ELECTIONS : Ousted Torrance Official Blames City’s Fiscal Woes : Timothy Mock loses council seat. Incumbent George Nakano wins, as do a teacher and an insurance broker.

First it shook the business world, and now the financial scandal involving Orange County investor Steven D. Wymer has changed the face of the Torrance City Council.

High school government teacher Maureen O’Donnell seized first place and eight-year incumbent Timothy Mock went down to defeat Tuesday in a council election dominated by debate about city finances.

Though that debate in part concerned pension-boosting pay raises granted by the council to two city employees, it centered on the dramatic disappearance of $6.2 million of the city’s funds in Wymer’s investment web.

Incumbent George Nakano was reelected, and the third seat up for election went to insurance broker Don Lee.

Coming in a city in which an incumbent council member has not been defeated in nearly two decades, Tuesday’s result proves voters have serious doubts about the way city leaders are handling Torrance’s finances, challengers and incumbents say.

“Obviously these problems shocked and horrified the public and got their attention,” said O’Donnell, who sharply criticized city investment practices during her campaign.

Mock, meanwhile, conceded that the city’s investment problems had “a good deal” to do with his loss.

Competing Tuesday for three at-large council seats were the two incumbents and eight challengers: O’Donnell, Lee, Michael S. Botello, William A. Cook, Ronald Ellis, Burton Fletcher, Mark Hamblett and Donald N. Pyles.

In the end, O’Donnell had 18% of the vote to Nakano’s 17%, Lee’s 15.3% and Mock’s 14.2% when all 56 precincts and absentee ballots were counted.

Election officials said 21.3% of the city’s registered voters cast ballots Tuesday--low, but better than the 14% turnout in 1986 and 15% in 1988. Morning rains may have discouraged some voters, officials said.

O’Donnell and Lee voiced surprise that they both won election while incumbent Mock had not. O’Donnell, who ran unsuccessfully for city council eight years ago, attributed her victory this year to several factors.

“I certainly didn’t think I would come in No. 1,” she said at her victory party, held at the Old Torrance home of longtime friends Dick and Alice Kuhns. “But I think the fact that I have been involved in the community for many years . . . certainly played a role.”

Likewise, O’Donnell said her election was propelled, in part, by the fact that she was the only woman in the 10-candidate race. “I think women have a good record in politics,” she said.

In her campaign, O’Donnell criticized city investment policies, called for the city treasurer’s resignation--and sent out an 11th-hour mailing that attempted to set her apart from other challengers.

Unlike O’Donnell, Lee avoided direct criticism of City Hall until his campaign’s final days, when he sent out a mailing addressing the Wymer investment scandal and the disputed pay increases.

Both those issues played a part in his victory, he said: “I think it made people question the status quo more than they have in past elections.”

Nakano said that, like Mock, he might have been hurt by the Wymer and pension controversies, even though he won a third term.

“If those two issues were not there, then clearly I feel the two incumbents would have been reelected, and I think I would have come in first,” he said.

As recently as late fall, the council election was attracting little interest. But 13-year Councilman Dan Walker announced Dec. 3 that he would forgo another four-year term to run for state Assembly--leaving only two incumbents competing for three seats on the seven-member council.

Then, sour financial news hit City Hall.

Torrance officials revealed Dec. 20 that they could not account for $6.2 million of city funds entrusted to Wymer, an Irvine investment adviser who has since pleaded innocent to 30 counts of securities fraud and other charges.

And less than a week later, the city was taken to task in a state controller’s audit for large raises it granted to two high-ranking city officials a year before they retired--pay hikes that substantially boosted the two employees’ pensions.

The field of challengers swelled rapidly, and Nakano and Mock quickly found themselves under attack.

Leading the charge was Fletcher, who finished fifth. But his blistering criticism of city financial practices might have broken the trail for the two challengers who won seats--O’Donnell and Lee.

Fletcher and another unsuccessful challenger, Ellis, chided O’Donnell for what they called unfair--but effective--criticism of lawyers.

A key theme of O’Donnell’s campaign was that she is “neither an attorney or an insurance agent” seeking office for personal profit. Three attorneys were among the challengers, including Fletcher, Ellis and Botello, who came in sixth.

Nakano also took on Fletcher in the campaign’s last days with so-called “attack” mail questioning the challenger’s January proposal for a City Council pay increase.

And Nakano pointed to two early mailings he sent to thousands of city voters--including one asking them to return a postcard listing their concerns--as one successful way of communicating with voters.

“When you have that many candidates running, you make sure your brochure gets (out) first,” Nakano said.

Mock was widely credited with mounting a fair campaign based on issues, not personalities. Unlike Nakano, he did not attack Fletcher or other challengers. In fact, of the top five vote-getters, he was the only one not to send out a so-called “negative” mailing.

“This is the first time that negative campaigning has really escalated in Torrance,” Mock said Wednesday. “I’ve always run positive campaigns. . . . Tearing someone down, I don’t think, is advantageous.”

Nor did Mock, a friend of Torrance Treasurer Thomas C. Rupert, join in the campaign season attacks on Rupert’s investment policies.

“Tim has been more guarded in his direct criticism of the city treasurer,” Mayor Katy Geissert said. “I think he was trying to do the decent thing, but it may have hurt him.”

Lee agreed with O’Donnell that the biggest surprise of the election was the defeat of incumbent Mock.

“I really feel sorry for Tim . . . he ran a good campaign,” Lee said, noting that his own defeat in a 1986 council race made him sympathetic to Mock’s disappointment. “I know what it feels like more than a lot of other people,” Lee said.

Councilman Mark Wirth--a close friend of Mock--made his disappointment at Mock’s defeat clear late Tuesday night during a visit to O’Donnell’s victory party.

“Congratulations. Welcome to the council,” Wirth told O’Donnell as she stood with supporters on the front porch of her friends’ home.

“Thank you,” O’Donnell replied, adding almost apologetically, “I thought it was going to be George and Tim and me.”

“Well, whatever,” Wirth answered quietly. “The results are in . . . so we’ll go on from here.”

ELECTION RETURNS

Two incumbents and eight challengers competed Tuesday for three at-large seats on the Torrance City Council. The three top vote-getters win.

* TORRANCE

56 of 56 Precincts Reporting

City Council

CANDIDATE VOTE % Maureen O’Donnell 6,841 18.0 George Nakano* 6,452 17.0 Don Lee 5,808 15.3 Timothy Mock* 5,396 14.2 Burton Fletcher 3,306 8.8 Michael S. Botello 3,194 8.5 Mark Hamblett 2,850 7.5 Donald N. Pyles 1,881 4.9 Ronald Ellis 1,351 3.5 William A. Cook 850 2.2

* Indicates an incumbent