LOCAL ELECTIONS / SANTA ANA CITY COUNCIL : Record Number of Candidates Target Crime

Crime, overcrowding and the pinch of steep business-license fees and taxation are the battle cries of the coming election here, which includes the largest field of candidates in city history.

“Crime. Crime. Crime. Mostly crime,” Reuben Martinez, a downtown small-business owner, said of residents’ concerns and the content of much of this year’s campaigning.

With longtime Mayor Daniel H. Young stepping out of Santa Ana politics, eight candidates--including Mayor Pro Tem Miguel Pulido Jr.--are vying for his job. Nine more candidates are running for three open council seats, bringing the total to 17 and edging the previous record of 16 candidates in 1979.

This year’s race also includes the greatest number of young newcomers to politics, including a 24-year-old former professional snowboarder who is running for mayor and two women running a joint campaign for council seats who are so sensitive about their youth that they’ve listed their ages only as “18+.” Despite the ample pool of candidates, the Santa Ana Firemen’s Benevolent Assn., the Police Officers Assn., the Santa Ana City Employees Assn. and the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce are all backing known commodities. All of the organizations are supporting Pulido for mayor and council members Robert L. Richardson and Patricia A. McGuigan, who are trying to keep their seats. Don Blankenship, president of the Police Officers Assn., said he interviewed all but three of the candidates.

“They all talked about crime issues, even the people that I say were totally unqualified. I think that they’re totally fed up with hearing gunshots at night,” he said. “It’s just what’s on everyone’s mind.”

The association endorsed the three current council members in part because of the City Council’s approved a $107-million city jail and police administration building earlier this year, Blankenship said.

Only one race does not include a current council member as a candidate. That seat--being vacated by Pulido in his bid for mayor--is being sought by Tony Espinoza, a 26-year-old deputy probation counselor and planning commissioner with a degree in business administration; and banker and neighborhood association leader Alberta Christy, 49, who has fought to rid the city of nude-dancing establishments.

The city employees union has endorsed Espinoza in that race. The police and fire associations and the chamber of commerce have endorsed Christy.

Pulido has been in office since 1986, and has worked with Richardson to push for new statewide standards that would ease overcrowding by restricting the number of people who can live in residences.

He has plenty of competition. Seven others say they also deserve to be mayor: * Ann Avery Andres, 53, is a Santa Ana attorney who says she has drafted a three-pronged anti-crime plan and encourages residents to take landlords of overcrowded dwellings to small-claims court.

* Arthur A. Castro, 24, is a ski company sales representative and former professional snowboarder who said he believes the current leadership often overlooks youth and the elderly.

* Sal Mendoza, 48, is a businessman and president of the Santa Ana Unified School District board who assails the current council for raising the utility tax, and water and trash rates.

* John M. Raya, 41, is a community activist and plumbing contractor who is an opponent of recent tax hikes and this year opened an after-school boxing club to help keep Santa Ana youth off the streets.

* James A. Richards, 54, is an engineer and former school board member who identifies Santa Ana’s primary problem as overcrowding.

* Joseph L. Wagstaff, 32, is a teacher and businessman who has run on a campaign of ridding the city of lawbreakers and people who don’t care about their community.

* Randell Young, 39, is a musician and businessman who says he believes Santa Ana’s problems with poverty and crime would diminish if government eased restrictions on business and became “market-liberal.”

Councilman Richardson, who won a seat in 1990, is facing off with Ana Y. Vasquez, a 26-year-old businesswoman who says the community has been abandoned to “gangs, drugs and career criminals” by the current council.

Richardson has led a city effort to change state law to regulate overcrowding in Santa Ana. Vasquez says her primary goal is also to “stop overcrowding.” Vasquez declined to give her age to the city clerk and was listed simply as “18+” because she said she thought voters might be age-biased.

McGuigan, a 60-year-old homemaker, has served on the council since 1981, with a hiatus from 1992 to November, 1993. She is promoting an “open door” policy to citizen participation.

Four candidates are running against McGuigan. They are Sean H. Mill, 28, a former recreation and parks commissioner and currently on the Uniform Code Appeals board who opposes tax hikes and stresses youth activities; George F. da Corte, 57, a postal worker who says he wants to reduce the utility tax and educate parents so youth stay out of gangs; Henry Drew, 36, a senior planner at McDonnell Douglas who cited his experience in the military as a qualification for the job; and Noemi C. Romero, who was appointed in July to the human relations commission and said she keep taxes down and create programs for youth. Romero declined to give her age, but according to voter registration records she is 25.

In campaign statements covering the period from July 1 to Sept. 30, Pulido, Andres and Richardson reported the most contributions. Pulido--who started with a cash balance of $10,000--reported raising more than $27,000. Andres reported raising more than $35,000, and Richardson--who started with a balance of $33,700--reported raising $11,990. So far, only one formal complaint has been lodged by a candidate. Mayoral candidate Randell Young said he filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission, alleging that a candidates forum held in council chambers on Oct. 12 was “intentionally and significantly biased” in favor of Pulido. Pulido and forum organizers deny the charge, and an FPPC spokeswoman said the complaint does not appear to come under the commission’s jurisdiction.

Supporters of council candidate Tony Espinoza contend that a mailer sent out this week by the Police Officers Assn. misleadingly states Espinoza has lived in the ward for only a few months. He says he grew up there.

Election watchers say the tiffs are mild so far compared to years past.

“Up to this point I’m kind of surprised there hasn’t been as much mudslinging,” said Guy Ball, who has edited a community newsletter about Santa Ana for the past five years. “There’s not the real pointed, hard-edge competition that there has been in previous years.