COUNTY SUPERVISOR ELECTIONS / 1ST AND 2ND DISTRICTS : 2 Favorites Emerge From Field of 8 for George Bailey’s Seat : Politics: Former Bailey aide Dianne Jacob and Santee Mayor Jack Doyle are favorites in the 2nd District while incumbent Brian Bilbray is seen as a winner in the 1st District.

With the credibility of San Diego County government once again a central issue, eight candidates from the sprawling East County are competing for the right to succeed retiring Supervisor George Bailey in the 2nd Supervisorial District.

Clamoring for position as the contender with the best reform package in the nonpartisan June 2 primary, two favorites and a field of six geographically dispersed minor candidates are competing for the two spots in an expected runoff this fall.

“The idea is to get the message across that we’re mad as hell, and we ain’t gonna take it anymore,” said Epi Lopez, a heavy equipment operator for the county and admitted long shot from tiny Potrero. “That’s what I’m trying to do is get some awareness out there that we’re in trouble.”

Although government as usual is the favorite whipping boy of candidates at all levels this year, and county government reform has often been an issue in supervisorial elections, true scandals that have surfaced in recent months have drawn the attention of candidates.

The county grand jury has issued blistering reports on the child protective and welfare systems, and the supervisors were heavily criticized when they gave former Chief Administrative Officer Norman Hickey a $68,000 severance payment at a time when county employees are being asked to take time off without pay.

“My feeling is that we’re tremendously overtaxed, over-regulated and have a county that’s absolutely out of control and non-responsive to the people,” said Alpine tax activist Bonnie Kibbee, a candidate in a district that is home to 503,000 residents in places such as El Cajon, La Mesa, Poway, Santee, Ramona and Jamul.

In the 1st District, where South Bay Supervisor Brian Bilbray is the sole incumbent running in three supervisorial races this year, the anti-government theme is similar, but the results of the June 2 primary will be decidedly different.

Bilbray is facing slim opposition from maintenance supervisor Fred Latham of Imperial Beach, meaning that the race will be decided next month, without a November runoff.

Like non-incumbents at all levels of government this year, Latham is attacking business as usual, but, with just $325 in donations and expenditures of less than $1,000, he will have difficulty reaching the voters who have twice propelled Bilbray, a former Imperial Beach mayor, into office.

“They have a lot of mismanagement problems. . . . “ Lathan said, citing lost, wasted and stolen funds. “They’ve got a child-abuse protection system that’s gone (AWOL) and created a lot of grief for a lot of families.”

Bilbray acknowledged that the next Board of Supervisors, which will include newcomers in Bailey’s seat and Supervisor Susan Golding’s 3rd District seat, “can’t afford to operate as normal.” But he nevertheless is running on a platform that cites the progress the board has made.

Bilbray contends that the county’s vote to discontinue General Relief welfare payments for able-bodied men makes it a leader in a growing state trend toward welfare reform. The cuts have been held up by a lawsuit. A county lawsuit aimed at winning a greater share of the tax funds sent to Sacramento, which was successful at the trial court level, is another example of progress, he contended.

“The County Board of Supervisors has taken on the big guys again and again and drawn blood,” Bilbray said.

In the 2nd District, former Bailey aide Dianne Jacob and Santee Mayor Jack Doyle have clear advantages over their six opponents in name recognition, built-in constituencies and fund-raising. The two are believed to have the best shot at making the runoff.

Jacob, who said she has raised an estimated $125,000, an impressive total in a year when even high-profile candidates have difficulty raising money, is running as a reformer despite spending the past seven years working for Bailey.

She has issued a proposal her campaign calls “the most detailed plan for reforming county government ever offered by a candidate for supervisor,” claiming that she can save $50 million to $100 million by limiting employee salaries, cutting the salaries of top administrators and the supervisors themselves, and reforming the welfare system, among other methods.

Jacob claims that her career inside the County Administration Building gives her “strong, courageous leadership that has knowledge and the ability to get in there and shake things up and turn the bureaucracy around and make it work for people.”

Among other things, she promises to double the number of sheriff’s deputies patrolling the unincorporated area, even if it means placing an initiative on the ballot, expand court facilities and redirect county resources into drug prevention programs and counseling.

Jacob said she also wants to streamline government regulations to promote business growth.

Though she boasts of endorsements from virtually every major elected official in East County, Jacob does not include Bailey on the list and, according to the incumbent, has not asked for his endorsement. Bailey is, however, supporting Jacob with a donation and said he would endorse her if she asked.

“There’s no use for her to carry my baggage” into the race, Bailey said.

Jacob’s opponents are trying to tie her to Bailey, a figure in East County politics for decades, saying that special interests aligned with the retiring supervisor are funding her campaign and questioning how she can shake up county government after being part of the system for so long.

“She is the Establishment candidate, supported by the incumbent, and people have that choice if that’s what they prefer,” said Doyle, Jacob’s chief rival.

Claiming that he has helped to bring more than 8,800 new jobs to Santee during his tenure in office, Doyle points to his efforts in the redevelopment of that city’s downtown as proof that he has the know-how to boost the county economy.

The city has seen the opening of new Price Club and Walmart stores, and is negotiating for a Kaiser Permanente facility now, he said.

Doyle, saying that Santee has the highest ratio of patrol deputies to citizens in the county, wants to give more manpower and equipment to the Sheriff’s Department. The seven-year mayor and current chairman of the San Diego Assn. of Governments also said that he has the ability to check fraud and waste in county government.

“I think we’re hearing a multitude of concerns with government, and we’re concerned that local responsiveness and common sense need to be applied to decision making,” Doyle said. “I’m concerned that local responsiveness needs to be improved.”

Kibbee, who is active in anti-tax organizations, may reap the benefits of what opponents call her affiliation with religious right leaders.

Kibbee has been endorsed by a Christian newspaper and the San Diego County pro-life slate, according to Rita Collier, president of the Mainstream Voters Project. But Kibbee denies that she is receiving any assistance from the growing religious political movement.

Also in the race are Green Party candidate Susan Wolfe-Fleming, who advocates returning control of government to the neighborhood level; John Clark, a senior tax auditor for the State Board of Equalization who says that his budgeting skills will allow him to cut waste in government and Chuck Wheaton, owner of the Ramona Auction Barn, who is running to oppose red tape and bureaucracy, which he said have hamstrung his business.

An eighth candidate, Joe Dziuba, a county equipment operator, did not return telephone calls to his home and workplace for this story.