Cleaning House Is No Small Chore : Voters did a splendid job, turning out many officials who had breached ethics

San Diego voters failed to throw local incumbents out of office wholesale Tuesday, though election returns indicate they were trying.

But on a day when more than half the eligible voters were too disillusioned to even drag themselves to the polls, county voters were discerning enough to boot a few politicians who breached ethical standards or were accused of doing so.

A couple of others with controversial, and to us, coldhearted, stands on migrant workers also lost.

What made this possible, in some cases, was that the anti-sleaze voter had the luxury of choosing a credible challenger with at least an outside chance to win.

Gone from Congress is Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Bates (unless absentee votes erase Republican Randall (Duke) Cunningham’s thin margin of victory).

Bates, you’ll recall, was sanctioned by the House Ethics Committee for sexual harassment in 1989.

Though he survived a primary this year, Bates lost in a district where he enjoyed a 53% to 35% registration edge to an opponent who enjoyed both substantial campaign funding and high name-identification.

Voters also retired Assemblywoman Sunny Mojonnier (R-Encinitas), who had agreed to pay $13,200 in fines and restitution for double-billing the state and her campaign committee for business trips, as well as for using campaign contributions to pay for fashion and beauty treatments for her staff.

Mojonnier’s victorious opponent, Democrat Deirdre Alpert, had the endorsement of all three major newspapers before winning in the heavily Republican district.

At the local level, incumbent Carlsbad Councilman John Mamaux, facing a Fair Political Practices Commission review of allegations that he is guilty of conflicts of interest, was ousted.

Outgoing Sheriff John Duffy’s numerous transgressions didn’t help protege Jack Drown in a race seen as a referendum on Duffy.

It also was not a good day for candidates who had publicly allied themselves with radical measures to curb the flow of illegal migrants into the county.

Councilwoman Marjorie Gaines, who had loudly fought the presence of migrant workers in Encinitas, was bounced from office.

Light Up the Border organizer Muriel Watson lost by 20 points to incumbent State Sen. Wadie Deddeh.

Sure, voters reelected a few politicians who have shown disturbing lapses of ethical judgment.

Assemblyman Pete Chacon, who accepted a $7,500 honorarium from a check cashiers’ organization after abandoning legislation it opposed, is one example. Chacon, also considered one of the Assembly’s least effective members, easily bested Republican challenger Roger Covalt.

But there’s always the next election.

For this year, we’re not unhappy to discover that one outgrowth of voters’ anti-incumbent sentiment is a cleaner, less extreme slate of elected officials.