ELECTION PERSPECTIVE: LOOKING AHEAD : Voters Turn Thumbs Down on Most Ballot Measures

A variety of ballot measures authorizing everything from school renovation bonds to rent control were rejected by Southeast voters, who tended to treat incumbents more kindly in City Council elections across the region.

Going to the polls in generally moderate numbers Tuesday, voters stuck by the incumbents in a number of communities, including Cerritos, Norwalk, Whittier, Signal Hill and Paramount.

But in almost every instance in which they were asked to approve a ballot measure, they refused, turning down a mobile home rent control ordinance in Bellflower, a new hotel bed tax in Commerce, and an $11.4-million school renovation bond in the Downey Unified School District.

Although turnout figures were not available for all 19 Southeast communities that held elections, city clerks reported turnouts ranging from a skimpy 11% in Lakewood to 50% in Commerce.

Cerritos Mayor Daniel Wong weathered what he called the toughest election of his decade-long council career, winning another term despite the challenge of his first Asian competitor and the shadow of a court fight over his candidacy.

“I went through hell to win this,” said Wong, a physician with aspirations to higher office and a well-oiled fund-raising machine heavily supported by the Los Angeles area’s Chinese-American community. The election’s second-highest vote-getter--behind Paul Bowlen--Wong speculated that he could have picked up another 500 or 600 votes had not Filipino architect Perry Barit been in the race.

Wong, who spent well over $20,000 on his reelection effort this year, also said he was hurt by the dispute over a new city charter amendment limiting council tenures. When the city attorney concluded that a two-term restriction was too fuzzily worded to preclude Wong and other long-time incumbents from running again, amendment proponents went to court to force Wong off the ballot. A judge ruled in Wong’s favor, but that didn’t stop amendment backers from insisting that Wong was thumbing his nose at the community’s will by pursuing a third term.

In a city where campaign bankrolls are often fat and often padded with developer money, Cerritos High School civics teacher Bowlen rode to victory on a grass-roots campaign that benefited from his many years in the classroom and on local playing fields, where he has coached about 20 youth teams.

“I was really surprised,” said Bowlen, 47, who failed in his 1986 council bid. “I had no speech prepared.”

Although Bowlen ran an amiable campaign devoid of strident attacks on city government, he said he was elected partly because voters “want somebody who is independent, who is not part of the inner core. . . . I’m my own man.”

“There are a lot of people with problems who are being ignored,” he continued, saying he hoped to foster social and recreational programs and maintain closer ties with residents than the current council has.

Heavy spending failed to win a council slot for Barit, a planning commissioner who had incurred about $20,000 in campaign expenses as of the last reporting period. He finished fourth out of a field of nine, behind Sherman Kappe, another planning commissioner who was backed by several council incumbents. The race’s feistiest candidates, Chris Fuentes and Bernard Einson, trailed behind, finishing sixth and eighth, respectively.

Voters in the Downey Unified School District rejected a ballot measure that would have authorized the sale of $11.4 million in bonds to fund a renovation of district schools. District property owners would have been taxed to retire the bond debt in 25 years.

Board of Education President Grace Horney said: “We’re wondering what we do next. We’ll have to assess . . . what the ‘no’ vote meant and where we go from here.” Horney said the board would look at alternatives--including another bond-ballot measure and the sale of surplus district property--to fund renovations.

By a 3-2 margin, Bellflower voters defeated a rent-control measure for the city’s 45 mobile home parks. One of the ballot item’s staunchest City Council opponents, M.G. Brassard, was nonetheless defeated, while Joseph E. Cvetko, a rent control supporter, easily won reelection to a second term.

Randy Jay Bomgaars, a rent control opponent, edged out Ivan G. Spangler and Brassard by less than 1/2 of 1% of the vote for the second seat. “What (my victory) shows is that the special interests of the developers and real estate speculators are not going to control our city,” Cvetko said.

Whittier voters indicated their satisfaction with the city’s earthquake recovery effort by reelecting City Council incumbents Myron Claxton and Thomas Sawyer, and selecting Planning Commissioner Bob Woehrmann for the third open seat.

Woehrmann, who worked for City Hall for 12 years before starting an ambulance company, is likely to fit into the largely conservative, pro-business council. However, Woehrmann has promised to resurrect the proposed Hadley Street extension through the Whittier Hills, a sore issue with homeowners who favor preservation of the hillside area.

This year, the council also will be deciding whether to continue funding of local social service agencies. Councilwoman Sabina Schwab, who decided not to seek a third term, had been a strong advocate of social services. Claxton says he will support the city at least maintaining its current $100,000 a year funding, but the rest of the council wants to decrease that amount in light of the recent elimination of federal revenue-sharing grants.

Norwalk voters once again passed over several candidates who have previously run and lost, instead returning Robert E. White to the council for a sixth term and electing the city’s third Latino council member, Mike Mendez.

Mendez, the assistant recreation director for the city of Santa Fe Springs, threw himself into his first council race with gusto. He took 10 weeks off from his job, devoting full time to walking the city’s precincts and wooing Latino voters. He spent about $18,000 and drew the most absentee votes of any candidate in an election that generated one of the highest number of absentee ballots in recent memory, 1,402. The 41-year-old also enjoyed the endorsement of the city employees association.

