STATE RACES : Umberg Sole Democrat to Win in O.C.

Reaping the spoils of a bruising campaign, Assemblyman Tom Umberg on Tuesday overwhelmed Republican challenger Jo Ellen Allen to retain his title as the only Democrat holding state or federal elected office in Orange County.

Umberg topped Allen by nearly a 2-to-1 margin after a campaign that cost the candidates a combined $1 million. But heavily favored Republicans scored impressive victories in the region’s other races for the state Legislature.

For Orange County Democrats giddy over victories at the top of the party ticket, the Garden Grove assemblyman’s triumph in the 69th District added an extra heap of confetti to an evening already rife with celebration.

The freshman assemblyman has been a continual irritant for the local GOP’s top brass, who unabashedly went gunning for Umberg in hopes of cleansing “America’s most Republican county” of its only sitting Democrat. Umberg responded with a bare-knuckle campaign against Allen, putting the Republican challenger on the defensive for much of the contest’s final weeks with attacks on her ideology and character.

“Clearly character is an issue at the presidential level and at this level,” Umberg said. “The fact that we spent some time on the issue is certainly legitimate. Some voters pay attention to that.”

Allen, however, said the assemblyman’s tactics will only serve to sully his reputation in Sacramento. “Umberg did underhanded things,” she said. “The Umberg image is tarnished and that is all his own doing.”

In the other Orange County races for the Legislature, the Republican Party helped parlay a wide voter-registration edge over the Democrats into a flurry of victories.

Former Assemblyman Curt Pringle, who was defeated by Umberg in a contentious 1990 election battle but got a second chance this year when his home was squeezed into the newly reapportioned 68th Assembly District, will return to Sacramento with a solid victory over longtime Democratic political activist Linda Kay Rigney.

In South County’s 73rd Assembly District, Republican newcomer Bill Morrow overcame Democrat Lee Walker, a college professor who assailed the GOP candidate for his conservative Christian beliefs.

One of the more interesting challenges came in the 70th Assembly race, where Democrat Jim Toledano sent a mailer to GOP women outlining his pro-choice beliefs in hopes of wooing crossover votes in the district, among the most Republican in the nation. He managed to run ahead of party registration, but Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) still convincingly defeated the Irvine attorney.

In other races, Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) easily defeated Democrat Ken LeBlanc in the 67th Assembly District. Incumbent Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) won the 71st Assembly seat over Democrat Bea Foster, while powerful Assemblyman Ross Johnson had an easy victory over Democrat Paul Garza Jr. in the 72nd District.

Orange County’s two state Senate races also proved to be mismatches. John R. Lewis (R-Orange) defeated Democrat Samuel D. Eidt, 25, an insurance claims representative, in the 33rd Senate District. In the 35th Senate District, Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) won easily over Democrat Dorianne Garcia, a telephone company communications technician.

But by far the hottest race in Orange County was the slugfest for the 69th Assembly District seat between Umberg and Republican challenger Allen, a conservative former college instructor and California president of Eagle Forum, Phyllis Schlafly’s national anti-feminist organization.

Umberg bashed Allen repeatedly in recent weeks with hard-hitting campaign mail, assailing her conservative Christian beliefs and dredging up a variety of lawsuits filed against the challenger’s businessman husband.

The assemblyman, who spent more than $600,000 in the race, also tried to woo Republican voters in the central Orange County district with election-eve mailers picturing him with Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Another featured Umberg shaking hands with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a staunch Republican, beside the headline “Terminator, Too.”