacks illustrate the tone and tenor of the race for the 77th, which has a GOP registration advantage of 45% to 39%.

The oddly shaped district stretches from El Cajon to Chula Vista and includes La Mesa, Spring Valley, Bonita and National City.

Baldwin, who has worked as national director for the Young Americans for Freedom and as deputy director of the College Republican National Committee, worked to elect Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 and helped Rep. Bill Dannemeyer (R-Orange County) in his unsuccessful bid this year to win a U.S. Senate seat.

A property manager for a commercial real estate company, Baldwin supports tuition tax credits and the use of public money for a private education voucher system. He wants a more decentralized government and seeks to privatize many areas of government.

He proposes that tax breaks be given to those willing to purchase health insurance, opposes socialized medicine and is against abortion except when a mother’s life is in danger. Abortion in the case of incest or rape is also unacceptable, Baldwin says.

“My district includes a lot of social conservatives who are sick and tired of paying taxes,” Baldwin says. “I think my philosophy is consistent with a majority of the voters.”

Baldwin has raised $226,124 and spent $213,737. The Allied Business Political Action Committee of Garden Grove, a group of four California businessmen who give to conservative Republican causes, has donated $33,000.

Connolly is far outstripped in fund-raising, having raised and spent about $20,000 during the last campaign reporting period.

A Vietnam veteran, Connolly, 46, supports abortion rights and a comprehensive national health care system similar to Canada’s single-payer plan, under which government establishes fees, pays the bills and collects taxes to cover the cost.

He wants to repeal the state’s snack tax and reduce the capital gains tax when linked to job creation. He supports an investment tax credit for those companies willing to produce new technology, such as better transportation systems or electric cars.

Both candidates support the death penalty, the right of citizens to bear arms, welfare reform and the consolidation of government services.

Throughout the campaign, Connolly’s staff has tried to label Baldwin as a right-wing extremist, even producing what is purported to be a transcript of a speech in which Baldwin allegedly says that the U.S. Air Force and the state of Massachusetts have official witches.

“He must be regarded as an organizer in the religious right movement,” said Connolly, who represents minors in juvenile justice cases. “It’s critical that I define Steve Baldwin, to show where his money is coming from and what his agenda is.”

In his “white paper,” Connolly accuses Baldwin of “masterminding the right-wing takeover of the Republican Party locally.”

Before the June primary, in which Baldwin defeated former Chula Vista Mayor Greg Cox--a moderate Republican--a pro-life group sent out a mailer addressed, “Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ.”

The mailer urged voters to support Baldwin and said his opponent “is being heavily backed by liberal, anti-family groups including militant homosexual and pro-abortion organizations. We wholeheartedly support Steve Baldwin as a man of great character, integrity and Christian values.”

In a separate flyer soliciting money, Baldwin is described as the only pro-life candidate in the 77th Assembly District, a “harsh critic of lenient laws regarding pornography” who will work to cut off public funding for “obscene art.”

Baldwin also lists his support for “pro-family tax policies,” including an increase in the tax deductions for dependents, and he opposes laws that grant “special rights based on sexual orientation.”

“Because I have worked for conservative candidates, (Connolly) has tried to peg me as a single-issue extremist,” Baldwin said.

For his part, Baldwin criticizes what he perceives as Connolly’s leniency on criminals.

“I think he leans toward criminal rights when it comes to trial and police and court procedures because of his own profession,” Baldwin said. “I would call him a leaning liberal on trial procedure. And when it comes to liability and tort reform, he is against caps of any kind.”

Peace and Freedom candidate R. M. Reed Kroopkin and Libertarian Jeff Bishop are also running in the 77th.

Kroopkin, a paralegal and activist who describes himself as a “Libertarian socialist,” said he was motivated to run after UC San Diego students approved a referendum in February, 1990, that will raise student fees to pay for a new athletic and events facility.

The referendum was approved by a slim margin, and Kroopkin is convinced that had the issue been fully explained to students during a public hearing, it would have failed.

Kroopkin, 40, was behind a bill in the Legislature sponsored by the University of California Students Assn. that would have provided more comprehensive voting information for students before they cast their ballots. It also would have given students greater control over student fees. Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed the measure last month.

Bishop, a 25-year-old teacher, wants to keep companies in California by lowering taxes and excessive regulation, supports abortion rights, and wants doctors to have greater incentive to provide better health care.

“We’re fed up with both parties,” Bishop said of Republicans and Democrats. “In the last few years, we’ve seen an unprecedented growth in government. The Republicans blame the Democrats and the Democrats blame the Republicans, and neither party is right.

“I see the Democratic Party eroding our property rights and raising our taxes,” he said. “I see Republicans reluctantly going along with tax increases and, at the same time, far less reluctantly slapping our civil liberties right and left.”