ORANGE COUNTY ELECTION RESULTS : Patterson Not Ruling Out Future Campaigns

After losing his contest for Orange County supervisor, former Rep. Jerry M. Patterson said Wednesday he would not seek public office “for a while” but declined to rule out future campaigns.

“I don’t see any great opportunity for me to run for anything,” a tired but upbeat Patterson said. “I’m going to concentrate on improving my personal life--my income, my personal time--I’m going to practice law.

“I’m teaching a class at Cal State Long Beach on public policy analysis,” he added. “I may go hiking in Yosemite or hit the beach. I may even write a book. But I can’t rule out future attempts to win public office.”

Still, several political observers said that Tuesday’s defeat probably ended Patterson’s political career.

Patterson finished third behind Orange Mayor James H. Beam and Anaheim Mayor Donald R. Roth with 26.2% of the vote in 4th District balloting for the supervisorial seat being vacated by Ralph B. Clark, who is retiring. Beam will face Roth in a November runoff election.

Patterson’s failure to make the runoff comes less than two years after he lost his central Orange County congressional seat to conservative Republican Robert K. Dornan, an outspoken former Santa Monica-area U.S. representative and television personality.

A lifelong Democrat, Patterson had been in the House of Representatives for 10 years after serving as mayor of Santa Ana. Some activists thought his record of public service, spanning two decades, had left him with a political base strong enough to return him to elective office in county politics. About a quarter of the 4th Supervisorial District overlaps his former congressional district.

But Patterson was outspent more than 2 to 1 by Roth, his nearest rival, and the district posted a record-low 31% turnout. And Patterson’s chances evaporated as Beam’s and Roth’s name recognition among voters grew to match that of the veteran lawmaker.

Some of Patterson’s closest associates, such as former state Democratic Chairman Richard J. O’Neill, predicted that Patterson will stay in Orange County and participate in party affairs but said he will not seek public office again.

“What could he run for if he couldn’t win this one?” said O’Neill, who was one of three guarantors on a $45,000 bank loan to Patterson’s campaign. “I think he should forget about it and pay us all back.”

But others, including county Democratic Chairman Bruce Sumner, said Patterson still has a career in politics.

“He’s still a fine former congressman and former mayor of Santa Ana. . . . He will have a bright future, absolutely,” said Sumner, who won a landmark write-in victory in Tuesday’s 40th Congressional District Democratic primary.

“Gee,” Sumner added, “look at Richard Nixon. There aren’t any rules. The reasons for Patterson’s defeat have nothing to do with his qualifications as a candidate. . . . The low turnout hurt him.”

But when asked about Patterson’s future career in politics, several other observers echoed political consultant and former county Republican Chairman Lois Lundberg, who said: “What career? Patterson doesn’t have a career at this point.”

“I’ve heard him say that this would be his last shot,” added developer Howard Adler, one of Patterson’s longtime friends and a former county Democratic chairman.

“In the final analysis, his base was among Democrats, and Democrats just didn’t turn out.”

Verlyn S. Jensen, a Santa Ana lawyer close to Patterson, said: “He suffered from being too well-known. He tried to get both Democratic and Republican support, but male Republicans didn’t support him at all. Unfortunately, the tar from Dornan’s campaign against him two years ago stuck.”

“Patterson had a dilemma,” said political consultant Dennis De Snoo. “He was afraid of being labeled the Democratic Party’s candidate in a nonpartisan race. But his support base is among Democrats. He didn’t really go after as much party support as he could have. I think he’s going to have to reassess his political future.”

De Snoo added that Patterson went into the race having the highest level of name recognition among voters but risked stimulating voters’ recall of the bitter 1984 congressional battle with Dornan if he tried to increase it any further.

However, Patterson said his only complaint about the race was his own lack of campaign mail--about four pieces compared to more than a dozen for Beam and Roth.

“That’s a function of money, which I didn’t have, but I also didn’t think that our mail was hard-hitting. . . . I honestly don’t think (San Francisco-based campaign consultant) Clint Reilly did as good a job as he could have with our mail. . . . Maybe he had too many candidates in too many races to give us the attention we needed,” Patterson said.

“But I really have no regrets about the race. I really wanted to return to Orange County (from Washington) and win this thing,” Patterson said. “We had the best campaign--the most volunteers, the most signs--I gave it my best shot.”