The Orange County Vote : Silva Picks Up Tillotson’s Endorsement : Runoff: Supervisorial race will pit a Republican against a Democrat. One veteran politician is predicting ‘a real shootout.’

Losing supervisorial candidate Haydee V. Tillotson threw her support Wednesday to fellow Republican and front-runner Jim Silva for the fall campaign in what promises to be a volatile runoff for the northwest county seat on Orange County’s governing board.

Silva finished first in the five-way race for the 2nd District seat, narrowly edging Huntington Beach Mayor Linda Moulton Patterson and Tillotson. Because no candidate was able to secure more than 50% of the vote, Silva, a Huntington Beach councilman, will face Moulton Patterson in the Nov. 8 runoff.

“It’ll be a blood bath, no question,” Supervisor William G. Steiner said Wednesday, after his own election victory. “You’re going to see a lot of money coming from inside and outside the county. This will be a real shootout.”

The supervisor said the Lincoln Club, whose membership includes some of the most generous Republican donors in the county, has aligned itself with Silva, while the Democrats are expected to throw full support and money behind Moulton Patterson in what is supposed to be a race where political party affiliation doesn’t matter.

“There is no such thing as a nonpartisan race in Orange County,” Steiner said.

Less than three percentage points separated Silva and Moulton Patterson from third-place finisher Tillotson, whose failure to make the runoff will go down as the most expensive personal loss of Tuesday’s election.

Tillotson had lent her campaign more than $342,000--more than any other local candidate this election season--only to fall short of the runoff for retiring Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder’s seat.

Wednesday, Tillotson was “too disappointed” to speak publicly about a loss that her campaign manager blamed on the record-low voter turnout in Orange County.

“Haydee put her heart and soul into this campaign,” Christopher D. St. Helaire said. “She doesn’t feel much like talking. I don’t think she has any regrets, other than maybe not pulling some voters out to the polls by the hair to vote.”

In the other two races for supervisor, incumbent Steiner, facing a weakly funded challenge, and state Sen. Marian Bergeson, who ran unopposed, easily won their contests.

Sweeping election victories were also claimed by county Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron and Assessor Bradley L. Jacobs, who both weathered recent office controversies and campaign criticisms. John F. Dean was another easy winner in his bid for a second term as superintendent of schools.

And in the four-way race for the county Clerk-Recorder office, Clerk Gary L. Granville was not able to extend his lead to claim an outright victory over Recorder Lee A. Branch, despite a misconduct censure earlier this year of the incumbent recorder whose office will be merged with the clerk’s next year.

Branch and Granville will meet again in the Nov. 8 runoff election.

“Now it comes down to the two of us, and that’s the way it should be,” said Granville, who finished with 42% of the vote.

Branch, whose office has been the subject of two investigations of personnel and general mismanagement during the past year, said his office is undergoing a total reorganization.

“I plan to get the garbage cleaned up,” he said. “I’m going to take back control of this office.”

But much of the post-election attention in county government continued to center in Huntington Beach, where Silva, Moulton Patterson and Tillotson ran nearly a dead heat Tuesday night.

The three emerged from a field of five candidates who also included Huntington Beach businessman John A. Thomas and former Garden Grove Councilman Raymond Thomas Littrell.

It was Silva, however, who managed the first-place finish, despite having the most difficulty raising campaign money of the top three contenders.

Wednesday, after charging Tillotson during the campaign with using personal money to “buy” a seat on the board, Silva gladly accepted news of her endorsement.

Silva said he was preparing for the fall campaign and believed it would be free of the viciousness that marked the final weeks of the primary race.

Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, among Silva’s strongest supporters, had warned local business people that Moulton Patterson, by virtue of her Democratic Party affiliation, represented a serious threat to board’s conservative style of governing.

“I hope the voters will be pleasantly surprised,” Silva said. “Linda is an honorable person. Voters should hopefully get a clear-cut campaign on the issues.”

Moulton Patterson predicted a more spirited campaign.

“This is going to be a very intense and very negative campaign, even though it is supposed to be a nonpartisan race,” she said. “You can expect them (Republicans) to put up big money.

“I also expect Roger Stanton to continue strong-arming people to support Silva,” the mayor said, referring to Stanton’s fund-raising efforts.”

Stanton said he will continue in his support of Silva, but denied that he had ever “strong-armed” contributions on behalf of the candidate.

“She’s lying,” Stanton said. “She’s an interesting person, having come into my office asking for my support only a few months ago.”

Although Steiner, a Republican, has not taken a position in the race, he offered a subtle warning to Moulton Patterson.

“The tone of her campaign sounds like she is running against all of the board members,” he said. “It’s important that she not burn her bridges. It can get lonely up here.”

St. Helaire, of the Tillotson camp, said that he, too, expected a nasty fall campaign, but believed his candidate would offer no more than her moral support.

“I don’t think you’ll see Haydee making too many political contributions,” he said. “She’s made her contributions this year.”

Times correspondent Shelby Grad contributed to this report.

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