Ethnic Diversity Is an Election Winner : Politics: City-by-city results are mixed, with most incumbents gaining reelection. Women, young candidates do well in some races.

Women, minorities and youth made gains in Tuesday’s city elections, but San Gabriel Valley voters also opted for stability, reelecting twice as many incumbents as they rejected.

Voters elected two women to council seats in Monrovia, Monterey Park and Claremont, giving women a council majority in each of those cities.

Rosemead voters elected their first Latino council member and South Pasadena and West Covinagained their first councilmen of Asian ancestry.

Youth was served with the election of a 23-year-old mayor in Baldwin Park and a 22-year-old councilman in Irwindale.

For longtime incumbents seeking reelection, the results were mixed. Voters reelected Charles H. Storing, who has been on the La Puente City Council for 28 years, and Albert G. Perez, a 20-year veteran of the South El Monte City Council. But La Verne voters denied another council term to Craig Walters, who was first elected in 1978 when he was 22.

Results were also mixed in nine ballot measures.

Voters turned down measures that would have imposed new taxes for police services and legalized card clubs in Baldwin Park, and a proposal for financing a new police station in Monrovia.

A long controversy over construction of a 12-screen, 2,950-seat movie theater in La Verne was settled with the rejection of a measure that would have limited theaters to 1,000 seats.

In Covina, voters turned down measures to make the offices of city clerk and treasurer appointive, rather than elective. Voters approved a zoning measure on easing building height limits in Monterey Park, overwhelmingly endorsed term limits for council members in Temple City and gave their approval in Azusa to a plan to build a youth center and indoor swimming pool at Slauson Park.

In San Gabriel, a measure to put the community’s schools under the control of a new unified district was an easy winner.

Incumbent council members lost in Azusa, Baldwin Park, Covina, Irwindale, La Verne, Monrovia, Rosemead, San Gabriel, South Pasadena and South El Monte.

In Arcadia, voters gave former council members Dennis A. Lojeski and Robert G. Margett new terms on the council. Lojeski, a dentist, left the council two years ago because the City Charter limits councilmen to two consecutive four-year terms. Margett, who owns an engineering contracting business, served on the council from 1976 to 1980.

In Azusa, Mayor Eugene F. Moses, who has been in office for a decade, was given his toughest challenge ever by Inez Gutierrez, president of the Azusa school board, but he prevailed by 118 votes.

Gutierrez hinted that she might run again in two years. “It was a good showing,” she said. “The community is ready for a change.”

Azusa Councilman Anthony R. Naranjo won reelection, but his colleague Harry L. Stemrich was ousted by Cristina Cruz Madrid. Ironically, Madrid’s father, Lucio Cruz, lost his seat on the council four years ago to Stemrich.

In Baldwin Park, Councilman Herschel Keyser, who ran for reelection with the burden of trying to explain a drunk-driving arrest, finished fifth in a field of eight candidates. The winners were incumbent Martin Gallegos and Raul Martinez, a Southern California Edison supervisor.

More surprising was the mayoral victory of 23-year-old Fidel A. Vargas, who defeated incumbent Bette L. Lowes, 1,880 to 1,552. Vargas, a business analyst and Harvard graduate, campaigned to make Baldwin Park safer and promised to reduce city costs.

All the winners were endorsed by the Baldwin Park Police Officers Assn., which aggressively campaigned against Keyser.

Keyser, who said before the election that he planned to retire to Montana win or lose, said after his defeat on Tuesday, “I feel as if somebody who’s been standing on my shoulders for about a week just jumped off. I’m ready to go out and party.”

Keyser was also the foremost proponent of the unsuccessful card club measure. “People were absolutely misled on this,” he said. “The way I see it, some other city in the region will vote it in, in the next year or two.”

The valley’s closest election was in the tiny community of Bradbury, where incumbent Audrey Hon edged attorney Mark Flewelling by two votes in District 2. Council members John H. Richards and Audrey Chamberlain were unopposed for reelection.

Claremont Councilwoman Judy Wright said her victory by a wide margin and the strong showing by other supporters of city policies “is a real validation of what the council is doing.”

Suzan Smith, a community volunteer who finished about 700 votes behind Wright to take the second seat on the council, said the results “prove people were not as upset as we were led to believe.” Wright and Smith both finished well ahead of candidates who had harshly criticized the council for its plans for preserving hillside open space and refurbishing the Santa Fe depot.

Smith, whose husband died March 3, said she had considered withdrawing from the race then but now is glad that she will be able to focus her energies on serving the city for the next four years.

In Covina, where no one filed to run for city treasurer, Jacqueline A. Miller won the office by gathering write-in votes.

Covina Councilman Gary L. Coffey, a firefighter, lost his bid for a second term, finishing fifth in a field of eight candidates. The winners were Robert Biancardi, a print shop owner; John C. King, who works for a public relations firm, and incumbent Christopher W. Lancaster. It was a narrow victory for Lancaster, who finished within 150 votes of his nearest competitor.

King said, “It really shows the citizens of this town were looking for some change. There was a wave of anti-incumbency feelings.”

“The people of Covina were looking for a young, new leadership on the council,” King said. Biancardi is 29; King is 30 and Lancaster is 33.

In El Monte, Councilwoman Patricia A. Wallach won the mayoral office, edging Councilman Jack Thurston by close to 400 votes.

Former councilman Ernest G. Gutierrez, a school administrator, was victorious in his political comeback and will be joined on the council by Tom Millet, former El Monte assistant police chief.

Wallach’s election as mayor will create a vacancy on the council.

