Leadership Is Much Needed on Board of Supervisors : Smith Gets Nod in 1st District; No Endorsement in 3rd

This year’s election finds the Board of Supervisors facing enormous change within and significant challenges without. The bankruptcy, term limits in Sacramento and gubernatorial decisions have altered the landscape.

Add to that the question of the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. It is the most divisive issue to land on the county’s plate in recent memory. The board, rarely a center of independent analysis, is being steered by its own experts in the direction of approving an international airport that threatens to tear the county into opposing camps.

The north-south split over El Toro is a bellwether of an issue that needs further exploration, and which is certain to linger beyond the campaign. That is: Whether these supervisorial district boundaries need to be redrawn.

Several districts have clumsy configurations, and there is currently no representative from South County, a sprawling and densely populated area.

Leadership is very much needed. For example, years of indecision have left the county in a quandary about how and where to expand jail facilities. The board’s one reliable leader, Marian Bergeson, is stepping down from her 5th District seat. Change also is on the horizon in the 4th District, where William G. Steiner’s seat will be up in 1998.

On Nov. 5, voters will make a decision on two other seats, where the fallout from the bankruptcy by year’s end will finally have driven out two supervisors, Gaddi H. Vasquez (whose term was served out for the last 15 months by Don Saltarelli) and Roger R. Stanton. After primaries, it has come down to two candidates in each district.

The 1st District: It covers Westminster, Fountain Valley, most of Santa Ana and parts of Garden Grove. The race has been portrayed as a battle between the favorite of the GOP power brokers--Mark Leyes, who is Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle’s longtime friend, and Westminster Mayor Charles V. Smith, who has been labeled by opponents as a big-government advocate. In fact, voters have a choice here between two candidates who, though different, both have experience, knowledge of the county, and a coherent vision.

Leyes has worked on the Garden Grove City Council to streamline government and promote economic development. In a county proud of its conservative politics, he is one of the smartest conservatives now holding public office.

Smith has a wealth of experience as president of the League of Cities, chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority, and in local planning and government in Westminster. Smith is thoroughly knowledgeable about government in Orange County, and should get the nod because of his independence, insight and expertise.

The 3rd District: It sprawls across La Habra, Brea, Fullerton, Lake Forest and Mission Viejo, parts of Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin, Villa Park and Yorba Linda, and a flock of unincorporated communities. We had hoped for a South County representative on the board, and recommended Mission Viejo Councilwoman Susan Withrow in March. Now, Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) and Deputy Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer, finalists from a crowded field, are battling for the seat.

Conroy ought to be a plausible candidate for his work on regulatory reform, workers’ compensation and fostering a climate friendly to business. However, he also has proved to be something of an embarrassment: He still faces a pending sexual harassment charge brought by a former part-time staffer, and wasted time trying to get legislation that would require paddling of graffiti vandals and students.

Spitzer has come to this point through grit and energy, and if comportment were the standard, contrasts very favorably with Conroy, who made an obscene gesture at Spitzer at a Sept. 17 Republican rally in Mission Viejo. During the campaign, Spitzer has embraced the anti-airport cause and argued that a jail should be located in Santa Ana.

Having considered this race a second time, we’re taking a pass on this round of endorsements. As we have said before, the supervisors have an enormous amount of power and influence locally, and we wish in general that more leaders would come forward from the county’s pool of talent in the business and civic communities to serve in public life. We hope they will in the future.