ELECTIONS / U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES : Stormy Race for 37th District Seat Steals the Thunder

Any notion that the 37th Congressional District race was going to be a civil campaign among peers debating the issues disappeared the second that Compton Mayor Walter Tucker III and Compton Unified School District trustee Lynn Dymally stepped into the ring.

In the last few months, Tucker’s dismissal from the district attorney’s office has been rehashed in detail. The woefully poor test scores and alarmingly high dropout rate of Compton Unified has been bandied about.

Glossy color photos purporting to show Tucker unlawfully using the city car to campaign were sent to the news media--a charge he has denied. Dymally has been repeatedly accused of using the name and considerable influence of her retiring father, Rep. Mervyn Dymally, to take his seat in the House.

The 37th District race has been one of the hottest in a season of unprecedented opportunity for congressional hopefuls. For the first time in decades, Southeast-area voters will send at least four new people to Congress this winter. A new district was created, and two longtime incumbents, Dymally (D-Compton) and Glenn Anderson (D-San Pedro) are stepping down. A fourth district has been left open by Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), who is giving up his seat to run for the U.S. Senate.

In the 38th District, which covers most of Long Beach, Signal Hill and Lakewood and was left open by Rep. Anderson’s retirement, eight Republicans have stampeded to the forefront in an effort to win the primary and then wrest the district from longtime Democratic control.

In the heavily Democratic 33rd District, a new district carved out for Latinos, three Democrats are seeking election Tuesday. The race has little of the razzle-dazzle of the 37th and 38th. Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard is expected to trounce her opponents.

In the 34th District, which includes Whittier, Montebello, Pico Rivera and Norwalk, the real fight won’t begin until November. Rep. Esteban Torres, who has held the seat for a decade, and Republican business owner J. (Jay) Hernandez have no opposition in the primary.

In the 39th District, which takes up a tiny corner of Whittier, La Habra Heights and Cerritos as well as several Orange County communities, Republican state Sen. Edward R. Royce is waiting out the Democratic primary battle between Fullerton Councilwoman Molly McClanahan and Whittier attorney Garry Hamud.

But by far, the 37th District race has sparked the most fireworks. The district is one of the most heavily Democratic in the state, so much so that not a single Republican braved the race. It has not been lost on the candidates that whoever wins Tuesday is almost certain to become the next representative in the district. The only opposition the winner will face in November will be Peace and Freedom candidate B. Kwaku Duren, an attorney.

With that in mind, five Democrats jumped into the race. Tucker and Dymally were joined by Joe Mendez, a 31-year-old labor leader from Wilmington; Lawrence Grigsby, a Compton attorney, Vera Robles DeWitt, a former Carson Councilwoman.

Dymally, 33, has the biggest campaign war chest. By Tuesday, Dymally estimates, she will have spent $300,000. Tucker is a distant second at about $100,000.

As in most races, the mail has set the tone of the campaign, and the mail has focused mercilessly on each candidate’s weaknesses.

“On June 2, you can take your government back from the slick politicians--and their sons and daughters,” read one DeWitt piece.

Lynn Dymally sent out a glossy mailer labeled “Dymally--a name you can depend on. Tucker supporters promptly responded with a flyer: “Dymally--a name you can depend on . . . to do nothing.” Grigsby weighed in with a hand-drawn leaflet portraying “Big Daddy” Mervyn Dymally on a throne handing his daughter a scepter. The leaflet reads: “Dymally--a name you can depend on--if you’re rich, if you hate democracy, if you hate unions.”

There was also several pieces by a committee calling itself Truth in Politics in which DeWitt was portrayed as a pig and Tucker was labeled a convicted felon. A judge recently ordered the group to stop saying Tucker was convicted of a felony. Tucker pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of altering an official document in the late 1980s while he was a deputy district attorney. Though Lynn Dymally has disavowed any ties to the Truth in Politics group, her father has admitted advising TIP at times.

Indeed, at times throughout the campaign, it seems as though it is Mervyn Dymally who is running and not his daughter. Tucker, DeWitt and Grigsby have all been critical of Rep. Dymally. Tucker repeatedly criticized the congressman for pursuing his overseas interests while ignoring the district. At a recent forum, Tucker accused the congressman of campaigning for his daughter while the district was reeling from the recent riots.