It was the absentee vote that gave Mendez a solid lead over Ralph Pontius, a planning commissioner who has tried twice before to gain a council seat, only to finish each time just behind the winners. Pontius collected 381 absentee votes, White, 615, and Mendez, 715.

Some Uncounted

In Commerce, Councilman Robert J. Cornejo, 53, won reelection, but Councilman Arturo Marquez lost his seat by 11 votes, according to semi-official returns. Ruben C. Batres, 55, a furniture company supervisor, and Art Navarro, 37, a fifth-grade teacher, were elected to the council. Marquez was appointed to the council in 1984. Former Councilman Michael V. Guerra did not seek reelection.

The new councilmen--like Marquez--want to develop the city’s abandoned Uniroyal plant along the Santa Ana Freeway as quickly as possible. They also said they would work to alleviate congestion at the so-called “Mixmaster” intersection, the city’s busiest. And they don’t want a proposed hazardous waste incinerator built in neighboring Vernon, at least until a full environmental impact study is completed.

Twelve absentee and challenged ballots remain uncounted, an official said. The final canvass, which could upset Navarro’s slim victory, is to be completed by Tuesday.

While Commerce voters rejected a ballot measure that would have imposed an 8% bed tax on the use of hotel rooms in the city, they approved an advisory ballot measure supporting a national health insurance plan.

After two unsuccessful attempts at a seat on the Artesia City Council, William R. Stach defeated long-time incumbent Councilwoman Gretchen A. Whitney.

“The third time was the charm,” said Stach, who had been endorsed by Councilman James A. Van Horn. “Persistence paid off.” Stach, 34, had run unsuccessfully in 1980 and 1984.

Whitney, who had been on the council for 12 years, said she had no regrets.

“I’ve served my city well for 32 years, 20 on the school board and 12 on the council. I enjoyed every minute of it,” said Whitney, 75.

Councilmen Ronald H. Oliver and Robert J. Jamison both retained their seats. Oliver has been on the council 14 years and Jamison has served 16.

South Gate voters proved more rebellious, turning out two incumbent councilmen who were apparently unable to escape the lingering issue of whether the city acted properly last year in trying to form its own electric utility.

Mayor Henry C. Gonzalez, who had been a councilman for six years--the city’s mayor is elected by council members from among themselves--and Councilman John F.Sheehy, who was seeking a third, four-year term, will be replaced by Robert A. Philipp and Dorothea Lombardo, who had run five previous times.

“There was a great deal of dissatisfaction with the the incumbents, especially the Edison deal,” said Philipp, who retired as city Community Development Director in 1985.

Gonzalez, 52, said all along that he had expected political opponents to come after him for his vigorous support of the city’s effort last year to take over Southern California Edison Co.’s business in South Gate.

The city had contended that by going into the electricity business, South Gate would raise money to replace about $1.2 million in lost federal revenue-sharing money.

“The overriding thing was Edison. It ticks me off. I was an innocent victim,” said Sheehy, who always abstained from voting on the issue for reasons he declined to explain.

“What do I do now?” asked Lombardo, who appeared to be surprised that she won. A long-time gadfly and critic of city government, Lombardo said she intends to work hard on the council and “do the best job I can.”

Paramount Councilwoman Esther C. Caldwell and Councilman Gerald A.Mulrooney, two incumbents who rarely agree on issues, were returned to office. Mulrooney finished ahead of Caldwell. Three others, Mike (Pete) DeLivuk, Al Hatwan and Frank Gonzalez had sought the seats.

Although political observers had initially expected recent controversy over the city’s housing boom to dominant the election, a measure on the ballot asking for a business license tax on the city’s lone petroleum refinery generated the most spending in the contest.

Proposition B, which would have levied a tax of six cents per barrel on products produced by Paramount Petroleum Refinery, failed by 165 votes.

A committee called Concerned Citizens Against Measure B, with headquarters in Costa Mesa, raised more than $50,000 to defeat the proposal, which would have generated as much as $650,000 yearly. City officials said the money would have been used to help finance a possible sheriff’s substation and a satellite municipal court in the city.

Several oil industry giants, including Union Oil Co. of America, Mobil Oil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Shell Oil, contributed to the anti-tax group.

In Signal Hill, voters sent a message to City Hall to maintain a rein on residential building and continue demanding more from developers. By returning incumbents Jessie M. Blacksmith, Richard Ceccia and Louis A. Dare to office, voters also expressed support for the city’s use of redevelopment money. The four challengers had argued that the council was too tough on residential developers, and that money from the city’s Redevelopment Agency has unfairly subsidized some large corporate businesses in the last several years. The incumbents argued that they are proud of having lowered residential density by 60%, using redevelopment money to attract and keep large companies that enhance the city’s sales tax base.

Times staff writers Mary Lou Fulton, Roxana Kopetman, Lee Harris, Richard Holguin and Terry Spencer contributed to this report.