Same Fighting Word for Incumbent Brewer

Assemblywoman Marilyn C. Brewer (R-Irvine), who was first elected two years ago after winning a three-candidate primary, is again facing a challenge from two Republicans with established ties to the county party.

And once again, as in 1994, she is facing a familiar charge. Both of her opponents in the March 26 Republican primary for the 70th Assembly District are basing their campaigns on claims that Brewer is a liberal disguised as a conservative, a label she vehemently rejects.

“This district is overwhelmingly conservative and I want a representative who will share my conservative views,” said challenger Jacob F. (Jim) Rems of Irvine, a land surveyor and member of the Lincoln Club of Orange County. “I’m wondering who voted for Marilyn Brewer in the first place.”

Brewer’s other challenger, Marjorie M. Pantzar of Newport Beach, echoed a similar sentiment.

“Marilyn is definitely a liberal and her supporters are liberal,” Pantzar said. “Once in a while she votes with the Republican leadership, but she has her own favorite things and will vote with the Democrats.”

Brewer, 58, rebuffs such assertions as “tiresome” and little more than campaign rhetoric from candidates who are “grasping.” No closet liberal would be running as she is with the support of the entire county Republican delegation, including Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), Brewer said.

“They tried this fire drill in the first campaign and obviously it didn’t work because here I am in Sacramento,” Brewer said. “My strategy is to run on my record. I am a conservative and my voting record is very conservative.”

As a freshman Assembly member, Brewer authored 11 bills signed by the governor, a record she says she is “willing to hold up against any Orange County legislator in their first year.” The bills cover a wide variety of issues, including the county’s bankruptcy recovery, tax reform and insurance reform.

“I think that shows I have been very proactive and reactive on behalf of my constituents,” she said.

Brewer said she recently introduced “an important bill that will get tax equity for Orange County.” Brewer said the state withholds more property taxes from this county than from most other counties.

“This will be my primary focus this year,” Brewer said. “I will be working very hard to make sure we get our fair share for Orange County. With a Republican Assembly, a real window of opportunity exists.”

So far, however, Brewer has ducked perhaps the most controversial issue facing voters in this heavily Republican district, which stretches north along the coast from the Aliso Pier in Laguna Beach through Newport Beach to the Huntington Beach border and inland to South Coast Plaza and the El Toro Y.

Brewer is taking no stance on Measure S, the initiative that would derail a commercial airport proposed for the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. It is undoubtedly a difficult political decision, considering that Brewer’s hometown, the city of Newport Beach, is strongly opposed to the measure while residents of other key parts of her district--Leisure World, Irvine and Tustin--are adamantly backing it.

Measure S turns what might have been a routine run for reelection for Brewer into a potentially volatile campaign, said Dan Wooldridge, a Santa Ana-based political consultant who worked for Brewer during her first run for office in 1994. Measure S is likely to dramatically increase voter turnout among its supporters in the southern part of Brewer’s district, he said.

“I think conventional wisdom suggests Marilyn would win this race relatively handily, but Measure S is a little bit of a wild card,” Wooldridge said. “For a legislator like Marilyn Brewer, it’s very dangerous to not have played an airport card. That allows her challengers to go after her very hard.”

Indeed, Rems, who supports the measure, has pounced on the issue. He sent out a mailer Feb. 29 that not only continues his assault on her alleged liberal past--she is a former Democrat--but accuses Brewer of secretly backing a “big commercial airport at El Toro.”

“She takes no position on any of the key issues,” Rems said. “What good is she? Why is she a politician if she isn’t going to take a stand on the tough issues?”

To pull off an upset of Brewer, however, Rems must somehow overcome a lack of name recognition. Although he is an entrepreneur who has lived in South County for 21 years and has built up a successful land surveying business, he is a virtual unknown.

Until now, Rems’ political involvement has been only as a financial backer of candidates. But he said the county bankruptcy and the subsequent creation of the county’s Committees of Correspondence helped convince him to launch a run for office.

“I’m still involved in the committees and the principles they stand for, which are less taxes and less government,” said Rems, 45. “I believe the voters in the district need a choice. That’s why I got in the race and that’s why I’m staying in the race.”

If elected, Rems would call for the Assembly to “freeze spending across the board for three years” and not allow any new regulations on business during the same time period because “we have too many laws now.”

Pantzar, 66, is also a first-time candidate who has spent more than three decades as a volunteer for the county Republican Party, first working on the Goldwater presidential campaign of 1964. Her impetus to run for office stems from what she describes as a deterioration of the county party, characterized by the recent recall of Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress).

She acknowledges she is a long shot.

