Pringle Trailing Umberg; Wieder, Capizzi Take Leads

As several prominent county incumbents staved off tenacious challenges, Democratic assembly candidate Tom Umberg threatened to break the Republican Party lock on Orange County’s legislative delegation Tuesday.

Early election returns showed Umberg leading Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), while Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder and District Attorney Michael R. Capizzi savored strong leads over their opponents.

But 24-year county Supt. of Schools Robert Peterson was trounced by Whittier College professor John F. Dean.

In other key races:

A referendum to buy Laguna Canyon was teetering on the edge of receiving a necessary two-thirds majority in Laguna Beach.

Huntington Beach Mayor Thomas J. Mays, a Republican, was leading Long Beach Democrat Luanne W. Pryor in the 58th Assembly District race to replace former Assemblyman Dennis Brown (R-Los Alamitos), who resigned in March. Besides Pringle, other Orange County legislators appeared headed for reelection.

Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter was expected to retain his office after defeating a challenge from Councilman Irv Pickler.

In a surprise decision, Orange County voters approved a tax increase for the first time in 30 years, voting for Measure M despite recent state and federal increases in the gas tax. The county measure, calling for a half-cent increase in the sales tax, is nearly identical to one rejected by voters last year.

Two Orange County officials were headed for defeat in their bids for statewide office. State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) trailed incumbent Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy. And Huntington Beach Councilman Wes Bannister was running behind in the race for the newly-created office of state insurance commissioner.

“It’s going to be a long day tomorrow,” Bergeson said Tuesday night.

Bannister, a Republican, was losing to state Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove).

“It’ll be the biggest fluke in the whole world if I win,” said Bannister, who complained that he was overwhelmingly outspent. “If you can win a campaign in California statewide like that, that’s a fluke.”

Meanwhile, in the governor’s race, Republican candidate Pete Wilson worked hard to turn out Orange County’s GOP faithful. He was leading Democrat Dianne Feinstein by about 2-to-1 in preliminary Orange County returns.

In Pringle’s 72nd Assembly District, GOP leaders waged an all-out attempt to defend the incumbent from a major attack by state Democratic leaders. Republicans brought party luminaries like Vice President Dan Quayle and former President Ronald Reagan into the district, which includes Stanton and parts of Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Anaheim and Westminster.

“We knew it would be a tough fight,” Umberg said Tuesday evening. “It’s been a parade of Republican sinisters.”

Pringle, 31, relied heavily on an appeal that portrayed him as a vital member of the Republican Party who was essential to achieving the GOP’s goals. Umberg, on the other hand, attempted to disconnect himself from the Democratic Party, saying that he would not hesitate to challenge the Sacramento leadership to get tougher crime laws.

An Umberg victory would give Democrats their first legislative seat in Orange County since 1986.

Pringle’s election in 1988 was marred by controversy over the Republican Party’s posting of uniformed guards at several predominantly Latino polling places. Tuesday night, the incumbent said he thought the race would not be decided until early this morning. “I was down by 200 votes at 2 a.m. two years ago, so you never know,” Pringle said.

In her supervisorial race, Wieder, of Huntington Beach, was fighting off a challenge from Westminster Councilwoman Joy L. Neugebauer. Capizzi was facing an office colleague, James Enright, the county’s chief deputy district attorney.

Both county incumbents enjoyed an overwhelming financial advantage and the full support of the county Republican Party.

“It’s early in the evening and I have a lot of confidence in the electorate I have served for all these years,” Wieder said at the election-night gathering for county Republicans in the Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel.

Tuesday’s contest marked Wieder’s most challenging reelection bid in three terms as well as the first time an incumbent supervisor has faced a runoff in more than a decade. Neugebauer attacked the 12-year incumbent during her campaign, but still, the race produced few new issues.

In the district attorney’s race, Capizzi emphasized his accomplishments and long list of endorsements. Enright, meanwhile, tried to paint a sharp contrast between himself as a courtroom prosecutor and Capizzi as an administrator.

Those sorts of office squabbles surfaced repeatedly during the campaign, generating the most excitement in a race that otherwise failed to capture the attention of the public.

The race for county school superintendent also found an incumbent running hard, but in that contest, Peterson was overwhelmingly defeated.

Tuesday’s race marked the first time he had ever faced a serious challenge. But college professor Dean waged a spirited race, finishing ahead of Peterson in June and falling just short of winning a majority outright.