Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : POLITICS : County’s GOP Flexes Muscle to Sweep Election

Orange County’s Republican majority flexed its muscle Tuesday, reelecting all five of the county’s congressmen and taking all nine seats in the state Legislature.

For Congress, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) staved off a challenge from Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove) in a vitriolic campaign.

“There’s something about me that raises a particular ire in hard-line liberals,” Dornan said. Former Superior Court Judge Bruce W. Sumner, who won the June primary in a write-in campaign, couldn’t best incumbent Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach). William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), Daniel E. Lungren (R-Long Beach) and Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) also were easy winners.

The Democratic Party lost its lone state Assembly seat when Santa Ana Mayor Dan Griset lost to Republican Richard E. Longshore for the 72nd District Assembly seat, a race in which the candidates spent a total of more than $800,000.

In the other Assembly races, Republican incumbents--Dennis L. Brown (R-Long Beach), Ross Johnson (R-La Habra), John R. Lewis (R-Orange), Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), Nolan Frizelle (R-Huntington Beach), Robert C. Frazee (R-Carlsbad) and Doris Allen (R-Cypress)--all won handily.

With his victory in the only state Senate race, Sen. Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim) made it a clean sweep for the GOP.

Anaheim Mayor Don R. Roth beat out Orange Mayor Jim Beam in a tight race for a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors. The candidates had to wait until early Wednesday for the final tally.

In Costa Mesa, pro-development candidates Orville Amburgey and Peter Buffa emerged winners in a 13-person race.

In San Clemente, Holly Ann Veale and two slow-growth advocates, Brian J. Rice and Thomas W. Lorch, won council seats. City voters also rejected a measure that would have limited the height of trees.

Huntington Beach voters elected three pro-growth candidates--John Erskine, Tom Mays and Wes Bannister--and one slow-growth advocate, Grace Winchell. City Atty. Gail Hutton also was reelected.

Santa Ana voters rejected a proposal for ward elections for the third time Tuesday, approving a ballot measure that will provide for direct election of the mayor. Newcomers Miguel Pulido and Ron May and incumbent Dan Young won council seats.

Anaheim voters reelected incumbents Miriam Kaywood and Irv Pickler and brought in a new council member, Fred Hunter, who outdistanced incumbent E. Llewellyn Overholt Jr. The new council will have to decide whether to fill Roth’s vacancy by appointment or by a special election.

In Newport Beach, voters elected two incumbents and two newcomers. There will be a special election Nov. 25, when a measure to approve a $300-million expansion of Newport Center will be on the ballot.

In Fullerton, two incumbents were reelected despite controversy over jets using the city airport.