LOCAL ELECTIONS / BOARD OF SUPERVISORS : Ex-Opponents Support Swanson Against Dana

Staying on the offensive in her bid to unseat Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana, Rolling Hills Mayor Gordana Swanson on Thursday garnered the endorsement of five former challengers for the 4th District supervisorial seat.

Swanson, who emerged from a large field of competitors to force Dana into a runoff, said the endorsements will help her in November to capture the 58% of the vote that she and the other challengers collectively denied Dana in the June 2 primary.

“We all wanted a change, a better county and a better government,” said Swanson on the steps of the County Hall of Administration, where she appeared with three of the five former opponents.

“She carries the same message that we were trying to bring to the people,” said Norman Amjadi, a county environmental health specialist who ran unsuccessfully for the seat.

Amjadi said the challengers’ common theme was that Dana must go.

Swanson, who captured 25% of the vote in the June 2 election, renewed her call for Dana to meet her in a series of at least 10 one-on-one debates around the sprawling 4th Supervisorial District--a crescent-shaped swath that runs down the coast from Marina del Rey to Long Beach and inland along the county border to Diamond Bar.

Dana, who refused to debate any of his opponents in the primary election, received 42% of the vote, short of the majority he needed to avoid the runoff.

He could not be reached for comment Thursday. Earlier in the week, however, Dana said that he is considering Swanson’s challenge, but is reluctant to debate her because her campaign has been “all an attack on Deane Dana and never a word said about what she stands for.”

Ron Smith, manager of the Dana campaign, said the supervisor is planning to debate Swanson, but has not yet decided on the format, location or number of face-offs. Smith added that he did not believe the endorsements Swanson picked up Thursday are important. “It’s not significant at all,” said Smith. “None of them have a following.”

Swanson is hoping a pro-woman trend in politics will help her become part of a female majority on the five-member board, joining Supervisor Gloria Molina and the winner of the Yvonne Brathwaite Burke-Diane Watson contest in the 2nd Supervisorial District.

She said Thursday that a woman-dominated Board of Supervisors would make for more responsive government. However, she chose to attack Dana for being slow to commit to debates by saying: “He’s not standing up like a man.”

Although her campaign plans are not complete, Swanson said she will probably need to raise $400,000 to $500,000, in addition to the $150,000 she spent in the primary. Dana spent about $1 million in the primary. It was unclear Thursday just how much he plans to raise and spend for the November race.

The other former challengers who endorsed Swanson on Thursday were Marina del Rey computer engineer Jeffrey H. Drobman; Al Stillwell, a retired businessman who also ran against Dana in 1988; Lawrence Manning, a retired chemist and businessman, and Joe Chavez, a county data processing supervisor.