ELECTIONS : Christian Candidates Lead School Board Races

Members of a coalition of school board candidates identified with the religious right led in early election returns Tuesday in their effort to reshape public education along conservative lines in the Antelope Valley.

With absentee ballots counted, four of seven conservative Christian candidates headed the field in school districts throughout Lancaster and Palmdale, spanning kindergarten through 12th grade. The seven candidates had issued a joint manifesto, “A Contract With Antelope Valley Families,” that opposed teaching about sexual orientation in the classroom and supported campuswide moments of silence.

“I’m where I expected to be,” said Andy Visokey, a leader of the group and an incumbent who led the three-candidate field in the Lancaster School District with the absentee ballots tabulated. “We did an absentee campaign, . . . which is highly unusual in school board races.”

A fellow signatory of the “Contract With Antelope Valley Families,” Merle E. (Mel) Kleven, was second in the Lancaster district race, where two seats were being contested.

“I think it played well,” Visokey said of the nine-point contract. “It fired up conservative Christians, and I think you’re gonna find that the Election Day vote is going to be conservative.”

In the closely watched Antelope Valley Union High School District, where a conservative Christian majority on the board helped bring down the widely hailed California Learning Assessment System exams last year, conservative candidate Kevin Wright Carney led the pack, while fellow coalition member Irene Flores was further behind.

If either Carney or Flores wins one of the two seats available, right-wing religious activists would be assured of maintaining control of the board.

In the Palmdale School District, also with two seats open, candidate Larry Logsdon, who signed the contract, was in the top two in the absentee ballot count. The other coalition member, Kenneth White, was last, as was fellow conservative Christian candidate Stella Montoya Hatami in the tiny Wilsona School District.

Voters in Palmdale also cast ballots in the city’s mayoral contest, which pitted incumbent James C. Ledford Jr. against businessman Mike Dispenza.

The city, reeling from an increase in crime and a loss of jobs, also offered a City Council race featuring incumbents David John Myers and Joe Davies as well as challengers William (Ed) Agner, an educator; Jeff Storm, a technical writer, and Al Beattie, a businessman.

In the Conejo Valley, politics centered on two hotly contested municipal elections.

Five candidates vied for two open seats on the Agoura Hills City Council, which has been racked by controversy since it implemented a utility tax last year. The levy touched off a recall attempt against all five council members that has ended up in court. Mayor Louise Rishoff, an attorney who has served on the council since 1987, was seeking Tuesday to retain her seat.

Other candidates were Dan Kuperberg, a public defender who is closely aligned with the council, and Gary Mueller, an auto parts store owner, past candidate and longtime council critic. Another council foe, Hank Murphy, a computer consultant whose wife led the recall attempt, was also seeking a seat, as was game warden Jonathan Willcox.

Controversy also marked a race for two open City Council seats in Westlake Village, a city divided over the council’s decision last April to approve a controversial PriceCostco store. The race is said to be a referendum on the store, which is scheduled to be completed sometime next year.

Activist James B. Henderson and former school board member Betty DeSantis, who came out of political retirement to run, favor the store. Educator David T. Woodruff, businessman Steve Hessick and Police Officer David Stein opposed it.

In the Las Virgenes Unified School District, where officials are trying to preserve well-regarded public schools amid financial constraints, seven candidates fought for two seats: incumbent Amy Berns, a psychologist; Larry Rubin, an educator; Charles Eastman, an educator and financial consultant; Edith Enezian, a homemaker and legal secretary; Michael J. Berry, an electronics technician; Gordon Whitehead, a certified public accountant, and Betsy Berry, a speech pathologist.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, school board candidates grappled with concerns about educational quality and overcrowded classrooms. Officials estimate that the number of students in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys increased by 88% between 1980 and 1990.

Voters cast ballots in the William S. Hart Union High School District and the Castaic Union, Newhall, Saugus Union, Sulphur Springs Union and Acton-Agua Dulce Unified school districts. Voters also went to the polls to elect trustees in the Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita community college districts.

While schools struggled to meet ever-increasing financial obligations, candidates in water district races also raised questions of fiscal responsibility.

In Palmdale, six candidates sought out three seats, while the Quartz Hill Water District featured a showdown between incumbent Charles Carney and financial strategist Eleanor M. Koppel.

The Newhall County Water District race, with two seats at stake, pitted incumbent Donald B. Hayes against businessman Jeff L. Preach, engineer Michael A. Kotch and program manager Dick A. Unger.

In the Antelope Valley, meanwhile, voters decided whether they even wanted to create a water district.

Ground-water problems and flooding had renewed the call for the formation of the Antelope Valley Storm Water Conservation and Flood Control District. Eleven candidates competed for four seats.

Contested elections were called off because of lack of candidates in the Littlerock Creek Water District and in the Gorman, Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union, and Keppel Union school districts. Appointees will serve in the available positions.

*

Times correspondents Danica Kirka and Frank Manning contributed to this story.

* L.A. COUNTY RESULTS: B10