Anaheim Council, Mayoral Election Draws a Crowd

A large slate of candidates has set sights on two open seats on the City Council and a separate race for the mayor’s chair in a political season when most contenders are pledging to reduce crime, improve deteriorating neighborhoods and attract more business to the city.

Some of the contenders for election Nov. 8, saying they are fed up with business as usual at City Hall, are political novices taking their first stab at public office. They will be competing with better-known candidates armed with larger campaign accounts and powerful endorsements.

Those who emerge as the top vote-getters will also be forced to contend with Anaheim’s paramount interests in the proposed expansion of Disneyland and the threatened departure of the Los Angeles Rams.

The Mayor’s Race

The Rams and Disney issues figure to weigh heavily in the separate race for mayor. Incumbent Tom Daly is being challenged by community activist Curtis A. Stricker.

Win or lose, Daly will retain a seat on the council. But if he is elected mayor, a third council seat becomes open. In that case, the council would have 60 days to appoint someone to the position.

The election quirk is due to a charter amendment passed in 1992 that changed the selection process of the city’s mayor. Previously, mayoral candidates had to be sitting council members and they competed for two-year terms. But starting with this election, the mayor will be elected at-large for a four-year term.

Daly, a 40-year-old executive of the Building Industry Assn., a builders trade group, took over the city’s top job in 1992 when he upset two-term Mayor Fred Hunter.

Daly, a lifelong resident of the city, was on vacation last week and could not be reached for comment.

But when he announced his candidacy on the steps of City Hall last month, Daly said he would be “pushing hard for economic progress and renewal; for youth programs; to renew and strengthen residential neighborhoods and to beautify our city.”

Challenging Daly is the 66-year-old Stricker, a longtime community activist and 25-year city resident.

“My candidacy is about neighborhoods,” said Stricker, a marketing and sales consultant. “Stopping crime and having safe neighborhoods is the No. 1 job.”

Stricker, past president of Anaheim HOME (Homeowners Maintaining their Environment), said he would like to see issues such as the proposed Disney expansion go before the voters in a citywide referendum.

He would also like to add 200 more officers to the police force and would propose stationing them in the city’s neighborhoods.

The City Council Race

Several unsuccessful candidates from the past are trying again. They include: Bob Zemel, who finished just behind Councilman Frank Feldhaus in 1992; Keith Oleson and Phillip Knypstra, who also ran in 1992; and 1988 candidate Jerry R. Stoces.

* Zemel, 41, is a former city planning commissioner and director of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. He is president of Sea Breeze Mortgage Services, Inc. in Anaheim and has lived in the city for 15 years.

Zemel has been endorsed by fast-food magnate Carl Karcher and several public officials, including Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton); state Sens. John R. Lewis (R-Orange) and Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove); and Assemblymen Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) and Mickey Conroy (R-Orange).

* Oleson, 43, is chairman of the city’s Gang/Drug Task Force and heads the city’s Community Development Block Grant Committee. He is a 10-year resident of the city.

* Knypstra, 57, is a 33-year resident of Anaheim and teaches accounting at El Camino College. Earlier this year, he failed in a bid to unseat County Supervisor William G. Steiner, whose district includes Anaheim.

* Stoces, 28, placed eighth in a field of 11 candidates when he ran for council in 1988 as a 22-year-old new college graduate. He is a seven-year resident who works as a senior buyer for Hartwell Corp. in Placentia.

The council race could bring some racial and gender diversity to the council if any of the four female candidates or two Latino candidates are victorious.

Phyllis R. Boydstun, Loretta Sanchez Brixey, Sharon A. Ericson and Shirley A. McCracken--all running for the first time--are seeking election in a city that has seen only one woman council member. Miriam Kaywood completed the last of her four terms in 1990.

* Boydstun, 62, is a real estate broker who is chairwoman of the city’s Planning Commission and has lived in the city for 40 years.

* Brixey, 34, owns Amiga Advisors, a consulting firm for businesses and government agencies. She is active in various civic organization throughout the county and has lived in Anaheim for 30 years.

* Ericson, 50, is president of the Anaheim Municipal Employees Assn., the city’s largest union. She has lived in the city for more than 20 years.

* McCracken, 57, is chairwoman of the the city’s Budget Advisory Commission and vice president of the Anaheim Art Council. A resident of the city for 22 years, she works part-time conducting workshops for churches and community groups.

If Brixey or Anaheim Police Officer Lou Lopez are elected, they would be the first Latinos to win council seats in a city where 31% of the 290,000 residents are Latino.

* Lopez, 50, has been a city police officer for 25 years. He is president of the Anaheim City Elementary School District and a member of the Anaheim Union High School Board of Education.

Lopez is also a first-time council candidate. Others making their first run are: Paul Bostwick, David Keeler, Jeff Kirsch, Leonard Lahtinen, Edward Skinner, Mitchell T. Tracy and John Russo.

* Bostwick, 53, has lived in the city for 38 years and owns a recreational vehicle and supply business in Anaheim. He is a board member of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, board president of the newly formed Orange County Conservation Corps and a Community Redevelopment Commission member.

He has also won the endorsements of Daly, California Angels owners Gene and Jackie Autry, Rams Vice President John Shaw, the Chamber of Commerce and the city’s Board of Realtors.

* Keeler, 44, is an electrical field service engineer who is a 10-year city resident. He has been active in the Eastmont Villas Community Assn., serving four terms as a board member and one as president.

* Kirsch, 38, is a self-described political “gadfly.” He has lived in the city for 10 years and works in electronic sales.

* Lahtinen, 60, has served two terms as a trustee on North Orange County Community College Board and as a member of the Orange County Grand Jury. He is a retired schoolteacher who has lived in Anaheim for more than 30 years. He is endorsed by Daly and outgoing Councilman Irv Pickler.

* Skinner, 49, has lived in the city for nine years. He owns a concrete cleaning business and is a past member of the Republican state committee.

* Tracy, 31, is running for a council seat in Anaheim for the first time but it isn’t his first City Council campaign. He ran unsuccessfully for seats on the Huntington Beach council in 1988 and in La Habra in 1990.

He has lived in the city for two years and works as assistant program director for Kole Vocational Services in Santa Ana.

* Russo. No biographical information was available and he could not be reached for comment.