San Diego County Elections : Bilbray Heading Toward Re-Election as Supervisor

County Supervisor Brian Bilbray appeared headed for an easy reelection victory Tuesday night, while two other tightly contested supervisorial races seemed destined for November runoff elections.

Bilbray, seeking a third term representing the South Bay, had a commanding lead over his only opponent, maintenance supervisor Fred Latham, in early returns.

In the 3rd District, which covers the northern half of the city of San Diego and part of coastal North County, San Diego City Councilwoman Judy McCarty held a narrow lead over Encinitas City Councilwoman Pam Slater. Libertarian Dick Rider and county Planning Commissioner David Kreitzer trailed in early returns.

A runoff election between the top two finishers will be necessary unless a candidate captures a majority in the race to succeed Supervisor Susan Golding.

In the 2nd District, which covers the East County, former supervisorial aide Dianne Jacob and Santee Mayor Jack Doyle were locked in a close race, with only Alpine activist Bonnie Kibbee in apparent striking distance of the top two.

In all, 16 candidates sought the three supervisors’ seats available this year, 14 of them in the 2nd and 3rd districts, where incumbents George Bailey and Golding stepped aside. Bailey retired after more than 40 years in local government, while Golding gave up her office to run for mayor of San Diego.

But all three nonpartisan races were dwarfed by the presidential primary, U.S. Senate and House of Representatives races, and higher-profile local contests such as the one for mayor of San Diego. Total spending by all the candidates in the 3rd District, for example, did not equal the amount spent by any of the top three candidates in the San Diego mayoral primary.

In addition to the economy and jobs, political reform became a key issue in many campaigns after a string of scandals and budget problems involving county government.

In recent months, the county grand jury has issued scathing reports criticizing the county’s Child Protective Services system for unnecessarily tearing apart of families in abuse cases, and the welfare system, which it said is riddled with fraud.

The county budget ran a severe deficit for most of the 1991-92 fiscal year, and the supervisors were heavily criticized when they voted to give former Chief Administrative Officer Norman Hickey a $68,000 severance payment at a time when county employees were being asked to take voluntary time off without pay.

In the 3rd District, McCarty was widely expected to take one of two spots in a probable fall runoff by virtue of her fund-raising advantage and higher profile within the city, where most of the 318,000 registered voters live.

The district runs down the coast from southern Carlsbad to Mission Beach and as far east as San Carlos and Rancho Bernardo.

McCarty faced spirited challenges from Rider, a Libertarian making his first serious attempt to capture elected office after two low-profile efforts to win a congressional seat; Slater and Kreitzer. Also on the ballot were La Jolla attorney Rick Wildman, who accepted no campaign contributions, and North County activist Tom Erwin, who stopped campaigning in April.

In the 2nd District, Doyle and Jacob emerged as the front-runners in a pack of eight candidates, including several who did little more than attend candidate forums.

Doyle, well-known in the city he has led for seven years, held the advantage in name recognition, while Jacob amassed more than $125,000 to introduce herself to voters in the sprawling East County region where more than 277,000 voters were registered.

Kibbee was expected to receive support from her affiliation with right-wing religious organizations. Also on the ballot were Green Party candidate Susan Wolfe-Fleming; John Clark, a senior tax auditor for the state Board of Equalization; Chuck Wheaton, owner of the Ramona Auction Barn; Joe Dziuba, a county equipment operator, and Epi Lopez, a heavy equipment operator for the county.