SAN CLEMENTE : Saddleback Trustee in Assembly Race

Iris Swanson, a seven-year trustee of the Saddleback Community College District, on Tuesday became the sixth South County resident to declare candidacy for the new 73rd Assembly District seat.

Swanson, 65, is the fourth South County Republican to enter the race. The others are Dana Point Mayor Mike Eggers, Laguna Niguel Mayor Patricia C. Bates and San Juan Capistrano attorney Carlos F. Negrete.

The remaining candidates are Democrat Tom Potocki, a salesman from the unincorporated area of Aegean Hills near Mission Viejo, and Bonnie R. Streeter of Capistrano Beach, who will run on the Green Party ticket.

Swanson said she is offering voters an alternative to the “career politicians.”

“With the passage of Proposition 140, the people of California have said that they want citizen legislators, not career politicians,” Swanson said. “I intend to go to Sacramento, fight the good fight for the time allotted, and then pass the baton to another able citizen legislator.”

She added that her time on the college board has prepared her for the statewide job.

“Ten years ago I never would have thought in my wildest dreams I’d be running for an office like this,” Swanson said. “But now I’m excited about it. I know I have the background to do it.”

Swanson, one of the founding members of the Saddleback College faculty, served for 15 years as executive assistant to the college district chancellor. Before her work at Saddleback, she was employed for eight years by the El Rancho Unified School District and 10 years by the Pacific Telephone Co.

Swanson, a San Clemente resident for 25 years, said her backing should come from the Saddleback College constituency. She served as president of the district Board of Trustees in 1990.

“That’s where I’m known most, through my college efforts,” she said. “But I am active in many volunteer organizations, such as the Soroptomists.”

Helping advise Swanson in the race will be San Juan Capistrano Councilman Kenneth E. Friess and Dana Point Councilwoman Eileen Krause.

Communities in the new 73rd district include Laguna Hills, Aliso Viejo and parts of South Laguna, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente; and Camp Pendleton, Oceanside and part of Carlsbad in San Diego County.