3 Candidates Spent Record $1.6 Million on 4th District Race

The three leading candidates in last November’s campaign for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors spent a record $1.6 million on the race, mandatory campaign finance statements show.

Don R. Roth spent $659,418 in his winning bid to become a supervisor and ended the race $213,655 in debt, according to campaign finance statements.

Roth’s opponent, Jim Beam, spent $707,532 in his unsuccessful effort, which ended with him losing to Roth by just over 1,000 votes in the Nov. 4 election, according to the finance statements. Beam reported finishing $198,000 in debt.

Roth was mayor of Anaheim and Beam was mayor of Orange at the time of the election.

Former Rep. Jerry M. Patterson, who was knocked out of the supervisorial race in the June primary, spent $247,653.06 and reported outstanding debts of $128,536 as of Dec. 31, the end of the reporting period.

Record Spending

Alvin E. Olson, the county registrar of voters since 1976, said he was certain that the spending was a record for a supervisorial campaign. The job pays $55,000 a year.

The spending and debt disclosures came in semiannual reports that candidates for elective office must file under state law. The deadline for the most recent filings was Monday.

The expenditures in the 4th District race began in 1985, when Roth and Beam declared their candidacies. Patterson entered the race later. Little of the debt of the three candidates was personal. Most came in the form of loans from supporters.

Roth has already held one post-election fund-raiser to pay off part of his debt. He said Wednesday that he had no plans for additional fund-raisers at present but that “my commitment is that the money that was loaned to me will be paid back in full.” He attributed the sharp rise in campaigning costs to increases in postal rates.

“It’s unfortunate these races cost so much,” he said, “but the problem is that you’ve got to win them.”

Beam said his debt was all guaranteed by individual supporters and that about $150,000 of approximately $200,000 listed on his finance statement already has been repaid. The remaining $50,000 should be paid off within 30 days, he said, “so there’s no need for any fund-raisers.”

The expensive, bitter campaign stemmed from the decision of the incumbent, Ralph B. Clark, not to seek reelection after 16 years as a supervisor.

Clark’s finance statement for the period ending Dec. 31 showed that he left office with a $187,080 surplus. He is barred by law from spending the money on himself and has not indicated how he will disperse it.

Clark’s report said that he spent $29,292 from July through Dec. 31 of last year and took in $19,148, including more than $16,000 in interest on tax-free municipal bonds.

His expenses included $3,838 for a transportation conference in Hawaii last summer and $3,072 for a transportation conference in Australia later in the year.

A sidelight to the supervisorial race occurred during the primary when Roth sent out a brochure saying he was the only candidate who lived in Anaheim. Patterson and Manuel Mendez, who finished a distant fourth and did little campaigning, objected.

Mendez is a longtime resident of Anaheim and Patterson had moved into the city so he could run for supervisor. Patterson said he would stay on in Anaheim, win or lose.

Patterson’s finance statement said that he now lives in Westminster.

Times staff writer Mark I. Pinsky contributed to this story.