Brown’s Widow, Lacking Party Nod for His Seat, in Race With 9 Others

While still mourning the death of her husband, the longest-serving congressman from California, Marta Macias Brown has followed the example of more than three dozen political widows by seeking election to his post in Washington.

In the past, virtually all the congressional widows have won. Brown, however, has been unable to even win the endorsement of the Democratic Party, thus throwing the race for a replacement for the late Rep. George E. Brown Jr. up in the air.

Brown’s chief competitor is a fellow Democrat, state Sen. Joe Baca of Rialto, creating a dilemma for Democratic voters in a special primary Tuesday.

So evenly divided were local party activists at a recent caucus that they endorsed neither Brown nor Baca for the 42nd District seat.

Who can best argue a claim to the seat held by Brown since 1972? Brown, 79, died in July after having won 14 consecutive elections to represent the gritty blue-collar heartland of the Inland Empire, straddling Interstate 10 from Ontario east to San Bernardino.

The primary has attracted 10 candidates, including five Democrats. But all eyes are on the battle between Brown and Baca, with a third Democrat, Fontana Mayor David Eshleman, also a contender.

The Republican Party, in contrast, selected one of three party candidates, Elia Pirozzi, to anoint with money and resources.

Democratic Party officials acknowledge that they were put in a tough position in trying to make an endorsement, but the indecision “reflects on the strength” of the candidates, said regional director Steve Graves. “They’re not that lucky on the Republican side, and the only person they could put forward is someone we’ve already beaten once.”

In Tuesday’s open primary, voters can select from any of the 10 candidates without respect to party affiliation. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top vote-getter from each party will be on the November general election ballot.

No matter who wins the Democratic nomination Tuesday, Graves said, that candidate will be in a strong position to win the Nov. 16 general election because the district’s voter registration favors Democrats over Republicans 52% to 33%.

Republican Pirozzi, a Rancho Cucamonga attorney and real estate agent, ran against Brown in 1998, losing by 15 points. It was Brown’s most comfortable margin of victory in about 20 years.

Also appearing on Tuesday’s ballot are Republicans Ron Guzman and Hal Styles Jr. Guzman, who almost defeated Brown in 1996 but lost to Pirozzi in the 1998 Republican primary, announced that he was dropping his candidacy this year when the GOP endorsed Pirozzi. His name remains on the ballot. Styles is a securities broker who lives outside the district in Desert Hot Springs.

The Reform Party candidate is Rick Simon, a civil engineer from Crestline. John Ballard, a San Bernardino electrician, is running on the Libertarian ticket.

On the Democratic side, Don Hubner, a Highland real estate agent, and Bernard McClay, an Alta Loma businessman, are on the ballot along with Brown, Baca and Eshleman.

Eshleman, the wealthy owner of a meat processing company, boasts that he is more fiscally conservative than even the Republicans. Spending mostly his own money, Eshleman says he hopes to tap conservative voters from both parties and win the Democratic primary as the liberals split their vote.

Brown and Baca sport similar stands on such issues as Medicare, Social Security and education, but differ on gun control.

Brown is a hard-line advocate of banning assault weapons and cheap handguns, and has strongly criticized Baca for failing to support such measures.

Baca says that despite the National Rifle Assn.’s support for him over the years, his position on gun control has evolved. He said he recently voted in the state Senate to support mandatory trigger locks.

Brown contends that she can best carry on her late husband’s legacy and knows the intricacies of Washington politics.

Brown embraced politics long before marrying the congressman. A San Bernardino native, she began working in public service jobs after college and joined Brown’s congressional staff in 1980. She served as the congressman’s chief advisor, first locally and then in Washington. They married in 1989.

This is her first run for elective office, but if she wins, she would join a California congressional delegation that includes Democrat Lois Capps, who succeeded her late husband, Walter, from Santa Barbara, and Republican Mary Bono, who succeeded her late husband, Sonny, from Palm Springs.

Party officials often support the candidacies of widows because, among other reasons, they can tap voter sympathy and exploit name recognition in retaining the seat. Marta Brown’s candidacy is all the more viable because she worked directly with her husband and generated the personal support of constituents over the years.

“I’m not the traditional widow,” Brown said. “I was already a community leader [before marrying her husband]. Anyone who’s had contact with the office knows my role in it--from the local office to Washington and our contacts abroad.”

Baca also enjoys a high political profile.

He was first elected to office in 1979 as a community college trustee. In 1992, he won an Assembly seat and in 1998, facing term limits, sought his current Senate post. His district encompasses most of the congressional district.

“I’m the one with the most experience,” Baca said. “I have leadership qualities. I have a track record of legislative accomplishments.”

Name identity is essential in a race where there was little time to campaign, and the lesser-known candidates have neither the recognition nor the money to effectively get their word out.

“Mrs. Brown was already very active in politics on her own account. She’s not just ‘a widow,’ said Tony Quinn, who co-authors the California Target Book, a well-known resource among political activists. “But Baca can claim that it’s his turn and right to move up [the political ladder]. He’s won in that area, and won big.

“It’s not clear who should have deferred to whom,” Quinn added. “It would have been better for the Democratic Party to have just one candidate.”