McCandless to Retire From 44th District Seat : Congress: The conservative GOP lawmaker has represented Palm Springs area for more than a decade. Always low key, he has focused on spending and banking issues.

Rep. Al McCandless (R-La Quinta) announced Tuesday that he will retire at the end of the year to spend more time with his family, ending a congressional career of more than a decade in which he quietly represented Palm Springs and other Riverside County towns with his sturdily conservative views.

The former county supervisor, who has developed a reputation as a hard-working but obscure Washington legislator, focused on cutting government spending and on a range of banking issues that fit well with the Republican tilt of his district.

McCandless’ shun-the-limelight style nearly cost him his seat in 1990. TV actor Ralph Waite, well known from his portrayal of the patriarch in “The Waltons,” pulled in 45% of the vote and limited the incumbent to only 50%.

McCandless rebounded somewhat in 1992, garnering 54% of the vote against a poorly financed challenger. But the margin of victory was his second-lowest ever.

“Since personal publicity and media exposure were never goals of mine, I have been accused of not being a good ‘politician,’ ” McCandless, 66, said in a statement, “but I leave a record of service untainted by scandal and unmarked by partisan hostilities.”

Now in his sixth term, McCandless sits on the Banking and Government Operations committees and is the ranking Republican on two subcommittees.

McCandless, a former automobile dealer, is a conservative with pro-business views. His ardent opposition to federal regulation and strong opinions have sometimes affected his role in hammering out legislative compromise. But McCandless is proud of his record:

“Free from rigid, ideological dogma in any camp, I always felt confident in voting my conscience--after doing my homework. . . . Voting for NAFTA did not trouble me one whit. I knew I had my facts straight, and time has always borne that out.”

In the previous Congress, McCandless helped block a bill seeking tougher federal regulations on credit reporting agencies. He supported efforts to enhance privacy provisions and protections against false reports But McCandless felt some of the Democrat-supported approaches went too far and complained that they would be costly and difficult to carry out.

In 1992, McCandless opposed a bill that would have authorized a redesign of the nation’s coins. The familiar tails sides of the penny, nickel, dime, quarter and half-dollar would have been replaced with Bill of Rights expressions on free speech and due process.

“There is nothing wrong with our coins,” McCandless said at the time. “We should leave a good thing alone.”

On the environmental front, he fought against desert-protection legislation, calling it “anti-economy and anti-equitable use.”

McCandless’ seat on the House Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee allowed Democratic challenger Waite to tap into the savings-and-loan debacle during the surprisingly close 1990 race. Waite never accused McCandless of direct ethics violations, but blamed the congressman for not doing enough to prevent the crisis.

McCandless dismissed the accusations as “a nasty political trick.”

McCandless’ seat should attract numerous candidates. Congressional sources on Tuesday mentioned as prospective Democratic candidates Waite, former Riverside Assemblyman Steve Clute and Julie Bornstein, an assemblywoman from Palm Desert.

Among Republicans, erstwhile entertainer Sonny Bono, the former mayor of Palm Springs, said last May that he was weighing a bid for McCandless’ seat but recently has said he will seek the lieutenant governor’s post. Terry Holbert, former Banning city councilman, is another possible contender, sources said.

Through the 1980s, McCandless’ district was the fastest-growing in the country. The 1992 reapportionment essentially divided it in two, giving McCandless desert country extending to the Arizona border. His 44th District includes Palm Springs and other Coachella Valley communities. It also encompasses Moreno Valley, including the region around Hemet and Perris.

So far this year, 26 House members and six senators have said they plan to retire from Congress.