County Democratic Vice Chair Garcia Wants Top Job : Politics: With no challengers in Sept. 20 election, she is likely to be the first woman and first Latino in post. Chairman Howard Adler is retiring for health reasons.

Orange County Democrats appear likely to elect former state Senate candidate Dorianne Garcia to head the party’s Central Committee, which would make her the first woman and first Latino to hold the leadership post.

The party has scheduled an election for Sept. 20 to replace Howard Adler, who announced earlier this month that he was resigning because of health reasons.

Garcia is vice chair of the county party, and in a recent letter to other members of the committee, she announced her candidacy for the job of party chair. Party officials said Tuesday they are unaware of any challengers to Garcia and they expect she will be elected.

“We have an important election year approaching and I will work for an effective and coordinated effort,” Garcia wrote in her letter. “I have two priorities as your chair. They are to keep the headquarters open and staffed and to help elect at least four new Democrats in Orange County in 1994.”

The Democratic strategy of targeting four local offices next year was announced by Adler in January to capitalize on the increasing Democratic registration in central Orange County. The four targeted offices include those held by Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), state Sen. Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove) and Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove).

The fourth seat is held by a Democrat, Tom Umberg, who may not run for reelection in the state Assembly. He is considering a race for state attorney general.

Adler had particularly focused the party’s attention on Dornan’s defeat, having created a fund-raising committee called BeatBob Inc. If the party plans to continue the same focus, Adler said Tuesday that he would maintain his fund-raising effort.

Adler was elected to his third term as chairman of the Orange County Democratic Central Committee last January when he was recruited in a draft movement spurred by the party’s success in last year’s elections. Even at the time, Adler said his health was an issue that precluded him from seeking the position of state Democratic chairman.

On Aug. 3, Adler notified county party officials that he would resign.

Adler, a prominent county developer who has been active in the party for more than 30 years, said Tuesday that his doctors encouraged him to scale back his workload so he could get his high blood pressure under control.

Garcia is a telephone company communications technician. She was on vacation Tuesday and unavailable for comment.

Last year, Garcia ran a long-shot campaign against state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach). She was elected vice chair last January and is serving as the acting chair until the central committee meeting next month.