Bono the Winner in Palm Springs and Burton in S.F.

If Monday night was Cher’s, Tuesday night was Sonny’s.

A day after his ex-wife and former singing partner was recognized as best actress at the Academy Awards ceremonies, Sonny Bono was elected mayor of the desert resort community of Palm Springs by a comfortable margin.

With all the ballots counted Tuesday night, Bono was at the top of the heap with 4,842 votes, compared to his closest rival, accountant Lloyd Maryanove, who got 3,498.

“I feel so excited I can’t even describe it,” the 53-year-old restaurateur, flanked by his pregnant wife, Mary, told a crush of reporters at a victory party at the posh downtown Maxim’s Hotel.

“The first thing I’m going to do is give this city back to the people--they haven’t had it in a long time,” Bono said as a band played hits made famous by the old Sonny and Cher singing team of the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

“Palm Springs will never be the same!” shouted Bono supporter Helen Nicks, 72, a Palm Springs resident of 10 years. “I was going to leave this town, ‘til Sonny.”

Bono’s victory came on the election night that saw veteran politician John Burton stage a comeback in a San Francisco Assembly race and the favorite candidate of Clint Eastwood replace the actor, who had decided not to seek reelection as mayor of Carmel.

Bono, who announced his candidacy last February, campaigned on a promise to renew glamour and bring back business lost to rival resorts such as Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert.

His vow to get rid of the “old boy network” that he claimed is choking the local economy with overly restrictive building ordinances won him the support of many merchants, along with hotel and restaurant owners.

Campaign rhetoric aside, Bono’s celebrity status may have been the toughest challenge facing the six other candidates for the four-year post that pays $15,000 annually.

In recent months, stories about Bono’s campaign appeared in magazines and newspapers across the country, accompanied by photographs of the diminutive former entertainer riding motorcycles and kissing babies.

“I think the celebrity status got me a lot of name identification,” he said. But he added that it wasn’t easy overcoming his image of being “a straight man for Cher.”

Burton, a close ally of embattled Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, succeeded in his political comeback by winning the San Francisco Assembly seat that launched his political career 24 years ago.

With all 272 precincts reporting, Burton finished with 52.2% of the vote. His nearest rival, Democrat Roberta Achtenberg, a lesbian attorney, had 36.5%.

“They know me,” Burton said Tuesday night. “They trust me, for whatever reason. And they know that I will do the job for them.

‘It was made a referendum on John Burton, and John Burton passed.”

The heavily Democratic 16th Assembly District seat in San Francisco came open when Art Agnos, who had held it for a decade, was elected mayor last year, leaving vacant the last six months of the current term.

The district covers the eastern part of the city, and includes the heavily black Bayview-Hunters Point area, the largely Latino Mission District and the gay Castro District.

The situation could become somewhat confusing June 7. That is the primary date for the term that begins in 1989. Democrats Achtenberg and Burton are on that ballot as well.

Achtenberg, after congratulating Burton Tuesday night, said: “I thank him for keeping the seat warm.” She added that she plans to run a serious campaign against Burton in the June 7 primary.

“I look to June 7 for the next test of our mettle,” Achtenberg said.

The liberal and flamboyant Burton, 55, held the Assembly seat from 1965 until he was elected to Congress in 1974. Burton quit Congress in 1983, saying the job was no longer fun. He also was addicted to cocaine and alcohol and needed time to break his habits.

Burton reentered politics at the urging of his friend, San Francisco Democrat Brown, who has been counting on a Burton victory to shore up his defenses against a rebellion by the “Gang of Five”--dissident Democrats who are challenging Brown’s speakership.

With Democrats holding a 43-36 margin over Republicans in the Assembly, the group of rebel Democrats has been able to rob Brown of legislative victories by throwing its five votes to the GOP. With the San Francisco seat and two others, Brown presumably would have enough Democratic allies to render the dissidents ineffective.

The Burton family was a dominant force in San Francisco politics for two decades. John’s oldest brother, Rep. Phillip Burton, died in 1983 and his widow, Sala, won the congressional seat in a special election. Sala Burton died last year, making it appear as if the dynasty had ended.

In Carmel, Jean Grace, a longtime friend of Eastwood’s, beat five other candidates in the race to replace the actor, who did not seek reelection as mayor of the seaside resort community. Grace, a geographer, received 1,144 votes; her chief challenger, Clayton Anderson, got 868 votes.

Louis Sahagun reported from Palm Springs and Dan Morain from San Francisco.