Loud, Clear Message for Incumbents

Turning out in large numbers, Orange County voters ousted incumbents in key local races but backed veteran politicians, including Irvine’s Larry Agran, in other bitterly fought contests, incomplete results showed Wednesday.

Among the losers: Westminster school board member Helena Rutkowski, a Roman Catholic who opposed a state anti-discrimination law because of its liberal definition of gender, and Laguna Beach City Councilman Wayne Baglin, a political fixture for 26 years.

In Placentia, a slate of three candidates, including an incumbent, overpowered the mayor and a councilman, laying the groundwork for big changes there. Similarly, incumbent Mayor Joe Snyder in Dana Point lost to a political newcomer who asserted that City Hall was dominated by special interests.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido easily won reelection, but his control over the City Council majority slipped when the council candidate he supported lost.

In Anaheim, Mayor Curt Pringle retained his majority on the City Council with the election of Lorri Galloway, the executive director of the Eli Home, a shelter for abused children and their mothers. Critics argued that donors contributed to the shelter to curry favor with Pringle, who supports Galloway and the shelter.

Pringle and Pulido had it easy compared to Agran, who is the closest thing Orange County has to a city boss. Agran had to fight to retain a seat on the City Council after having been termed-out as mayor.

With thousands of absentee ballots from Irvine still uncounted, Agran held a slim lead Wednesday. His hand-picked successor, Councilwoman Beth Krom, was well ahead of Mike Ward for mayor; another Agran-backed candidate, Sukhee Kang, held a lead for an open seat.

With the difference between Agran and his two closest competitors less than 0.5% of the vote, opponents said Wednesday the race remained unsettled.

Agran said support for his slate was a repudiation of partisan politics. The county Republican Party and a GOP fundraising group spent an estimated $350,000 against Agran, Krom and council candidates Kang and Debbie Coven -- all Democrats in the GOP-dominated city.

“People know that building parks and providing for safe streets are neither Democratic nor Republican issues,” Agran said. “They are simply issues of good government.”

Continuing the city’s effort to create the Great Park at the former El Toro Marine base, he said, played heavily into his victory.

In Santa Ana, Carlos Bustamante won the Ward 3 City Council seat, a victory that many observers believe could signal the end of Mayor Pulido’s hold on the council.

Three council members -- Claudia Alvarez, Lisa Bist and Mike Garcia -- supported Bustamante. His opponent, Alexander “Sandy” Nalle, was backed by Pulido and council members Jose Solorio, Alberta D. Christy and Brett Franklin, who is leaving the council because of term limits.

Bustamante’s victory “is the breaking of the power of Miguel,” said Kim Gerda, a longtime community activist.

In the race for Orange County supervisor, Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) defeated Garden Grove Mayor Bruce Broadwater, a fellow Democrat.

The 1st Supervisorial District includes Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Westminster and the unincorporated areas of Midway City. With 617,000 people, it is the most densely populated of the five supervisorial districts.

On Wednesday, Correa mused about shifting from a highly partisan job in the Assembly to being the only Democrat on the board.

“I’ve been able to work with Democrats and Republicans to get the job done,” Correa said. “I don’t see it as a challenge that I’m the only Democrat on the board.”

Baglin was resoundingly ousted after being targeted in a direct mail and advertising campaign by a political committee that received $15,000 from Ohana Holdings, an investor in the Montage Resort & Spa in Laguna Beach.

Baglin was competing with Jane Egly and incumbent Mayor Cheryl Kinsman for two open seats on the Laguna Beach City Council.

Baglin and Egly said they are opposed to the Montage building an 18-hole golf course in Aliso & Wood Canyons Wilderness Park. The resort, which quietly acquired the Aliso Creek Inn and Golf Course, has been considering such a project.

In Placentia, three candidates who vowed to overhaul the city’s $450-million OnTrac project were elected to the five-person City Council, upsetting two incumbents who were staunch supporters of the rail plan.

Retired Placentia Police Chief Russell Rice, incumbent Councilwoman Constance Underhill and long-time community activist Joe Aguirre defeated Mayor Judy A. Dickinson and Councilman Scott P. Brady.

OnTrac is a plan to lower five miles of railroad track into a concrete trench and build 11 underpasses and overpasses along the city’s busy rail corridor.

Facing high costs and considerable uncertainty over government funding, the project has plunged the city into debt and triggered an investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Aguirre, Rice and Underhill say they want to scale back the project and act as soon as possible to fire the project’s high priced consultants, including executive director Christopher Becker.

“We want to reevaluate the project see where we stand,” Aguirre said. “The city should not pursue projects without the money in hand.”

In Fullerton, Mayor Mike Clesceri lost his reelection and blamed an associate of Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas, for whom he had worked as an investigator.

Michael Schroeder, a former state Republican Party chairman and Rackauckas supporter, spent $10,000 in mailers criticizing Clesceri for taking a medical retirement from the D.A.’s office yet seeking other law enforcement jobs. Clesceri said Schroeder’s political attacks were reprisals after he wore a wire to help the state attorney general’s office probe Rackauckas’ office.

“I served the city well for four years,” Clesceri said Wednesday. “It’s clear that it was just a political assassination....You can only absorb so many hits.”

In Mission Viejo, former Saddleback Valley School Board member Frank Ury was easily elected to the City Council and incumbent Gail Reavis narrowly defeated three challengers, including former city manager Dan Joseph.

Ury, a founding member of the conservative Education Alliance, a group dedicated to returning traditional values to schools, won the seat vacated by longtime Councilman William S. Craycraft, who decided not to run after learning of Joseph’s candidacy.

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Times staff writers Dave McKibben, Jennifer Mena, Jean Pasco, H.G. Reza, Joel Rubin, Daniel Yi and Kimi Yoshino contributed to this report.