Flores ‘Not Unhappy’ to Stay on Council

Republican Joan Milke Flores failed Tuesday in her bid to unseat incumbent Secretary of State March Fong Eu, but the three-term Los Angeles councilwoman said Wednesday that she is not disappointed to be back at City Hall.

“I am not unhappy that I lost,” Flores told reporters after attending a council meeting. “I am not unhappy that I have this job. I think it is the best district in the city.”

Flores, whose 15th district stretches from Watts to San Pedro, collected about 40% of the vote in her first bid for statewide office, according to unofficial election returns. Eu, a Democrat reelected to a fifth term, won 52% of the vote, while three other candidates shared the remaining 8%.

Tired but decidedly upbeat, Flores moved to quell any concerns that her run for secretary of state somehow reflects a lack of interest in her current post. She said she is eager to get back into the day-to-day routine of City Hall, where she worked as a council aide for 25 years before winning her current post in 1981.

“Anybody who would go for a promotion on a job couldn’t necessarily be accused of not liking the job they have if they wanted to have more responsibility or kind of broaden their scopes,” she said.

At the same time, Flores was careful not to rule out another run for higher office, although she said she has none in mind at the moment. “What I really want to do is get some rest and kind of get caught up,” she said.

With the election behind her, Flores said her top priorities in the district include obtaining public waterfront access in Wilmington from the Port of Los Angeles, tackling transportation problems in the harbor area and determining whether to expand the downtown San Pedro redevelopment area.

She also plans to hold a fund-raiser to pay off an estimated $300,000 in debts from the campaign.

Although she was defeated by a comfortable margin, Flores said that she does not think of herself as a loser. She credited her campaign with highlighting problems in the relatively obscure secretary of state’s office and for mounting the most serious challenge yet to Eu.

As recently as August, Flores trailed Eu by a nearly 4-1 margin in some polls. In the end, Flores held Eu to less than 60% of the vote for the first time since Eu was elected secretary of state in 1974. Eu also lost her unofficial title as California’s top vote-getter, which she had held for four straight elections.

“There is a new level of consciousness now about the secretary of state’s office that probably hasn’t been there since Jerry Brown was there,” Flores said, referring to Eu’s predecessor who moved on to the governor’s office in 1974. “We focused some attention on the duties of that office, and people will now realize that it is more important to them than they suspected.”

Eu was said to be resting Wednesday and was not available for comment. But her campaign consultant credited Flores with “running a strong campaign.”

The consultant, Leo McElroy, also said Flores made a “very respectable showing” and predicted that some of Flores’ criticisms would lead to changes in the secretary of state’s office. “When a part of the conduct of an office becomes a public issue, it inevitably results in reassessment,” he said.

He added, however, that he believes Flores’ decision to run a negative campaign, centered on hard-hitting television ads, did little to enhance her own political image.

“I don’t think the negatives she threw in this campaign add anything to her stature or luster,” McElroy said. “Many of the votes were not votes cast for her, but purely in response to negatives she threw at March Fong Eu.”