CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : 77th ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Incumbent Spotlights His Spotted Past

In politics there is a strategy called “hanging a lantern” on your troubles, as in a candidate throwing light on all his dark corners before his opponent does it for him.

First-term Assemblyman Tom Connolly (D-Lemon Grove) has decided to hang such a lantern.

Actually, a lone lantern may not cast enough light to cover the territory. So many troubles does he have, politically speaking, that Connolly, 48, an affable bundle of energy who loves to talk about politics, poetry and football, needs the level of candlepower capable of lighting up nearby San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium on the darkest night of the year.

Last week, the Connolly campaign began showing a 30-second commercial on local television the likes of which may have never been seen before in the politics of California or any other state.

In the commercial, Connolly admits having been an addict, a failed husband, a deadbeat dad, a tax delinquent and a bankrupt businessman. And he asks for votes not despite these shortcomings but, in a way, because of them:

“Hi, I’m Tom Connolly. Until five years ago, I had an addiction. It cost me my marriage and my business. I fell behind in my child support payments, and, although I paid that off, I owed the government thousands in back taxes and penalties.

“But on July 4, 1989, while in the back of an ambulance being raced to the hospital, I asked God for a second chance, and I got it. And now I’m using my life to help others, especially children, stay off drugs, and that’s why I want to keep this job.”

True, the commercial does not mention the sex harassment allegations made against Connolly by former staffers or the fact that the San Diego police vice squad tailed him for several months when they suspected that he was consorting with streetwalkers.

On those points, Connolly is quick to note that the Assembly Rules Committee staff concluded that the sex harassment charges were groundless and that the San Diego police never found enough evidence to arrest him.

Connolly said he sees himself as a role model for the redemption-minded. “I’m trying to demonstrate through my life that people can rebound,” he said in an interview.

If voters miss the TV commercial, Connolly is going door to door distributing copies of what politicians call a “walking piece,” in this case, a mea culpa brochure that tells of his checkered past.

Subtitled “From the Eve of Destruction to the Pinnacle of Redemption,” the brochure includes a passage from Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged,” and refers to Connolly as “a living example of the mythical phoenix, rising from the ashes of personal destruction to the heights of public office.”

Connolly’s Republican opponent, Steve Baldwin, believes that the phoenix analogy is a bit overdrawn. And it does not take much prodding for him to say Connolly is unfit to serve.

“I don’t think the state Assembly should be a rehabilitation center,” said Baldwin, 38, a property manager for his family’s real estate firm and a onetime strategist for the Christian right.

Even for a Democrat without Connolly’s problems, the 77th Assembly District would be a tough seat to retain.

Consisting of the eastern San Diego County communities of La Mesa, El Cajon, Lemon Grove and Bonita and slivers of Chula Vista and San Diego, the district is 43% Republican and 41% Democrat. No other Assembly district in the state where Republicans hold a registration edge of two points or more has a Democrat representing it.

Like their Republican brethren, Democrats in the 77th have conservative tendencies, a fact not lost on Connolly or Baldwin.

Both candidates support Proposition 187, which would deny most public services to illegal immigrants. Both candidates get high marks from the National Rifle Assn. Both believe in getting tough on welfare mothers. Both promise to protect the interests of the real estate industry.

Two years ago Connolly beat Baldwin, thanks to a last-minute infusion of $100,000 from the state Democratic Party and some television coverage that proved devastating to Baldwin.

NBC News and the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour had tried to interview Baldwin for stories on the Christian right. Eager to downplay his role in the religious-political movement, Baldwin refused to be interviewed and fled.

The resulting coverage had the grainy, bumpy quality of a Bigfoot sighting, with Baldwin playing the role of Bigfoot. His campaign never recovered.

Connolly, a criminal defense attorney whose personal history had gone largely unnoticed by the press, squeaked to victory. This spring, however, just as the 1994 primary season was dawning, the press discovered Connolly’s history of cocaine addiction, multiple marriages and money problems.

“Two years ago, the focus was on Baldwin,” Connolly said. “Now the focus is on me.”

As in 1992, Baldwin can count on support from conservative Christian groups and the anti-abortion movement. Connolly has backing from the California Teachers Assn., veterans (he was in combat in Vietnam with the Army), and the National Organization for Women.

“Tom readily admits he’s made some mistakes and he’s willing to look for remedies in his life,” said Jennifer Coburn, NOW president in San Diego County. “We look at that as a very positive sign.”

With Connolly willingly reminding voters of his past indiscretions, Baldwin said he is unsure whether his campaign will have to do any hit pieces.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Baldwin said of Connolly’s tell-all campaign strategy. “But then again, there has never been a candidate with this much baggage.”

What Baldwin sees as baggage, Connolly calls learning experiences that left him sadder but wiser. He has until Nov. 8 to convince voters.

“I’m a very determined man,” Connolly said. “What I say is that hard work and determination can make legends out of ordinary people.”