Elections : Incumbents Breeze in Pomona : Mayor Eddie Cortez and council members Nell Soto, Paula Lantz and Willie White cruise to victories. Challenger in 1st District race alleges election fraud.

Pomona voters must be happy with their elected officials because all four incumbents were voted back into office by comfortable margins in Tuesday’s election.

Mayor Eddie Cortez earned 52% of the vote while his closest challenger, Milo E. Rodich, trailed with 32%. Two other challengers received less than 10% each.

In the contentious race for the 1st District, incumbent Nell Soto won a third term with 57.7% of the vote. Opponent Bob Jackson received 42.3%.

Incumbents Paula Lantz and Willie White also were reelected handily, each garnering about two-thirds of the votes cast.

The nastiest race unfolded between Soto and Jackson, who were vying to represent west-central Pomona.

The fireworks continued Wednesday morning, with Jackson accusing Soto of fraud and saying he would contest the election results.

“There were misprinted ballots, precincts that got the wrong ballots and precincts that were combined at the last minute,” Jackson alleged. “It was a dirty election, very much tainted, and we need the Secretary of State to come down here to Pomona City Hall for an investigation.”

The two candidates were polar opposites: Soto is seen as a savvy political insider who supports bringing controversial card clubs into Pomona and raised at least $30,234 in campaign funds. Jackson is a political neophyte who opposes card clubs and raised $2,895 for the campaign.

“Obviously, I’m doing a good job or voters wouldn’t have put me back into office,” Soto said Wednesday. “Mr. Jackson is so pathetic. He tries to blame his losing on everyone but himself. Nothing of the sort happened and he knows it. Apparently, the voters didn’t think Mr. Jackson was good for the district.”

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ELECTION RETURNS

* Denotes incumbents

POMONA

Mayor

(If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the two top finishers meet in a runoff.)

CANDIDATE VOTE % Ric Belluscio 549 9 Edward S. Cortez* 3,184 52 Milo E. Rodich 1,961 32 Abe Tapia 429 7

* City Council

District 1

5 of 5 Precincts Reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Robert Jackson 472 42.3 Nell Soto* 643 57.7

*District 4

5 of 5 Precincts Reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Paula Lantz* 1,031 76.5 D’Andre McPheeters 317 23.5

*District 6

8 of 8 Precincts Reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Gregory Osan 688 37 Willie E. White* 1,172 63