GOP Mailer Swayed a Nonpartisan Race

Louise Adler, a six-year incumbent on the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, is the first to admit that she had some liabilities in her bid for reelection last week. She had been, in her own words, “very outspoken.”

“You stay around long enough, and shoot your mouth off long enough, you’re vulnerable,” said Adler, 44.

But in the end, Adler’s biggest liability may have been her political affiliation. Adler, the only Democrat among the eight candidates, joins others in the district in attributing her loss to a last-minute mailer that injected highly partisan politics into the nonpartisan race.

Featuring a picture of but no formal endorsement by Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, the mailer reached up to 15,000 conservative GOP households in the last few days before election day. It urged voters to elect three Republicans, including the other two incumbents, R. Kent Hann and Raghu P. Mathur, and political newcomer Marcia Birch, an education volunteer.

“These Republicans best follow the George Deukmejian tradition of efficient tax spending and a return to quality education,” the mailer said.

Voters were urged to vote against Adler, as well as four other candidates who are Republicans. The mailer noted that the three candidates it endorsed were Republicans but indicated no party affiliations for the other five candidates.

Voters apparently listened. They elected Birch, Hann and Mathur, in that order, with Adler losing in the fourth position. Well regarded on the board, Adler’s loss was a surprise to Republicans and Democrats alike.

“It was a shocker,” said Mike Eggers, aide to Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad).

The partisan stamp on the race was seen by local politicians as a harbinger of things to come. They said partisan politics can be expected to reach down to city council and school board levels more frequently in reaction to a federal appeals court decision in August giving the parties a freer hand in endorsements and other activities.

“I think we’re just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg as far as political parties being involved in local races,” said state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), chairwoman of the Senate Local Government Committee.

Bergeson, a former school board member herself, said she thinks there are some problems with that: “Most of the issues (at the local level) are not partisan issues. I think it will be very difficult to plan effectively if you have a polarized, partisan attitude toward many of these nonpartisan issues.”

Adler said the proponents behind the mailer are “a new set of players here that have not been active before” in the Saddleback Valley area.

Responsible for the mailer was an organization calling itself the Saddleback Conservatives for Responsible Taxation and Representation in Rancho Santa Marguerita, formed a few weeks ago. Dale Hardeman, a resident of that community for three months and treasurer of Saddleback Conservatives, said he took it upon himself to collect about $2,300 to put out the mailer.

Hardeman, a public relations consultant and former aide to Assemblyman Wayne Grisham (R-Norwalk), said he got into the race because “I’m always interested in supporting conservative candidates. I guess it’s in my blood.”

He refused to say who donated money to the mailer, other than to name John Cronin, a longtime resident and businessman who is vice president of the Lincoln Club, a conservative Republican activist group.

Cronin gave $99 toward the mailer and another $99 directly to Birch. Cronin’s 22-year-old daughter, Kelly, also gave $99 for the mailer. Donors who give less than $100 are not required to be listed on campaign-financing reports filed with the county registrar of voters.

Cronin’s role is significant because he is the Lincoln Club vice president who heads the committee that selects candidates to whom the club will give financial support. Although it concentrates its donations on partisan races, the Lincoln Club “from time to time” makes contributions to city council and school board races, according to club president Coalson Morris.

Cronin said he was only “a contributor to what Dale Hardeman put out there” and was not behind the mailer, despite earlier discussions he had held with others about the possibility of putting out such a mailer.

“Evidently, I didn’t put one out,” Cronin said when asked about these discussions.

Board member Hann said he was one person who told Cronin he did not think the mailer “was the right thing to do,” even though Hann benefited from it.

“That was a very specific mailer designed by Republicans to defeat a Democrat,” Hann said.

Referring to winner Birch, Hann said: “Some loyal conservative Republicans . . . knew that standing by herself she couldn’t be viable. They had to link her somewhere to give her some power.”

In the end, however, Hann said he found it “very difficult to be upset that someone spent a lot of money trying to support me.”

He added that Cronin’s suggestion for a mailer “was exactly what went out” to voters under Hardeman’s name.

Board member Mathur, also endorsed on the mailer, said he was not contacted beforehand about it.

Mathur and Hann both expressed concern that Birch may not align with them on educational issues as well as had Adler.

“I feel somewhat distressed to see that partisan politics in school board elections have led to the defeat of a competent and dedicated school board member,” Mathur said.

Dore Gilbert, a member of the board who was not up for reelection, agreed.

“A nonpartisan school board race was turned into a Republican referendum, and that’s why Louise lost,” said Gilbert, a Republican.