Assembly Bid Likely to Be Costly

The first campaign finance reports for the March 26 election show spending will likely be heavy in the GOP primary to fill the 71st Assembly District seat, where top fund-raisers Jim Beam and Bill Campbell have each raised about a quarter of a million dollars.

In the two supervisorial races, the champion fund-raiser so far is Deputy Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer, who has loaned his campaign $61,000. Spitzer, who also is vice president of the Brea Olinda Unified School District board, said he raised the money by socking away about $10,000 a year with the intention of running for supervisor.

The deadline to postmark the fund-raising reports, which cover 1995, was last Wednesday.

Campbell, a Villa Park businessman who owns a number of Taco Bell franchises, reported raising $250,000 and spending $106,000 in his effort to win the GOP nomination for the seat being vacated by Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange). Campbell loaned his campaign $50,000.

Beam, former mayor of Orange, reported raising $230,000 and spending $108,000. Beam has loans totaling $156,000, with $136,000 of that coming from him or his business.

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Also filing campaign finance reports in the 71st district GOP primary were: businessman and consultant Steve Cardona, who has raised $22,000 and spent $4,900; Richard T. Dixon, mayor of Lake Forest, who has raised $25,000 and spent $13,390; and Larry Sternberg of Santa Ana, who has raised $2,800 and spent $2,333.

Jack Roberts, a labor representative with the Services Employees International Union who is the lone Democrat in the race, has raised $1,000 and spent $750.

In the 3rd District supervisorial contest, which is nonpartisan, Conroy trailed Spitzer, having raised $56,364 and spent $33,228. The district runs from Brea to Lake Forest.

Spitzer said the level of donations to the Conroy campaign shows “major contributors to political campaigns recognize that Conroy has no political future in Orange County.” Spitzer and candidate Helen Wilson also asserted Conroy has been abusing his Assembly mailing privileges to contact voters.

Conroy campaign consultant Mark Thompson rejected the assertion, saying Conroy has “consistently kept voters informed of his progress in the state Legislature” since his election in 1991.

Thompson said Conroy campaign contributors include the Irvine Co., the Mission Viejo Co., the Southern California Gas Co. and the Orange County Auto Dealers Assn.

Endorsements for Conroy have come from six members of the county’s legislative delegation as well as the Santa Ana Police Officers Assn. and the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, he said.

Also seeking the seat being vacated by Supervisor Don Saltarelli are: Rancho Santiago Community College Trustee Pete Maddox, who has raised $6,724 and spent $6,818; Ron Middlebrook, a clerk in the county law library, who said he has raised less than $1,000 and is not required to file a report; activist Bruce Whitaker of Fullerton, who has raised $5,722 and spent $4,009; Susan Withrow, a Mission Viejo councilwoman, who has raised $5,707 and spent $4,157; and Wilson, a Lake Forest councilwoman, who has lent her campaign $5,000 and spent $3,891.

Information on candidate William A. Dougherty was not available Monday.

In the contest for the 1st District supervisorial seat being vacated by Roger R. Stanton, the fund-raising contest is fairly even. Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes has raised $20,596 while spending $11,762; Fountain Valley Mayor George B. Scott has raised $19,774 and spent $14,164; and Westminster Mayor Charles V. Smith has taken in $13,148 and spent $8,119.

Information on candidates Robert John Banuelos of Santa Ana and Gary D. Copeland of Fountain Valley was not available Monday.

The top two finishers in each district face a runoff election in November unless any candidate captures more than half the votes in the primary.

Times staff writer Len Hall contributed to this report.