“I am running against Mervyn,” Tucker said. “I’m running against the dynasty, the regime. I’m running against all their money, their political pressure, their political handlers and spin doctors. To say I’m running against Lynn Dymally is a joke. She couldn’t even begin to run a campaign for Congress on her own.”

Lynn Dymally has refused to respond to Tucker’s attacks. At forums and in her mail, she speaks only of her family, her record and her platform.

“I’m out there to sell myself, not to destroy Tucker,” she said. “I don’t have the time or the interest to beat up on him. My track record far surpasses his. The only reason he speaks negatively about me and my father is because he has nothing positive to say about himself or about the issues.”

Meanwhile, the other three candidates say they are concerned that the pressing needs of the district have been lost in all the puffery and grandstanding.

“I see doom and gloom if we get a Tucker or a Dymally in office,” Grigsby said. “They are elitist, they’ve never worked for anybody and they think they are entitled to political leadership.”

Grigsby, Mendez and DeWitt say that Tucker and Dymally cannot relate to the problems of the district. The 37th, which includes Compton, Lynwood, Watts, Wilmington and Carson, is one of the most ethnically diverse districts in the state. It is also one of the poorest, with seven housing projects, a climbing unemployment rate and high crime.

“A cutback at the fish canneries cost my mother her job, layoffs in the shipyard cost my father his job, layoffs at U.S. Borax put me in the unemployment line,” Mendez said. “Tucker says he is from the ‘hood’; well, the people in the ‘hood’ don’t know him.”

Most of the candidates list jobs, health care, crime and education as priorities the new representative must address. Both Lynn Dymally and DeWitt say they favor the proposed Alameda corridor, a depressed railway system that is to run through the district.

Tucker said he would work to bring in the federal aid the district needs to provide job training and to rebuild after the riots. Mendez is running on a platform that emphasizes national health care and affordable housing. Grigsby says that if elected he plans to serve only 10 years during which he will concentrate on education reform.

Until last week, the campaign for the 38th District seat had been eerily quiet. The eight Republicans jostling for victory Tuesday had been a remarkably friendly lot and the five Democrats seemed to be keeping to themselves.

But last week, the grins turned to grimaces when Republican Dennis Brown, a former Assemblyman best known for his history of no-votes and religious convictions, unleashed the first salvo with a piece blasting his three chief rivals.

Of the eight candidates, Brown has the greatest name recognition and the most experience in politics as a 12-year assemblyman. Hot on his trail are former Cal State Long Beach President Steve Horn, who was a White House consultant during the Nixon Administration; Whittier businessman Andrew Hopwood, and Tom Poe, a businessman who was a longtime field deputy to county Supervisor Deane Dana. Others in the Republican primary are Sanford Kahn, a politically active engineer; Jerry Bakke, the owner of a trucking company; John Carl Brogdon, a deputy county assessor, and William Ward, a teacher.

On the Democratic side, the contenders are Long Beach City Councilman Evan Anderson Braude; Peter Mathews, a Cypress College professor; Ray O’Neal, an aerospace engineer and former Bellflower city councilman; Bill Glazewski, a data processing manager, and Clarence Gregory, a retired aerospace worker.

But the Republican primary is in the spotlight. Although Democrats outnumber Republicans, GOP strategists believe they have a chance to take control of the district.

The 38th is a district of primarily working- and middle-class residents that stretches from Downey south into Lakewood, Long Beach and west along the coast. Political analysts say voters in the district tend to be conservative, and that many Democrats likely voted for Reagan and Bush.

Brown, Poe, Horn and Hopwood have conducted the most expensive campaigns. All four have raised over $100,000 and are pumping the contributions into expensive mail campaigns.

Brown, 43, comes into the race with the blessing of many Republican leaders and a record as an assemblyman. While serving in the Assembly, he tended to vote against most proposals, earning the moniker “Dr. No”--a name he is not particularly fond of.

“Unfortunately most people use ‘Dr. No’ in a derogatory way,” Brown said. “I did vote no an awful lot of the time but I sat in a Legislature that was overwhelming dominated by liberal Democrats. What has gotten the nation in trouble today is that not enough people are willing to say no.”

