Bankruptcy Proves to Be Pivotal Issue Among Candidates

The bankruptcy has emerged as the most volatile issue in the race for the Orange County Board of Education, as nine candidates wrap up their campaigns for three open seats in Tuesday’s hotly contested election.

Throughout the campaigning, challengers have accused the incumbents of succumbing to reckless financial schemes when they borrowed $42 million to invest in the county’s ill-fated investment pool. The county declared bankruptcy in December 1994 after the pool lost $1.6 billion because of risky investments; the county Department of Education lost $4 million.

James Righeimer, Eric H. Woolery and Ken Williams, who are backed by the conservative political group Educational Alliance, have been particularly acute in their criticism of the board.

“In Economics 101, you learn that you do not borrow money to invest,” said Righeimer, 37, one of the founders of the Tustin-based group. “It’s beyond my comprehension that they would have borrowed short and gambled long.”

The incumbents defended their record on the board, which oversees a department providing many support services to the county’s 27 school districts and runs schools for youthful offenders and special-education students.

“We were victims of shoddy practices by a county treasurer and no oversight by the supervisors,” said Felix Rocha Jr. “Looking back in hindsight, was it wrong to borrow? Of course. Will we do it again? No. But at the time, we were advised by experts who told us that this was the normal procedure, and we went along with it.”

The county Department of Education has recovered 95% of its $4-million loss and has been promised the remaining 5%.

In Area 1, which covers central Orange County, Righeimer, a real estate consultant, and construction contractor Richard F. Avard are trying to unseat Rocha, a retired INS agent who is also a Republican candidate for the 46th Congressional District.

Incumbent Joan S. Primrose, a retired social studies teacher, and Woolery, a 30-year-old accountant, will square off in Area 3, roughly the northwestern part of the county. In Area 4, which includes the northeastern cities, Williams, a physician, teacher Brenda J. Bryant and accountant W. Snow Hume are challenging incumbent Dean McCormick, who has served on the board since 1976.

Righeimer, Woolery and Williams, who are backed by some of the county’s most conservative Republicans, hope that voters will view the election as a chance to express their anger toward those who played a part in the bankruptcy. They targeted the obscure county board of education race because there are three open seats, enough for a majority on the five-member panel.

Meanwhile, the incumbents are urging voters to be cautious of the Educational Alliance candidates, who they believe are motivated by politics rather than a desire to help public schoolchildren. Neither Righeimer nor Woolery have children, and Williams’ three sons attend a private school in Orange. All three incumbents have had children in public schools.

“I’m not sure they’re really for public education,” McCormick said. “The three candidates are all the same. Their statements are almost identical. Basically, they want to destroy the department and its programs.”

Righeimer, Williams and Woolery support paring down the department and doing away with state and federal educational mandates. They favor school vouchers, increased privatization of school services and eliminating bilingual education, and they stress a “back to basics” curriculum.

Williams, 37, said he was upset when his 12-year-old son at the private Salem Lutheran School was required to read S.E. Hinton’s novel “The Outsiders,” a popular coming-of-age book about a group of disenchanted youths.

“Why are schools picking books that don’t give children noble goals?” Williams said. “We’re not exposing our kids to Abraham Lincoln, Johnny Appleseed and the forefathers of our country. There’s too much ‘fluffy-fluff, feel-good’ programs in education. We need to get back to the basics.”

So far, Williams has raised $36,000 for his campaign, more than any other candidate running for the board.

Neither Rocha nor Primrose, 66, have raised any money. McCormick, 65, has raised close to $8,000 but had spent only $3,200 as of March 9.

“I’m doing what I can,” McCormick said. “There’s no way I can buy the election. All I can say is that I’m familiar with the department and I’m here to help students throughout the county. I take a look at each issue, and if it’s beneficial or cost-efficient, I support it.”

Meanwhile, the other board of education candidates--Avard, Bryant and Hume--are waging low-profile campaigns, advocating changes in the department and more fiscal prudence.

Hume, 38, a community activist and member of the citizens watchdog group Committees of Correspondence, said that he decided to run for office because he is tired of trying to reform government as an outsider.

