Twin Runoffs to Decide 1st, 3rd District Seats

Voters in Orange County on Tuesday were setting the stage for twin runoff elections to replace two long-term members of the Board of Supervisors whose political careers were upended by the county’s bankruptcy.

With more than half of the 1st District precincts reporting, Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes and Westminster Mayor Charles V. Smith were heading for a runoff for the seat being vacated by Supervisor Roger R. Stanton at the end of the year.

In the other race, Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) and prosecutor Todd Spitzer, a Brea Olinda Unified School District trustee, will likely vie for the 3rd District seat that former board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez resigned from in September, according to returns from nearly half of that district’s precincts.

Supervisor Don Saltarelli was appointed to complete the remainder of Vasquez’s term but declared when he took the job that he had no interest in extending his stay on the board.

As with most issues in county government, the bankruptcy cast a long shadow over the two primary races for the Board of Supervisors and is likely to remain a factor during the runoff elections, which will be held Nov. 5. The top two candidates face off in a runoff election, unless one candidate garners more than 50% of the vote.

As they campaigned for office, the candidates talked about their vision for a post-bankruptcy county and the reforms they would support to ensure that a similar financial disaster could never reoccur.

Early returns showed that Conroy had a sizable lead over Spitzer and six other candidates.

“It’s going to be a piece of cake,” Conroy said about the upcoming runoff. He slammed his challengers as young and inexperienced “RINOS”--Republicans In Name Only. “Young people don’t have the moral fortitude of my generation,” he added.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Spitzer said he was pleased with the early returns but remained cautious about his second-place standing. Trailing closely behind him was Susan Withrow, a Mission Viejo councilwoman.

Preliminary returns in the 1st District race showed that Leyes and Smith were locked in a neck-and-neck battle, with Fountain Valley Mayor George B. Scott trailing closely behind.

“The message connected with voters,” said Leyes, whose residency status in the district was questioned by opponents and is being reviewed by the district attorney’s office. The voters “are tired of business as usual. They want new, conservative, responsible leadership.”

Smith also was pleased with his showing.

“It looks like it’s going to be a runoff, and that’s encouraging,” Smith said. “Mark Leyes had a ton of money behind him and a ton of mailers. My major platform was restructuring of county government and getting the bankruptcy recovery plan in place, and I wanted to get on the Board of Supervisors to help implement those things.”

When the two new members join the board in January, they will probably face a number of controversial issues, such as privatization, term limits, jail overcrowding and planning for the conversion of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, being abandoned by the military, to civilian use.

Because the county is planning to emerge from bankruptcy by June, the incoming supervisors might not have to address the county’s financial recovery, but they may have to contend with public discontent caused by the crisis.

According to a recent Times Orange County Poll, more than 40% of voters believe that the board did a poor job in handling the financial collapse. About two-thirds wanted Stanton and Supervisor William G. Steiner--who were in office when the county went bankrupt--to resign immediately.

That type of anger attracted a large field of candidates, but only a few raised enough money to be considered serious contenders for the nonpartisan positions.

Five candidates, including three popular Republican city officials, battled to represent the 1st District. They were: Scott, Smith, Leyes, business consultant Gary D. Copeland and Robert John Banuelos, a retired Pacific Telesis employee.

Leyes, a Democrat until he switched his affiliation to the Republican Party in January 1995, led the pack, with more than $55,000 as of the Feb. 10 campaign financial disclosure filings. Scott collected $40,000, and Smith raised $25,000, according to the February filings.

The 1st District represents Fountain Valley, Westminster, Santa Ana, Midway City and part of Garden Grove.

For the 3rd District seat, there were eight candidates.

The early favorite in the race was Conroy, who will be leaving the Assembly because of term limits. Conroy did not participate in most of the candidate debates during the campaign, apparently hoping to bank on his name recognition. Part of that recognition is linked to his sponsorship of an unsuccessful bill that would have permitted the paddling of youths who misbehave in school.

Conroy, 68, was by far the best-financed candidate in either race, raising at least $140,000.

The other candidates included: Withrow, Spitzer, Rancho Santiago Community College District Trustee Charles W. Maddox, Lake Forest Councilwoman Helen Wilson, activist Bruce W. Whitaker, lawyer William A. Dougherty and law clerk Ron Middlebrook.

The 3rd District lies in the northeast part of the county, encompassing all of La Habra and Brea and sweeping south into Lake Forest and Mission Viejo.

The addition of two new supervisors will make the board one of the freshest and least-experienced county boards in many years. The two new members will join Supervisors Marian Bergeson, Jim Silva and Steiner. Bergeson and Silva were sworn into office in January 1995, just a month after the bankruptcy was declared. Steiner, who was appointed to the board in March 1993 and elected in 1994, has vowed not to seek reelection when his term expires in December 1998.