Maria Avila, a youth program coordinator, finished a strong third in the council race, but Wallach said that does not put her in line for the council vacancy. Everyone interested in the appointment would be entitled to consideration, she said.

Councilman Jack T. Crippen, who has been in office 24 years, lost his bid to become city treasurer, being defeated for the post by former councilman Henry J. Velasco. City Clerk Kathleen Kaplan won reelection by finishing far ahead of Rose Griffith, a hospital emergency room clerk.

In Glendora, another former council member, Lois Shade, was returned to the council, along with incumbent Larry Glenn.

There were some familiar names among the winners in Irwindale, but they are the children of longtime political officials. Julian A. Miranda, the 22-year-old son of Police Chief Julian Miranda, and Jacquelyn Breceda, the daughter of former Councilman Richard Breceda, won council seats. They unseated incumbent Salvador Hernandez.

In La Puente, Mayor Storing and Joe V. Alderete won reelection, but the campaign was so bitter that they were unhappy even in victory. Alderete said he will serve his four years but will not run again because he is tired of the political fighting. Storing, citing his displeasure with newspaper coverage of the campaign, refused to talk to reporters after the returns came in.

In La Verne, Daniel V. Harden, a teacher who made the need for a fresh face on the council his campaign theme, scored an upset victory over Walters, who has served 14 years on the council. Councilman Thomas R. Harvey was reelected.

“People are looking for more personal involvement,” Harden said.

The voters’ rejection of a measure to limit the size of theaters was welcomed by Mayor Jon Harry Blickenstaff, who said the way is now cleared for construction of the Edwards Cinema complex on Foothill Boulevard.

Donald Robert Zschoche, one of the residents who fought the project, said he takes satisfaction in the the matter finally having been submitted to voters.

In Monrovia, city officials were disappointed by the voters’ decisive rejection of a plan to finance a police station through new tax levies. Police Chief Joseph Santoro said, “We’re going to continue to do the best possible job for Monrovia, and we’ll go back to see what our other options are.”

After a similar measure barely failed to gain a two-thirds majority two years ago, city officials put it back on the ballot, but this time it fell far short of even a majority.

Mayor Robert T. Bartlett, who won reelection, attributed the measure’s defeat to “bad timing and a campaign waged against it that wasn’t all that factual.”

Councilwoman Mary Wilcox won reelection and City Clerk Phyllis McCarville won the second council seat by finishing ahead of Councilman Bill Card. Wilcox said she was discouraged by the vote to replace the police station, which officials says is overcrowded, lacks computer automation and is not reinforced for earthquakes. “We can only do immediate repairs and try to use it the way it is for now,” she said.

In the race to succeed McCarville as City Clerk, Linda Proctor, who works as a consultant to film and television projects shot in Monrovia, edged Stephen R. Baker, a manufacturing firm controller.

In Monterey Park, incumbent Judy Chu and Rita Valenzuela, chairwoman of the city’s Art and Culture Commission, were easy winners in a field of nine candidates, and treasurer Louise Davis won reelection with more than 70% of the vote.

In Rosemead, where the dominant issue was a drive for Latino representation on the council, Jay T. Imperial, who was first elected to the council in 1976, lost his bid for reelection. He will be replaced by Joe Vasquez, a telephone company technician long active in Latino political issues. Council members Robert Bruesch and Margaret Clark were reelected.

Mayor Terry L. Dipple and Councilmen Denis Bertone and Curtis W. Morris won reelection in San Dimas.

But Councilman John Tapp was not so fortunate in San Gabriel, finishing just behind another incumbent, James Castaneda. Other winners were Harry L. Baldwin, a benefits administrator who is president of the San Gabriel Chamber of Commerce, and Mayor Mary Cammarano, who has served on the council since 1989.

In San Marino, the council winners were incumbent Eugene H. Dryden, a manager at an aerospace company who has been on the council since 1988, and Bernard E. Le Sage, an attorney.

Sierra Madre Councilman George A. Maurer was the top vote-getter in his city. Voters there also elected Orville Lee Cline, a retired tool and die maker, to the council.

In South El Monte, Elvira (Vera) Valdiviez became the first woman elected to the council, but her victory came at the cost of the political defeat of an ally, Councilman David J. Sanchez. Valdiviez, Sanchez and former Mayor John D. Gonzales ran as a political team, but only Valdiviez won.

“It’s kind of a bittersweet celebration,” Valdiviez said at her victory party.

Sanchez added: “The voters want the status quo. They don’t want change.”

Winning reelection were incumbents Arthur Olmos and Perez. Stan Quintana, who has twice been recalled from the council, most recently 15 months ago, lost his try at a political comeback, finishing fourth.

In South Pasadena, Councilwoman Evelyn Fierro blamed her defeat for reelection on “the combination of a negative vicious attack and the new Chinese voting bloc.” She lost to Paul Zee, the first Asian-American to run for council in South Pasadena. Mayor Dick Richards, a retired FBI agent, was the leading vote-getter, winning a new four-year council term. City Clerk Jeannine A. Gregory was reelected easily, capturing 86% of the vote.

In Temple City, Councilman Thomas D. Breazeal, who has described himself as the only fiscal conservative on the council, won reelection, but his political ally, Chuck Souder, lost. The other council winner was Harry Budds, chairman of the Planning Commission, who led the six-candidate field with 1,416 votes.

West Covina voters reelected Nancy Manners and Brad McFadden and added newcomer Ben Wong to the council. Wong, a restaurant owner, becomes the council’s first Asian-American member.

Marian Smithson, a certified public accountant, won the part-time post of city treasurer by defeating Nora McCauley, a purchasing/material manager.