“I’m running a shoestring campaign; mostly it’s just me working on my own,” Pantzar said. “I’ve been opposed to a lot of things that have been happening in the Republican Party and haven’t made a secret of it.”

Pantzar has come out against Measure S because she believes a commercial airport at El Toro would be a financial boon to the county. She said she is also focusing her campaign on how to stop the federal government from influencing education at the local level.

“Money is coming directly from the federal government to our schools. I think there is a lot of danger in that,” Pantzar said.

She also wants to end the experiment called Cal-OPTIMA, the new health-care system designed to serve some of the county’s poorest residents.

“Doctors are having fits over the way this thing is being handled,” she said. “I think it’s terrible. It’s socialism on a big scale.”

The 70th Assembly District includes all of the cities of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, most of Tustin, Irvine and Laguna Beach, and small parts of Laguna Hills, Aliso Viejo, Lake Forest and Santa Ana.

There are three other candidates in the race who have automatically won a place on the November ballot because they do not face a primary challenge. They include Shirley W. Palley of Irvine, a Democrat; Gene Beed of Irvine, a Libertarian; and Paul R. Fisher of Costa Mesa, a candidate for the Natural Law Party.

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Seeking the 70th Seat

Two Republican candidates with established ties to the county party are challenging first-term incumbent Assemblywoman Marilyn C. Brewer in the 70th District primary:

Marilyn C. Brewer

Age: 58

Residence: Newport Beach

Party: Republican

Family: Married, four sons and six grandsons

Occupation: Assembly member

Education: Graduate of Fullerton College

Background: Aide to former Supervisor Thomas F. Riley; past president and member of board of directors of Mariposa Women; former member of Orange County Grand Jury

ON THE ISSUES

Irvine Ranch Water District plan to pump treated sewage into Newport’s Back Bay: Opposes. “The burden of proof rests with the IRWD and they have not come anywhere near the proof that this will not harm the bay today or 10 years from now.”

Measure S, initiative to prevent a commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station: No stance. “I want the highest and best economic use for that 4,700 acres, whatever that turns out to be. My role as a legislator is to be prepared to carry supportive legislation for whatever decision is made. But I commend the people of the South County for putting this on the ballot.”

Measure T, county charter initiative: Opposes. “I agree with the concept of a county charter, but they put much more in this [measure] than should have been. Because it includes such a laundry list, I cannot support it.”

Abortion: “I am pro-choice. I campaigned on it in ’94 and I stand by my position.”

Marjorie M. Pantzar

Age: 66

Residence: Newport Beach

Party: Republican

Family: Married, three children, nine grandchildren, five great-grandchildren

Occupation: Retired businesswoman

Education: Graduated from Hoover High School in Glendale

Background: Member, Corona del Mar unit of California Republican Assembly; past president, Republican Women of Newport Harbor; past president and member, Oasis Senior Garden Club

ON THE ISSUES

IRWD plan: Supports. “I think it could be a big benefit. We have been hearing about San Diego Creek and its filth for years. Now we have an agency that wants to clean it, so why not try it on a two-year program with an investigative board to keep track of it?”

Measure S: Opposes. “I feel an airport there is something we have wanted for years. It would be fabulous for us economically here in our county. We have to do something.”

Measure T: Opposes. “The charter would allow county officials to decide on tax raises and bond issues and I think that is extremely dangerous. I think we ought to get our bankruptcy over with before we do anything like this.”

Abortion: “I’m very much against abortion, but I’m pro-choice. I would never want the government to say what I can do with my body.”

Jacob F. (Jim) Rems

Age: 45

Residence: Irvine

Party: Republican

Family: Single

Occupation: Land surveyor

Education: Attended Santa Ana College and University of New Mexico

Background: Member, Lincoln Club of Orange County, Tustin unit of California Republican Assembly and Republican Associates

ON THE ISSUES

IRWD plan: Opposes. “I’m not for sewage being dumped into the bay. It seems pretty simple. I think it’s a bad idea.”

Measure S: Supports. “The Yes on S people at least would sit down and talk with me. The rest are hiding out. Measure S gives us some breathing room to plan for the future. It also includes what shall be used for the base is the highest and best use.”

Measure T: Opposes. “I was one of the first to come out against it. This measure gives too much power to an unelected county chief executive. Some legal experts say that, as written, it exempts the county from Proposition 13 and Proposition 62 guarantees of voter approval before local tax increases.”

Abortion: “I am clearly pro-life, but I do recognize that abortion is legal in the state of California. I don’t want taxpayer money used to fund abortions. I don’t want taxpayers, through the budgeting process, to endorse abortion, which is essentially what they do.”

Source: Individual candidates; Researched by LEN HALL / Los Angeles Times