Flores Beats Field in Supervisor Race, but Faces a Runoff

Sarah Flores, seeking to become the first Latino to serve on the Board of Supervisors, handily triumphed over a 10-candidate field Tuesday in eastern Los Angeles County’s 1st District, but could not corral the majority needed to avoid a runoff with the second-place finisher.

The race was clouded by an election-eve court decision invalidating the county’s district lines--a decision ironically based on evidence that Latinos could not win a seat because of the way political boundaries had been drawn. A court hearing is scheduled for Thursday to address, among other issues, whether the supervisorial election was a moot exercise.

The crowded field of candidates seeking to replace retiring Supervisor Pete Schabarum had all but ensured that none would receive a majority, forcing a Nov. 6 runoff. It appeared that Flores’ opponent would be Gregory O’Brien, a Superior Court judge backed by Schabarum.

Throughout the county, a record low 35.84% of voters went to the polls Tuesday--despite an assortment of high-profile statewide contests and initiatives on the ballot.

In a surprising development in the county assessor’s race, Kenneth P. Hahn, a political novice with a well-known name, was headed for a runoff with Assessor John J. Lynch.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” said Hahn, who is no relation to the longtime Supervisor Kenneth F. Hahn.

Lynch said: “The real Kenny Hahn endorsed me and, once people know that, it will be easy” to win a runoff.

In other county races, Sheriff Sherman Block won reelection. Supervisor Ed Edelman also was reelected to a fifth four-year term in the 3rd District.

With about 66% of the precincts reporting, Flores had collected 34.5% of the vote to top the 1st District field. The heavily Latino district takes in most of the San Gabriel Valley and part of the southeastern county.

O’Brien, Schabarum’s choice, was second with 20.2% of the vote. Robert Bartlett, mayor of Monrovia, was third with 12%. Jim Lloyd, a former congressman, was fourth with 9.2%. And the rest of the pack was well back.

But the results of both supervisors’ races could be thrown out because of U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon’s ruling Monday that supervisorial district boundaries illegally dilute Latino voting strength. The judge has scheduled a hearing for Thursday with county officials about how to address his ruling.

The victorious plaintiffs--the U.S. Justice Department and two civil rights organizations-- intend on Thursday to petition the judge to throw out the election results and call a special election under a new redistricting plan.

Latinos represent one-third of the county’s population, but no Latino has ever been elected to the powerful five-member board. The plaintiffs have contended that even if a Latino wins in the existing districts, it does not resolve the issues that prompted the voting rights case, notably that Latinos are denied an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice to the board.

There was distress among county officials about the turnout, which was under the record low of 38.61% set in the June, 1986, election.

“People feel disconnected from the process,” said County Registrar-Recorder Charles Weissburd. “They feel things will be done with or without their participation. They would just rather stay home and see a basketball game or do something else than go to the polls.”

Weissburd, who had predicted a 43% turnout, said: “I am a cheerleader. God knows, I go to so much trouble to get them registered, to put out 30,000 people in 6,500 polling places, and we’re all just sitting there waiting for them.”

In the 1st District race, Flores told 300 supporters at her campaign headquarters in Glendora: “The people are saying that the election was not invalid.” The crowd included many Latinos and Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana.

“It’s like a gift from heaven,” said Flores, a Republican who raised $400,000 for the campaign, the most in the field.

Dana said: “We plan to take it (the appeal of the ruling) as high as necessary. This victory (by Flores) means it will be difficult for the judge to enjoin the election. I think Sarah will win the runoff in a walk.”

At one point, when it was announced on television that Flores was leading by 14%, someone in the crowd of supporters yelled out, “Eat your heart out, Pete,” in reference to Schabarum.

Schabarum, who supported O’Brien over his long-time deputy, said he was not surprised at Flores’ lead in the race, adding: “The name of the game is name identification, and Sarah had more money, which is more name ID.”

At O’Brien’s headquarters in a West Covina shopping mall, the candidate nervously awaited the results. “I’m not one to get sweaty palms, as a rule, but tonight I’ve got them,” he said.

Standing before a huge American flag, surrounded by campaign posters, O’Brien said: “I am excited about the prospect of a runoff.” To his supporters, he added, “I have every reason to believe that with your help and the help of the Lord, we’re going to win this thing in November.”

Flores, 52, is a 34-year county employee who worked her way up the bureaucracy from a secretary to become Schabarum’s chief deputy.

Though she had never run for political office, Flores put together a sophisticated political operation, with help from Antonovich and Dana. The two supervisors, seeing in Flores an opportunity to resolve the voting rights lawsuit and elect a fellow Republican to the board, steered campaign contributors her way, helping her to become the top fund-raiser.

She also hired Ron Smith, a veteran political consultant who engineered the then-unknown Dana’s 1980 election to the board. Smith oversaw Flores’ public appearances, while Allan Hoffenblum, another veteran political consultant, directed her aggressive mail campaign.

O’Brien, 44, who serves as judge in Pomona and is a neighbor of Flores, made use of Schabarum’s support. The supervisor was featured in a mailer that attacked Flores as a “career bureaucrat” whose duties have been “largely ceremonial.”

O’Brien, a Republican Party activist, was making his first try for county supervisor.

The low-profile assessor’s race presented Lynch, a first-term incumbent, challenged by six aspirants to the $130,869-a-year job--including four current and former employees who accused him of being a bully and failing to get tax bills out on time.

Lynch was a 14-year veteran of the lower ranks of the assessor’s office who surprised himself by winning election to the vacant job in 1986. He made headlines during his first term by throwing county auditors out of his office and being accused of assaulting an employee during a heated argument over the worker’s union activities.

Sheriff Block easily won reelection to a third four-year term--despite the fact that his department is suffering through a year of scandal and controversy. The controversies include an ongoing investigation into allegations of widespread malfeasance among narcotics investigators.

“This reaffirms,” Block said, “the tremendous level of confidence the people in this community have in the men and women who make up the department.”

Even long-time supporters had agreed that the tarnished image of the 7,000-member force under his command would keep him from reaching past victory margins, even though he faced two poorly financed opponents: Roland C. Biscailuz, 44, a detective in the department’s Lennox station, and Joseph G. Senteno, 43, of Inglewood, a custodian at UCLA.

In the only contested Superior Court judgeship, Judge Lourdes Baird was leading lawyer Mitchel J. Ezer. Baird has been nominated by President Bush to be U.S. attorney in the Central California District. If she wins reelection and is then confirmed for the federal job by the U.S. Senate, the judgeship vacancy will be filled by Gov. George Deukmejian.

Times staff writers David Ferrell, John H. Lee, Frederick M. Muir, Dean Murphy, Amy Pyle, Louis Sahagun, Hector Tobar and Mike Ward contributed to this report.