Avard, a former engineer, describes himself as a candidate with common sense. He favors trimming bureaucracy within the department and freeing county schools from federal and state regulations.

As a special-education teacher, Bryant said, she has a broad knowledge of the programs the county Department of Education provides, particularly in special education.

“I’m a parent with children in public schools, and I don’t have any political agenda, and I’m not for dismantling the Department of Education or cutting services. I just want to make schools better for children.”

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Bidding for the Board

Six challengers and three incumbents will bid for the three available seats on the Orange County school board. This year’s contest has taken on a higher profile because three of the challengers--James Righeimer, Ken Williams and Eric H. Woolery--are backed by the conservative political group Educational Alliance. The candidates:

AREA 1 (central Orange County)

Richard F. Avard

Age: 61

Residence: Fountain Valley

Family: Divorced, one daughter

Occupation: Construction contractor, former engineer

Government positions: None

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Oregon State University

Funds raised as of March 9: None

Endorsements: United Republicans of California

ON THE ISSUES

Bilingual education: “I’m against it. I think it should be totally immersion. That’s how every other nation works it when immigrants come to their country. I think it’s very inefficient and a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

School vouchers: “I’m in favor of it because everybody should have the ability to send their children anywhere they want. I’m not saying public schools shouldn’t exist. But they’ve gotten horrible, and no competition exists.”

Public Education Facilities Bond, Proposition 203: “I’m against it because I think there’s too much waste in the schools.”

Privatization of services, outside contracting: “I’m in favor of that because it’s more economical. I think we should do it as much as we can.”

James Righeimer

Age: 37

Residence: Fountain Valley

Family: Married, no children

Occupation: Real estate consultant

Government positions: None

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Pepperdine University

Funds raised as of March 9: $5,173

Endorsements: Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector John M.W. Moorlach, Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach)

ON THE ISSUES

Bilingual education: “I think we should phase it out. It’s not working. We have children getting a second-rate education. I’m in favor of English immersion.”

Vouchers: “I support it. Taxpayers are not getting their money’s worth in public schools.”

Proposition 203: “I’m against it. The Santa Ana district has shown with its space-saver school that they don’t know how to spend money properly.”

Privatization: “I believe school employees should bid competitively against private industry. I think [privatizing] would save money and give better-quality services.”

Felix Rocha Jr.

(Incumbent)

Age: 51

Residence: Fountain Valley

Family: Married, three sons

Occupation: Retired special agent with the Immigration and Naturalization Service

Government positions: Elected to Orange County Board of Education in 1992; now running in Republican 46th Congressional District primary

Education: Attended various junior colleges

Funds raised as of March 9: None

Endorsements: None

ON THE ISSUES

Bilingual education: “English is the nation’s primary language. But when it’s appropriate, I think it’s OK. For instance, it may work in Santa Ana, but it may not work in Laguna or Corona del Mar. I don’t think it should be mandated by the federal or state government.”

Vouchers: “I’m in favor of a system in which parents can send their kids to a private school and be given an education on their income tax.”

Proposition 203: “I don’t think at this time we can ask the public to dig in their pockets and pay for this. I’m not in favor of it.”

Privatization: “I support it whenever possible, and if we can save money. But we need to explore it to make sure it’s the best possible remedy.”

AREA 3 (northwestern Orange County)

Joan S. Primrose

(Incumbent)

Age: 66

Residence: Anaheim

Family: Divorced, three grown children

Occupation: Retired social studies teacher (public and private schools); taught for 27 years

Government positions: Elected to Orange County Board of Education in 1992

Education: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees, Cal State Fullerton

Funds raised as of March 9: None

Endorsements: California Teachers Assn., League of Women Voters of Orange County

ON THE ISSUES

Bilingual education: “I’ve had experience with [English] immersion, and I approve of that. My biggest contention with bilingual education is that we can’t take care of all the languages. I don’t think we should favor any one particular group.”

Vouchers: “I say let’s keep thinking about it. Parental choice is good, even within the public school system.”

Proposition 203: “I support it because I think that’s the way we’re going to have to go.”

Privatization: “I’m open to examining it. I’ve heard very good things about it and very negative things about it.”

