ELECTIONS : Christian Candidates Win 4 North County School Board Seats

Conservative Christians have won four key seats in school board elections in north Los Angeles County, giving the board in Lancaster its first-ever religious majority and sustaining a majority in the Antelope Valley Union High School District.

Tuesday’s elections, which also brought the Palmdale School District its first board member from the religious right, may not bring major changes to area schools, analysts say, but it indicates the increasing success of religious conservatives as grass-roots organizers.

In Lancaster, religious conservatives Andy Visokey and Merle E. (Mel) Kleven topped a field of three candidates. Incumbent Visokey came in first with 40.7% of the vote, according to totals available Wednesday. Kleven captured 30.2%.

Kevin Wright Carney, whose election assured a continued conservative majority at the Antelope Valley Union High School District, won 27% of the vote. Wilda N. Andrejcik, who is not a religious conservative, won the second of two available seats on the board, with 24.6% of the votes. She beat candidate Bob Turner--also not a religious conservative--by just 36 votes.

Larry Logsdon, a Pacoima middle school teacher, became Palmdale’s first board member from the religious right, winning one of two available seats with 20.6% of the vote.

In campaigning for the seats, the religious conservatives employed an unusual strategy: Instead of running separately in each of several communities, they formed a coalition that spanned school district elections throughout the Palmdale and Lancaster areas.

Seven candidates signed onto a manifesto called the “Contract With Antelope Valley Families” and campaigned throughout four districts. In only one--the tiny Wilsona School District--did voters fail to support a single conservative Christian office-seeker.

“There is a real change out there at the grass-roots level,” said Logsdon. Working close to the ground, Logsdon said, not only ensured his success Tuesday, but will help him make progress as a minority of one on the school board.

“The religious right is becoming an expert in grass-roots politics, in what it takes to be elected,” said Allan Hoffenblum, a Los Angeles-based Republican political consultant. “They’re just smart on the process.”

The tactics of religious conservatives have changed considerably since the late 1980s, when many ran so-called “stealth campaigns” for school boards and other local government bodies, Hoffenblum said.

Now, he said, religious conservatives realize that they can call out a strong, committed bloc of voters--particularly in local elections where the turnout tends to be low.

The candidates insisted, however, that just because they are religious and conservative does not mean that they all think alike.

“My religion is very private,” said Carney, a Catholic who signed the contract. “And to have it pulled up and made to seem as if it were the reason I was running for office was really offensive.”

Visokey of the Lancaster board said he doesn’t expect the contract to really affect the way the schools are run. “Most of the things you deal with on the school board are standard, routine items,” said Visokey, an incumbent. With the exception of a call for school uniforms, most of the manifesto is philosophical.

For example, he said, the contract opposes the teaching of homosexuality as acceptable. But there is no part of the Lancaster curriculum--or the curricula of other north county districts--that does so.

On the other hand, the Antelope Valley Union High School District last year refused to administer the California Learning Assessment System test and helped bring about the exam’s eventual demise.

And Visokey said that he expects his conservative board to refuse assistance from the U.S. Department of Education’s Goals 2000 program. The program, which grants funds to local school districts, has been targeted for elimination by Republicans in Congress.

Still, the new board members said, their election was due not so much because they organized as members of the religious right, but because they represent what voters want.

Voters were saying, “This is a conservative community and we want a school board that represents a conservative point of view,” Visokey said. “In Palmdale it wasn’t as successful. And Palmdale isn’t as conservative as Lancaster.”

Other races saw the reelection of an incumbent mayor in Palmdale and a city council race in Agoura Hills that appeared to repudiate a controversial recall effort.

In Palmdale, where candidates focused on fears of rising crime and economic uncertainty, incumbent Mayor James C. Ledford Jr., with 57.6% of the vote, defeated Mike Dispenza, a businessman, with 42.4%.

Incumbent council members Joe Davies and David John Myers were also returned to office.

In Agoura Hills, Mayor Louise Rishoff retained the seat she has held since 1987, beating back two candidates who opposed her support of a utility tax last year.

Amy Berns of Agoura Hills was reelected to the Las Virgenes Unified School District’s Board of Education with 28.8% of the vote. Also winning was Larry Rubin of Calabasas, an educator making his his first bid for that office, who received 25.2%.

In Westlake Village, an uproar over a decision by the City Council to grant permission to open a PriceCostco store did not seem to harm candidates James B. Henderson and Betty DeSantis, who supported it.

DeSantis, who garnered 28% of the vote, and Henderson, who won 28.2%, took two open seats, coming in at the top of a field of five candidates.

In the Hart Union High School District race, incumbent Paula E. Olivares edged out challenger Gloria E. Mercado by only four votes. Incumbent John Hassel easily took the second full-term seat, with 31.2% of the vote. Incumbent George V. Aliano won a partial term.

Voters in the Newhall School District elected businessman Ron Winkler and attorney Philip C. Ellis Jr. to the board. Ellis edged out attorney Keith Pritsker 26.1% to 23.4%.

Rose Koscielny led the field for the Saugus Union School District board, and engineer Michael P. Kennick, with 25.6% of the vote, edged out Gary G. Murr, with 24.8%.

In the Antelope Valley Community College District, Donald M. Ross and Earl J. Wilson won the two open seats on the board.

In the only contested seat in the Santa Clarita Community College district, Ron Gillis defeated Richard G. Peoples, 58.6% to 41.4%.

Voters in the Castaic Union School District elected instructor Tom L. Caesar and incumbent Lester M. Freeman to the board.

In the Sulphur Springs Union School District, the winners were Marilyn Sparks and Paul Strickland.

In the race for three seats on the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District board, financial consultant Sally A. McCord led the field with 22% of the vote, less than one percentage point higher than her nearest challenger. Incumbent Fred Fate and fellow board member James Duzick took the remaining seats.

Voters in the Westside Union School District elected Gwen Farrell and Scott Gmur. In the Wilsona School District, Maurice Kunkel and Gayle H. Duns earned the open seats.

In the Quartz Hill Water District, incumbent Charles L. Carney was reelected to a partial board term with 50.2% of the vote. Lee Richardson and Frank Tymon won full-term seats.

Michael Kotch, the president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment, and Dick A. Unger were elected to the Newhall County Water District board.

Jay B. Freeman, Lynn D. Coffey, and Leslie O. Carter won seats on the Palmdale Water District’s board.

Voters rejected a proposal to form an Antelope Valley Storm Water Conservation and Flood Control District with 74.25% of ballots cast against the idea.

Correspondents Danica Kirka and Frank Manning contributed to this story.

* FINAL L.A. COUNTY VOTE: B17