GOP Battle Boils Beneath Surface as 6 Tangle in Race to Recall Horcher : Politics: Republicans Gary G. Miller and Barbara S. Stone lead the pack as they exchange barbs in 60th District contest.

Republican and Democratic forces have poured huge amounts of time, money and volunteers into next week’s recall vote on maverick Assemblyman Paul V. Horcher, the Diamond Bar Republican-turned-independent, but a less visible parallel campaign boils among six candidates seeking to replace him.

If Horcher is recalled, the top vote-getter among the four Republicans, the Democrat and the Libertarian on Tuesday’s ballot in the 60th Assembly District will fill the remainder of his term, which expires in December, 1996.

The favorites are two GOP candidates: Gary G. Miller, a developer and Diamond Bar city councilman, and Barbara S. Stone, a political science professor and a member of the Rio Hondo Community College Board of Trustees.

One of the two is favored to win because district voters have given Republican candidates--including Horcher--easy victories in the past, even though registration is split almost evenly between the two major parties.

Miller and Stone have key endorsements and far more money than the other candidates in the race.

But pundits give the lone Democrat, Andrew M. Ramirez, a 27-year-old political newcomer, an outside chance because Miller, Stone and the two other Republicans in the race--Royal Meservy and Jim Hale--could fracture the GOP vote. The sixth candidate is Libertarian Matt Piazza.

The 60th District includes the communities of Diamond Bar, West Covina and Walnut, and portions of La Habra Heights, La Mirada, Pomona and Whittier.

The candidates agree on one thing: Horcher should be recalled for winning reelection as a Republican last fall, only to renounce his GOP affiliation and single-handedly enable Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) to retain his leadership post. The Republicans were poised to take control of the Assembly for the first time in more than two decades.

That aside, the once cordial campaign by the candidates seeking to replace Horcher has turned bitter, with Miller and Stone take potshots at each other.

A negative campaign seemed inevitable when Stone won the endorsement of state Sen. Richard Mountjoy (R-Arcadia), the popular arch-conservative whose district includes the Assembly’s 60th District.

There is no love lost between Mountjoy and Miller. Mountjoy easily defeated Miller, Horcher and several other candidates in a special election last year to win his Senate seat. During the race, Miller charged that despite his conservative credentials, Mountjoy helped make Brown the Assembly speaker.

Mountjoy accused Miller of distorting his record, saying he voted for Brown in 1980, as did other Republicans, because he was preferable to his challenger, Howard Berman, who is now in Congress. Mountjoy, for his part, charged that Miller was trying to buy the seat, using his personal wealth to fund his campaign.

While Stone has Mountjoy on her side, Miller landed the endorsements of Assembly Republican Leader Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga) and several other GOP assemblymen. Ironically, Mountjoy delayed taking his Senate seat so he could stay in the Assembly and support Brulte in his unsuccessful bid to win the speakership. Brown eventually ousted Mountjoy from the Assembly to win the speakership fight.

Stone, apparently feeling outgunned, put out the first negative mailer in the current campaign, accusing Miller of being a contentious councilman who has cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars for his role in the ongoing battle over the city’s General Plan.

“Diamond Bar, with all due respect, is a model for a council that doesn’t get along at all, and a lot of people in that city believe Gary’s a driving force,” Stone said this week.

She also sent out another mailer taking a swipe at Miller for his endorsements, implying that outside political forces are trying to influence a local race.

Miller defends his actions as a councilman, saying the City Council approved legitimate expenses incurred during a prolonged fight between pro-growth and slow-growth forces over the city’s General Plan. He also said that Stone sought unsuccessfully to win the endorsement of Assembly Republicans, which Stone doesn’t deny.

“She’s being a hypocrite crybaby,” said Miller, who, if elected, promises to fight illegal immigration, oppose new taxes, oppose affirmative action and support the state’s “three strikes” law.

Miller wasted no time in firing negative mail back at Stone, accusing her of being a liberal who supported new bond indebtedness and affirmative action quotas as a community college trustee.

Stone, the daughter of former-Assemblyman Joe Shell, one-time Republican minority floor leader, said she opposes quotas to promote the hiring of women and minorities. But she did approve an outreach program to attract women to Rio Hondo’s auto mechanic classes. She also voted to enable the district to sell bonds to raise money for building repair and maintenance at Rio Hondo.

If elected, Stone said she would concentrate on education issues, working to free local districts from costly state mandates such as bilingual education. She would allow districts to come up with their own, less expensive programs to teach students English. The money saved could be used elsewhere, she said.

Stone ran for Assembly once before, losing the Republican primary in 1982.

When it comes to campaign finances, Miller outguns Stone, according to recently filed disclosure statements.

Miller loaned $300,000 of his own money to his campaign, and reported $2,450 in other contributions. Miller’s wife, Cathleen C. Miller, still has more than $400,000 in outstanding loans to her husband’s unsuccessful campaign for state Senate.

Stone has raised $127,890, including $200 from former-Gov. George Deukmejian, who also has endorsed her. Stone’s father contributed $1,000 to the campaign.

So far, the other candidates have declined to take swipes at each other, preferring to criticize Horcher and tout their own qualifications.

Ramirez, who has taken a leave from college to run as the lone Democrat, is embittered that Assembly Democrats have shunned him in favor of bankrolling Horcher’s campaign to beat the recall. Ramirez reported receiving a $720 loan from a friend for his campaign, but no other contributions.

Ramirez, who ran unsuccessfully against Horcher last November, said he will support neither Brown nor Brulte if he is elected.

“I’d likely vote for myself,” said Ramirez, who wants to increase state funding to schools and law enforcement agencies.

Meservy, a marketing executive in his first run for public office, said he would ease regulations to encourage business growth in California. Meservy has raised just $2,500.

Hale, the fourth Republican in the race, could not be reached for comment and has reported no campaign contributions.

Piazza, the Libertarian, pledges to work to keep government out of people’s lives. He reported raising less than $1,000 for his campaign.