Eric H. Woolery

Age: 30

Residence: Orange

Family: Married, no children

Occupation: Controller for private company, certified public accountant

Government positions: None

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Cal State Fullerton

Funds raised as of March 9: $8,515

Endorsements: Reps. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), state Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange), Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector John M.W. Moorlach

ON THE ISSUES

Bilingual education: “I’m against it. It doesn’t teach kids English or their native tongue, so it doesn’t do service to them. I’m in favor of total immersion.”

Vouchers: “I support it. It brings competition to education and gives parents a choice on how to have their children educated.”

Proposition 203: “I’m against borrowing more money and pushing the debt rate up.”

Privatization: “I’m for that as much as possible if it’ll save taxpayers money and get more money into the classroom.”

AREA 4 (northeastern Orange County)

Brenda J. Bryant

Age: 39

Residence: Unincorporated Orange County, near Tustin

Family: Divorced, two children

Occupation: Teacher at Regency High School, a private Long Beach special-education center

Government positions: None

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Cal State Northridge; master’s degree, Cal State Fullerton

Funds raised as of March 9: None

Endorsements: None

ON THE ISSUES

Bilingual education: “I’ve found traditional immersion programs to be the most effective. But each district needs to make their own individual decision about bilingual education.”

Vouchers: “I don’t want to do anything that destroys public education. However, I feel parents have the right to transfer their children if they don’t feel their local school meets their children’s needs.”

Proposition 203: “I think it’s too much money, and I think we need to reevaluate how much money we need from taxpayers.”

Privatization: “I think it has to be a line-item analysis. You can’t just say, ‘Privatize everything.’ ”

Dean McCormick

(Incumbent)

Age: 65

Residence: Tustin

Family: Married, three grown children

Occupation: General manager of a courier service

Government positions: First elected to Orange County Board of Education in 1976; previously served on Tustin Unified school board, 1967-1982

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Williams College (Massachusetts)

Funds raised as of March 9: $7,916

Endorsements: None

ON THE ISSUES

Bilingual education: “I think it’s proven to be a failure. We have students graduating who do not have a good grasp of the English language, so they’re limited when they look for jobs.”

Vouchers: “If it’s not detrimental to public education, I would take a look at it. But I don’t want to see something that will destroy the public school system.”

Proposition 203: “I think, unfortunately, that we need it. I don’t see any other solution for it, because if you need schools, you have to build them.”

Privatization: “We [in the county Department of Education] probably do more local contracting than any other school district in the county. I’m in favor of it, but a lot of privatization is not legal at this time, so there’s a lot of things that can’t be done.”

W. Snow Hume

Age: 38

Residence: Fullerton

Family: Single

Occupation: Certified public accountant

Government positions: None

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Yale University

Funds raised as of March 9: None

Endorsements: None

ON THE ISSUES

Bilingual education: “The bottom line is that California law requires bilingual education, and each district has to provide that. In the county Department of Education, we’re not going to abolish it. So that’s the end of that.”

Vouchers: “I don’t believe in a sudden change to a voucher system. What I have consistently said is that it should begin in special education. We should give special-education vouchers to allow public schools to get out of the special-education business.”

Proposition 203: “I’m opposing it because I don’t believe that all taxpayers should have to foot the bill for only a few local school districts whose city or county government has been reckless in their development plans.”

Privatization: “I support outside contracting, provided that there is still a rigorous and competitive process.”

Ken Williams

Age: 37

Residence: Villa Park

Family: Married, three sons

Occupation: Family physician in Santa Ana

Government positions: None

Education: Bachelor’s degree, UC Irvine; College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (Pomona)

Funds raised as of March 9: $36,094

Endorsements: Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange), state Senate GOP leader Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove), Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove)

ON THE ISSUES

Bilingual education: “I’m generally against it. I’m an adamant supporter of total [English] immersion.”

Vouchers: “I’m pro-vouchers. I believe parental rights are essential.”

Proposition 203: “I oppose it. A lot of money will leave the county and go to other counties. School districts should have local bond elections to raise money to build schools.”

Privatization: “I strongly recommend privatization for certain services such as food, maintenance and busing.”

Source: Individual candidates; Researched by DIANE SEO / Los Angeles Times

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