Few Choosing to Answer the Call to Public Service

Maybe it’s just a post-Orange County bankruptcy collective sigh of relief that there’s no ugly municipal mess.

Maybe it’s just the prospect of a public pummeling, Jerry Springer-style, from moody voters charged up on daytime TV. Maybe everyone is just too busy shuttling kids, steeling abs, doing the career thing.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why so few people are running for public office anymore in a scattering of cities and school districts throughout Southern California. But if numbers are any indication, there’s a trend here--or at least a blip--that looks awfully sweet for incumbents in the November elections. Consider Orange County: In four school board races and three City Council elections, incumbents are running unopposed.

Ten races in Los Angeles County have been scrapped because the number of candidates did not exceed the number of spots open, said a spokeswoman for the county’s registrar of voters office. And in Ventura County, a lack of challengers eliminates the need to hold elections for seven school districts, the county Board of Education and one city.

Election officials said it’s not unusual for local races to go uncontested. But the number this year has some taking notice. Political scientists are already trying to figure out what happened.

“If you want to get big and sociological about this, maybe it’s about baby boomer, Generation X spillover--focusing on themselves rather than focusing on the community,” said Sandra Sutphen, Cal State Fullerton professor of political science. “It’s more than just apathy. It’s a redirection of people’s interest away from public affairs.”

Others threw out wide-ranging speculations from the thankless, demanding nature of the job--who wants to get a 2 a.m. call from a constituent with a loud-stereo complaint?--to a paucity of hot issues that typically fire up first-time candidates. The big issue in Stanton, for instance, is the delayed reopening of the 99 Cents Only Store.

For whatever the reason, it’s a sleeper of an election season.

Canceling Elections

Under state law, four Orange County school districts--Cypress, Fullerton Joint Union, La Habra City and Savanna in Anaheim--will appoint incumbent trustees rather than hold elections for uncontested trustee seats. In Buena Park’s Centralia School District, one newcomer and two incumbents will be appointed to the three open spots, and the election will be scrapped.

Not everyone supports the idea of canceling uncontested elections. In San Juan Capistrano, several residents urged the City Council this week to hold the election anyway, saying voters still should have the right to cast ballots.

“I’m frightened at the abuse of power being shown here. I thought we lived in the United States of America,” said resident Jim Kaffen. “You have a fiduciary responsibility and a responsibility to your constituents to hold this election.”

The council voted to appoint the three incumbents to another term anyway, at a savings of $12,000. Laguna Hills officials approved a similar action this week, and Stanton will take up the issue next week.

That’s no surprise, said Fred Smoller, chairman of Chapman University’s political science department. The downturn in public participation points to larger societal trends, he said, including two-income families who move a lot.

“These positions at a local level . . . consume a huge amount of time and have no reward, and there’s a lot of abuse,” Smoller said. “Most people don’t feel a civic obligation to take them on. . . . It’s a function of an increasingly transient society as well. You don’t have that sense of community, I think, that we once had.”

Or could it be--as some incumbents insist--that current leaders are doing such a good job that it’s impossible for “throw-the-bums-out” sentiment to emerge?

“First of all, for many people, life is good,” said Laguna Hills Councilman Randal Bressette, one of the unopposed incumbents. “Things are going as well as they have for many, many years. And as a society, we are more active in our family and professional lives than we ever have been in the past. So many people are not willing to sacrifice that time with their family and business to assume a role on the City Council.”

Especially when it means taking on a second job at, say, $382.86 a month, the way it does in Stanton. “We’re kind of like an answering service for the city,” said Mayor David Shawver of Stanton, who gets calls at all hours from people complaining about potholes in the street and other matters. He’s one of the unopposed candidates in November.

“But that’s our job. Usually, we can solve 99% of the calls.”

Another drawback is that City Council and school board positions are rarely steppingstones to higher office.

“It’s a thankless job,” said Nancy S. Zinberg, one of three incumbents on the La Habra City school board who is running unopposed. “Traditionally, it’s just been a community service position, and it hasn’t attracted a lot of candidates.”

Bickering Takes Toll

Even some incumbents have had enough. In the county’s biggest school district, Santa Ana Unified, two board members are stepping down this year, leaving a field of five to battle for two spots.

“Actually, it’s a very rewarding position,” said Robert Balen, a nine-year board member.

But he admits he has grown tired of the political bickering that dominates education meetings at the state and local levels.

“No matter what you do, there’s always going to be a group of dissatisfied voters,” he said. “What we need is more average people, more middle-of-the-road people, people without a political agenda. Because if being on the board is like a political football, I think that could scare some people off.”

Ron Wenkart, the general counsel for the Orange County Department of Education, said questions about a public servant’s private life and his or her finances are likely to dissuade some from running.

“Some might be reluctant to run for public office because of the public scrutiny,” he said. “Some people don’t want to get involved with that.”

But for every school district struggling to attract candidates for its board, there is Irvine Unified, where 10 people have filed with the county to fill two seats.

Margie Wakeham, the only incumbent on the ballot, said part of the appeal must be Irvine’s reputation as one of the highest-performing districts in Orange County. The district’s 22,500 students scored well above the national average on the statewide Stanford 9 exam.

She also suspects that more newcomers have decided to run because there is only one incumbent seeking reelection.

“Candidates who are serious about it run when the field is open,” Wakeham said.

Times correspondents Linn Groves, Chris Ceballos and Lesley Wright contributed to this report.