CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / 73RD ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Candidates Turn on Each Other in Crowded Primary Race : Rhetoric takes twist toward nasty in forum for those vying for newly created seat shared by Orange and San Diego counties.

COSTA MESA —  Shrugging off any semblance of congeniality, the crowded Republican field in the 73rd Assembly race traded hard blows Monday during a forum before the Orange County GOP Central Committee.

The sharpest barbs came from San Juan Capistrano attorney Carlos Negrete, who accused Dana Point Mayor Mike Eggers and Laguna Niguel Councilwoman Patricia C. Bates of foisting “simple-minded solutions” on the public.

Negrete pointed to a recent mailer dispatched by Eggers, who raised eyebrows by suggesting that the Los Angeles riots ceased largely because looters had to take a break to pick up their welfare checks.

“He believes the riots were stopped because welfare checks came,” Negrete said, as many among the crowd of about 100 snickered. “That type of demagoguery is what brought this party down.”

Negrete also cited published reports in the mid-80s that suggested Eggers was doing personal business out of the district office of Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad), whom the Dana Point mayor has served as Orange County chief of staff for the past decade.

Negrete also hit Bates for the 99 acres in her city that was intended for parkland but was instead deeded to a developer who built houses on it.

During his turn at the microphone, Eggers mostly ignored Negrete’s remarks. Instead, he took time to blast Bates, pointing to a recent mailer to residents that criticized each of the candidates but endorsed the Laguna Niguel councilwoman.

“I’m sick and tired of this kind of nonsense,” Eggers said, holding up the mailer. He added that Bates and Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), who supports Bates, “have enough political baggage . . . to fill a garbage truck.”

Bates, meanwhile, said she agrees that the race should remain “issues-oriented” and decried the “approach Mr. Negrete takes.” She insisted that the newsletter mailed out on her behalf was “based on facts.”

She said the parkland issue was a “media event” based on “innuendo” and insisted that there was “no loss” of any land that was intended for a public park.

The sharp exchanges, which had many in the crowd alternately gasping and laughing, were indicative of the increasingly hostile nature of the race.

Initially, the contest was decidedly free of political fireworks. With no incumbent to attack, the candidates simply tried to stake their territory on the issues.

But of late the race has gathered steam, driven in no small part by Negrete, who has criticized nearly all of the candidates at one time or another during debates.

The fight in the newly created 73rd District, which sprawls along the Pacific to include southern Orange and north San Diego counties, turned into a free-for-all among eight candidates in the Republican primary after longtime Assemblyman Robert Frazee (R-Carlsbad) opted to run in another district just down the coast.

Among those running in the GOP primary are Carlsbad Mayor Claude (Bud) Lewis, Oceanside Councilman Sam Williamson, attorney Bill Morrow of Oceanside, Saddleback Community College Trustee Iris Swanson and Bill Jay, a math professor at Saddleback College.

With the GOP holding nearly a 2-to-1 registration edge over Democrats in the district, the Republican candidate still standing after June 2 will be a heavy favorite in the November election.

Geography also promises to play a role in the outcome of the race.

The 73rd, newly created from parts of two other districts under the reapportionment plan approved in January by the state Supreme Court, stretches from Dana Point and Laguna Niguel on the north to Carlsbad on the south. In between the scattered cities is the massive Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base.

If there is an edge on paper, it would seem to go to candidates from Orange County, which has 60% of the district’s voters. The numbers are even greater in the GOP primary, where 61% of the electorate in Orange County is Republican compared to 51% in north San Diego County.