Two State Senate Candidates Trade Accusations : Politics: Assemblyman Ferguson accuses Brea Councilman Isles of slander. Isles defends charges.

Two Republican candidates in the 31st State Senate District race have traded barbs and allegations of misconduct, accusing each other of mudslinging in a hotly contested race entering its home stretch.

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) kicked off the volleys Tuesday with a morning press conference in Newport Beach, during which he accused Brea City Councilman Ron Isles, another Republican vying for the seat, of slandering him in a recent mailing.

Ferguson has asked the local Republican Party to censure Isles, but the councilman retorted by defending the mailing and saying that Ferguson had “shot himself in the mouth.”

The mailing, which describes Ferguson and another candidate, Assemblyman Frank Hill (R-Whittier), as the “two best legislators that money can buy,” states that Ferguson is under investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission for mistakes he made in reporting 1987 campaign contributions.

Ferguson vigorously denied that he is under investigation, but FPPC spokeswoman Sandra Michioku said Tuesday that the commission continues to have an unresolved case against the assemblyman. She would not elaborate.

When told that the FPPC had confirmed the investigation, Ferguson’s aides produced a Dec. 4 letter indicating that the FPPC proposed fining Ferguson $2,000 for allegedly failing to report in 1987 four contributions totaling $10,000, including $1,500 in non-monetary contributions. The aides said Ferguson intends to contest the proposed settlement.

Meanwhile, Ferguson has asked the Republican Party of Orange County to censure Isles for the mailing and for violating a written pledge in which Republican candidates agreed to refrain from personal attacks.

“If I’m going to abide by that pledge, I expect (my opponents) to abide by that pledge,” Ferguson said.

The Ethics Committee of the county Republican Party had scheduled a meeting Wednesday night to review Ferguson’s request for censure. The committee can recommend censure or other disciplinary action if Isles is found to have violated the pledge, said Greg Haskin, the party’s executive director.

Isles quickly launched a broadside of his own.

“I never cease to be amazed at the mental processes that go on in some people,” Isles said. He supplied voluminous documents--newspaper and magazine articles--to support most of the claims he makes in his mailing and said the allegation that Ferguson is under investigation by the FPPC came from agency officials themselves.

Isles drew a distinction between a “hit piece” and one “pointing out a person’s record.”

“After all, we’re not selling soap here,” he said.

Eight candidates are vying for the state Senate seat in the 31st District, which includes parts of Orange County and Southeast cities of Whittier, La Mirada and La Habra Heights. The seat was vacated in December when Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) resigned. The special election has been set for Feb. 6, but most experts predict that none of the candidates will win an outright majority, so a runoff election is expected on April 10.