Political Notes : Roth Files Complaint About Mailer by Beam

Anaheim Mayor Donald R. Roth said Tuesday that he has complained to the county Fair Campaign Practices Commission about statements in a political mailer sent on behalf of a rival candidate for supervisor, Orange Mayor James H. Beam.

Roth said Beam’s literature stated incorrectly that Orange was the first city in the county to adopt a toxic chemical disclosure ordinance. Irvine adopted such an ordinance in 1983, two years before Orange acted, Roth said.

The Anaheim mayor is vying with three other candidates to become supervisor for the 4th District. If no candidate wins an outright majority Tuesday, the two top vote-getters will meet in the November general election.

Roth also took issue with allegations in Beam campaign’s mailer that he, Roth, “chose not to implement the same strict anti-toxic rules for his city” as Orange had adopted.

“Then it happened,” the mailer continued. “The Fricker Chemical company fire that caused over 2,000 residents of the city of Anaheim to be evacuated from their homes.”

Roth said Anaheim was working with other cities and the county to adopt a model ordinance to be applied countywide and subsequently passed such a law. He noted that the Fricker fire was labeled arson and characterized Anaheim’s response as “quick, correct and effective.”

In response, Beam said Irvine’s ordinance did not make each company’s list of toxic chemicals readily available to the fire department as the Orange law does. Because Anaheim did not have such a law when the Fricker fire occurred, he said, the fire department did not have all the information it needed to deal with the blaze.

Roth, Beam, former Rep. Jerry M. Patterson and architect Manuel Mendez are the candidates for a district seat that includes Anaheim, Orange, Buena Park and La Palma.