In 1990, Brown said no to the Assembly when he reported that God had directed him not to run for a seventh term. Brown eventually traveled to Cambodia as a missionary and returned in January.

Brown angered his chief rivals last Wednesday with a comparison piece written by the California Republican Assembly, a volunteer group of Republicans, and paid for by his campaign. The mailer refers to Hopwood as “Hop-A-Long Hopwood” for “direct shopping” for a district to run in. Hopwood, a longtime Whittier resident, moved to Downey to run in the 38th. The mailer also calls Horn a liberal and accuses Poe of trying to buy a seat in Congress by giving his campaign $73,000.

Poe was one of the first candidates to speak out against illegal immigration in the campaign. He favors limits on the number of appeals a convicted criminal can make, and greater use of the death penalty. He would also minimize federal funding to schools.

Poe said his work as field deputy for Dana has made him a “professional problem-solver.”

Horn, who strikes a more moderate stance than Brown or Poe, developed a reputation as a tough, hands-on leader as president of Cal State Long Beach.

He supports foreign aid, the right to an abortion, and has proposed universal health care operated by both the government and the private sector.

Horn’s ideology is similar to that of 41-year-old Hopwood, but Hopwood has sought to distance himself from his chief opponents.

“They are all government employees and don’t really have a lick of business experience,” said Hopwood, who owns his own trucking and oil distribution company. “We need people who know business. I believe there has been a direct decline between the economic prestige of the country and the decline in the number of business people who participate in government.”

The other four Republicans--Bakke, Kahn, Brogdon and Ward--have struggled to capture some of the limelight. But they have been far outspent.

Democrats say they are not about to surrender the district without a fight.

“The Bush-Reagan years have hurt the people of the 38th,” said Jeff Adler, campaign manager for Braude. “They are disappointed by the loss of jobs in aerospace, they are angry about the savings and loans (scandal) and the deterioration of the inner cities and the cost of health care. They want to see these problems addressed and our sense is that they will come home and vote in the Democratic Party.”

Braude, supported by his stepfather, Rep. Anderson, has taken center stage. He favors term limits and would trim money from the defense budget to use for education and health care. He favors tougher federal sentencing procedures and tax incentives that would allow McDonnell Douglas to stay in the district. He also favors tougher measures against illegal immigration.

Braude’s chief challenge is coming from government professor Mathews, a progressive liberal who has criticized Braude’s ties to his stepfather and the thousands of dollars Braude has poured into the campaign. Alder said, however, that Braude has spent about $60,000 on the campaign, and only $2,200 came from Political Action Committees.

Mathews, 40, has gained most of his support on the college circuit. He favors a progressive tax on the rich, universal health care modeled after the Canadian system, and redirecting defense dollars to retrain defense workers to rebuild ports, streets and bridges.

The other contenders--O’Neal, Glazewski and Gregory--have been conducting low-profile campaigns. O’Neal and Gregory have been treated for heart ailments during the campaign.

37th Congressional District Communities: Carson, Lynwood, Wilmington, Willowbrook, most of Compton and parts of Athens, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Paramount.

Population Latino 258,278 45% African-American 192,420 34% Asian 57,701 10% Non-Hispanic white 68,776 12% Total** 577,175 101%

Party registration Democrat 138,835 76% Republican 26,313 14% American Indep. 2,166 1% Green 117 * Libertarian 498 * Peace & Freedom 1,900 1% Miscellaneous 379 * Declined to state 12,587 7%

Number of registered voters: 182,795

Candidates: Democrat Lynn Dymally, Compton Unified School District board member Lawrence A. Grigsby, attorney Joe Mendez Jr., pipe fitter Walter R. Tucker III, Compton mayor Peace & Freedom B. Kwaku Duren, economic development attorney * Less than 1%

** Some people may have been counted in two ethnic categories during the 1990 census, thus creating an inflated population total.

Sources: Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office and Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning. 38th Congressional District

Communities: Bellflower, Downey, Lakewood, Paramount, Signal Hill, most of Long Beach and parts of Compton, Norwalk, South Gate and San Pedro.

