SANTA ANA : Mayor Says He Will Seek Fourth Term

Citing a list of his accomplishments during his past two years in office, Mayor Daniel H. Young on Monday officially announced plans to seek a fourth two-year term as mayor of Santa Ana.

Accompanied by 65 supporters who gathered on the steps of the old Orange County Courthouse, Young entered the race that will pit him against Councilman John Acosta, a feisty, although under-financed rival. First elected to the council in 1983, Young became mayor in 1986.

“I’m proud to be the one to retire my opponent from public life,” Young said as he confidently predicted victory in the November election.

He said that Acosta would be counting on people to automatically vote for him because he has been in public office for the past 11 years. But Young said the voters are not naive and are “just as anxious as I am to say goodby.”

On most major issues, Young has led a five-vote majority on the seven-member council, with Acosta on the losing side.

Among the crowd gathered at Young’s campaign launch were some uninvited guests--Latino activists who used the occasion to pressure Young to speed up the anti-gang program announced last month.

One member of the group, Veronica Maciel, said Young promised to meet with them later--that this occasion was “his moment,” which he did not want interrupted.

Meanwhile, in campaign finance statements filed Monday in the city clerk’s office for the first half of this year, Young reported a cash balance of just over $70,000, compared to the $1,779 reported by Acosta.

Young’s largest contributors included the Santa Ana Police Officers Political Action Committee, the Santa Ana Firemen’s Legislative Action Group and the California Apartment Assn.--each donating $1,000. Young said he plans to raise at least $100,000 for his campaign.

After the news conference however, Acosta said Young would need even more money to face his toughest election challenge yet.

“I just want to remind him that one of his best friends (former Councilman Wilson Hart) also said he was going to take great pleasure in retiring me out of public office, and that guy is still walking around wondering what happened to him,” Acosta said. Acosta was referring to a bitterly fought election contest in 1988 in which he defeated Hart. Acosta, who has filed personal bankruptcy proceedings, said he plans to run a low-budget, grass-roots campaign.

Four of the other five council members, Daniel E. Griset, Patricia A. McGuigan, Miguel A. Pulido Jr., and Robert L. Richardson, have endorsed Young’s reelection. Only Councilman Richards L. Norton is expected to back Acosta.

Also supporting Young are the presidents of the Orange and Santa Ana Unified School District boards, Orange County Supervisor Roger R. Stanton and Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

In a letter issued by the Young campaign, Dornan credited the mayor with mounting the city’s lobbying effort in Washington that resulted in Santa Ana’s selection as the site for the new federal courthouse.