Antonovich Struggling; Hahn, Dana and Reiner Reelected

Facing a militant slow growth movement, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich struggled during early returns Tuesday for the votes needed for victory in his heavily suburban district, while his two supervisorial colleagues were easily reelected.

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner overwhelmed his opposition and won a second term so handily that it is expected to push him along in a race for statewide office, possibly attorney general, in two years.

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, crippled by a stroke and forced to campaign from a wheelchair, proved again that his brand of old fashion politics--hand-shaking, church-going and filling his district up with public services--works. The predominantly black voters of the 2nd District, reaching from Lynwood to Culver City, overwhelmingly gave their white reppresentative a 10th four-year term.

Supervisor Deane Dana was easily elected to a third term representing the 4th District, which runs along the coast from Long Beach to Malibu.

In judicial contests, meanwhile, all three Superior Court and eight Municipal Court judges who faced opposition were winning in early returns, including the three judges who had been rated “not qualified” by the Los Angeles County Bar Assn.

Growth was the major issue as Antonovich sought a third term in the most suburban of the five supervisorial districts--the 5th, reaching from the still rustic canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains through the new growth suburbs of the western and northern San Fernando Valley and over the San Gabriel Mountains to Pasadena and other cities in the San Gabriel Valley. Nine challengers, including the man Antonovich defeated in 1980, Baxter Ward, attacked Antonovich repeatedly for favoring developers and other business interests who had contributed to his campaign.

Antonovich received just 50% of the absentee votes, which are usually dominated by conservative candidates. To win election in the primary, and avoid a November runoff, Antonovich needed more than 50%.

“He is well on his way to a runoff,” said one of his challengers, Los Angeles Fire Captain Don Wallace, a homeowners’ leader in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The supervisor said many of his Republican supporters had not voted because the GOP presidential race had already been decided. “A small Republican turnout is a factor. . . . I think it would help Republican candidates if we had a contested primary.” He added that “none of the polling indicated a problem . . . but if people don’t vote, it doesn’t help.”

But fellow conservative Dana said he thought Antonovich was hurt by public objections to construction in Agoura, Calabasas and the Santa Clarita Valley. That was “part of it,” Dana said. “But a lot of it is Mike’s style, his management style in dealing with his constituency.”

The judicial races appeared to be something of an embarrassment for the Los Angeles County Bar Assn.’s system of rating judges.

Superior Court Judge Henry Patrick Nelson, rated “not qualified,” was winning in first returns by nearly 3 to 1 over attorney Joe Ingber, who had been rated “qualified” by the Bar Assn. Los Angeles Municipal Judge Michael Nash and Southeast Municipal Judge Russell Schooling, both also rated “not qualified,” were also winning by 3-1 margins over opponents who had gotten higher ratings.

Superior Court Judge Burton Bach, whose decision upholding a $5.8-million verdict against a labor union for violent picketing, brought in its wake major opposition to him by organized labor, was leading his opponent, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence Mason, in the early returns by a 3-2 margin. And Superior Court Judge Roberta Ralph, whose opponent, Harvey A. Schneider, refused to say why he was running against her, also was leading by a 3-2 margin.

Municipal Judges Malcolm Mackey, Jerold A. Krieger, Terry Smerling and Sherrill D. Luke were all leading in their bids for open Superior Court seats by sizable margins.

With the exception of Antonovich, the Los Angeles County incumbents ran confident, low-profile campaigns, pretty much ignoring their opponents.

Antonovich first paid no attention to his nine challengers, but toward the end of the campaign began calling them “The Gang of Nine” and appeared with them in a debate Memorial Day weekend.

He did not take the race lightly. He put more than $1.1 million into his effort, apparently aware of the slow-growth sentiment in the Santa Monica Mountains and the newer residential suburbs in the western and northern San Fernando Valley.

Another danger sign as he began the race was the fact that he had run poorly in these areas when he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the Senate two years ago.

TV, Radio Ads

A big chunk of his money, $450,000, went for television and radio advertisements, with his campaign managers picking the well-watched Ophra Winfrey and Phil Donahue shows, as well as game shows and the Lakers basketball playoffs. Another large amount went for mailed advertisements.

Contributions from the building industry and financial institutions, which have a stake in development, as well as other businesses helped boost the Antonovich campaign treasury.

While the amount of the campaign contributions, and the source, gave opponents material for attacks, they lacked the funds to spread their messages very far.