Population Latino 146,899 26% African-American 44,337 8% Asian 49,445 9% Non-Hispanic white 329,425 58% Other 2,551 * Total** 572,657 101%

Party registration Democrat 116,062 48% Republican 97,276 41% American Indep. 2,984 1% Green 570 * Libertarian 1,029 * Peace & Freedom 1,205 * Miscellaneous 464 * Declined to state 25,068 10%

Number of registered voters: 244,658

Candidates: Democrat Evan Anderson Braude, Long Beach city councilman Bill Glazewski, data processing manager Clarence Gregory, retired aerospace worker Peter Mathews, Cypress College professor Ray O’Neal, aerospace industrial engineer Republican Jerry Bakke, trucking company owner John C. Brogdon, Los Angeles County deputy assessor Dennis Brown, businessman, former assemblyman Andrew Hopwood, oil transportation company owner Steve Horn, Cal State Long Beach professor Sanford W. Kahn, engineer/businessman Tom Poe, vice president, international consulting firm William Ward, teacher Peace & Freedom Paul Burton, musician/writer * Less than 1%

** Some people may have been counted in two ethnic categories during the 1990 census, thus creating an inflated population total.

Sources: Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office and Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning.

33rd Congressional District

Communities: Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Cudahy, South Gate, Huntington Park, Maywood, Vernon, Florence, Walnut Park and parts of Downey, Los Angeles and East Los Angeles.

Population Latino 477,975 84% African-American 25,473 5% Asian 21,471 4% Non-Hispanic white 46,077 8% Total ** 570,996 101%

Party registration Democrat 55,046 65% Republican 18,400 22% American Indep. 1,136 1% Green 153 * Libertarian 349 * Peace & Freedom 929 * Miscellaneous 233 * Declined to state 7,962 9%

Number of registered voters: 84,208

Candidates:

Democrat

Frank Fernandez, real estate investor

Lucy F. Kihm, paralegal

Lucille Roybal-Allard, assemblywoman

Republican

Robert Guzman, education consultant

Libertarian

Dale S. Olvera, retired salesman

Peace & Freedom

Frank Boeheim, cook

Tim Delia, special-education teacher

* Less than 1%

** Some people may have been counted in two ethnic categories during the 1990 census, thus creating an inflated population total.

Sources: Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office and Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning. 34th Congressional District

Communities: Montebello, Norwalk, Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs, Whittier and parts of Commerce, East Los Angeles, Hacienda Heights, Industry, La Habra Heights, La Mirada, La Puente, Rosemead, South San Gabriel, Valinda and West Covina.

Population Latino 325,143 57% African-American 11,060 2% Asian 49,765 9% Non-Hispanic white 153,071 27% Other 34,008 5% Total 573,047 100%

Party registration Democrat 122,878 61% Republican 59,925 29% American Indep. 2,145 1% Green 255 * Libertarian 749 * Peace & Freedom 938 * Miscellaneous 580 * Declined to state 14,699 7%

Number of registered voters: 202,169

Candidates:

Democrat

Rep. Esteban Torres, incumbent

Republican

J. (Jay) Hernandez, optical laboratory owner

Libertarian

Carl M. Swinney, radiologic technologist

* Less than 1%

Sources: Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office and Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning. 39th Congressional District

Communities: Artesia, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, La Habra Heights, parts of Hacienda Heights, La Mirada, Long Beach and several Orange County cities.

Population Latino 130,920 23% African-American 15,095 3% Asian 76,326 13% Non-Hispanic white 349,012 61% Other 2,221 * Total 573,574 100%

Party registration Republican 40,582 46% Democrat 39,242 44% American Indep. 821 * Green 118 * Libertarian 358 * Peace & Freedom 266 * Miscellaneous 163 * Declined to state 7,270 8%

Number of registered voters: 88,820

Candidates:

Republican

Edward R. Royce, state senator

Democrat

Gary Hamud, attorney/educator

Molly McClanahan, Fullerton city councilwoman

Libertarian

Jack Dean, business executive

* Less than 1%

Sources: Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office and Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning.

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Clarification: Steve Horn did not work as a White House consultant during the Nixon Administration. He was however a Nixon appointee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, as well as other commissions and boards.

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