Runoffs Forced; O.C. Incumbents End Strong : Election: Bitter November showdown is expected for Weider’s seat. Fullerton recall appears to be succeeding.

Voters in Orange County on Tuesday set the stage for a bitter November runoff election to succeed retiring county Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, while in primary election contests most incumbents surged to victories.

The major exception was in the city of Fullerton, where early returns showed voters favoring the recall of three City Council members who pushed through a 2% utility tax last year.

In the high-profile race to replace Wieder in District 2, Huntington Beach Mayor Linda Moulton Patterson was locked in a close race with her council colleague Jim Silva and businesswoman Haydee V. Tillotson. Silva was leading.

And in perhaps the state’s nastiest battle for an Assembly seat, Irvine City Councilman Barry J. Hammond was neck-and-neck with Thomas G. Reinecke in the 70th Assembly District Republican primary with about 15% of the vote counted. The third candidate, businesswoman Marilyn C. Brewer, trailed in the contest to replace Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), who is stepping down to run for the state senate.

Although the winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat Jim Toledano in the November general election, the district’s large Republican voter registration makes it likely that the seat will remain in Republican hands.

One of several potential election upsets seemed to be occurring in central Orange County in the Democratic race for the 69th Assembly District to succeed Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove). There, Santa Ana Councilman Ted R. Moreno was leading Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce President Michael Metzler.

Umberg, who won his party’s nomination for state attorney general, had joined the Democratic Party leadership in endorsing Metzler as his replacement.

On the Republican side in that district, Anaheim businessman Jim Morrissey was leading Santa Ana businessman Virgel L. Nickell by a comfortable margin. The Republicans hope to win the seat in November and remove the Democrats from their only local legislative seat.

In the 46th Congressional District primary, Democratic Party leadership also saw its choice trailing in early returns. Santa Ana community activist Robert Banuelos led businessman Mike Farber for the right to challenge Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove). Banuelos, the Democratic nominee in 1992, lost to Dornan.

In an election season filled with strange twists and turns, voter apathy ruled the day.

A 6 p.m. check by the registrar of voters office showed that just over 19% of the electorate had shown up at the polls up to that point, indicating the turnout could be lower than in 1986 when 38% of the voters cast ballots--the lowest turnout during the last 40 years before Tuesday’s election.

“This is a disappointing trend, to say the least,” said Donald Tanney, the registrar of voters. “Especially when you read about people who stand in line for nine hours to cast a vote in some areas on this planet.”

But local GOP Chairman Thomas Fuentes found encouragement in who he believed went to the polls.

“If it holds that it is a low turnout, that should be good news for Republican candidates. Usually, the most loyal of voters is a conservative voter. We think the liberal voter is the one to stay home. In Orange County, mainstream voters are conservative voters,” Fuentes said.

But those who did vote showed streaks of independence.

Orange County Republicans--usually counted on in the November general election to deliver the winning margins for their statewide nominees for governor and U.S. senator--cast a large protest vote against Republican incumbent Gov. Pete Wilson.

More than one-third of the local GOP voters supported the come-from-nowhere candidacy of computer entrepreneur Ron Unz--a larger margin than Unz was receiving statewide.

In another local election surprise, three City Council members targeted for recall in Fullerton appeared to be losing.

But in Westminster, where the firefighters union--backed by fellow union members from around the state--staged the recall to protest cuts in the Fire Department’s budget, the council members apparently were surviving the recall challenges.

In other elections, Rep. Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar), under investigation for alleged mishandling of campaign funds during his first campaign for Congress in 1992, was holding back four challengers in a race that reached a boiling point in the final days before the election.

Kim was the only Orange County congressman facing a serious election threat during Tuesday’s primary, with the other five Republican representatives easily defeating their primary opponents.

Other incumbents also appeared to be holding back strong challenges.

In a race that would normally receive little attention, Municipal Court Judge Claude E. Whitney appeared to be defeating Yorba Linda attorney Dennis Patrick O’Connell. Whitney faces a misconduct allegation filed against him by the state Commission on Judicial Performance, stemming from allegations that he violated the constitutional rights of defendants.

The Republican Party, long the dominant party in local politics, seemed to be losing its strong bid to take over the nonpartisan county treasurer-tax collector’s office. Democrat and incumbent Robert L. Citron, who has not faced an opponent since his first election 24 years ago, appeared to be beating back the challenge by John M. W. Moorlach, a certified public accountant and local GOP leader.

In contests for other seats on the Board of Supervisors, state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), easily won election Tuesday to replace retiring Supervisor Thomas F. Riley in the 3rd District.

The third supervisorial seat on Tuesday’s ballot was that of incumbent William G. Steiner, who easily defeated community college professor Phillip L. Knypstra.

In nonpartisan races for county offices, if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters compete in a runoff.

The recent consolidation of the offices headed by County Clerk Gary L. Granville and County Recorder Lee A. Branch guaranteed that at least one of the two incumbents eventually will lose. Late returns showed Granville beating Branch, but without enough votes to avoid a runoff. Branch was censured by county officials for misconduct earlier this year.