Voters Turn 10 Council Incumbents Out of Office

Orange County voters swept at least 10 city council members out of office, including the chairman of the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency and a top official with the League of California Cities.

Community leaders and others were left stunned Wednesday by the election’s dramatic turnover, which they attributed to heated neighborhood issues, voters’ desire for change and lingering dissatisfaction with local government in the wake of Orange County’s bankruptcy.

“I think voters are saying they want something new, not necessarily that we were doing a bad job,” said Scott Diehl, one of two veteran San Clemente council members ousted Tuesday. “I think it was really a mandate. The majority of voters wanted new people on the council.”

The unexpected results come as voters overwhelmingly approved term-limit measures for county supervisors as well as council members in seven cities.

“There is concern in Orange County that local government is not working, and that translates into support for term limits and voters wanting fresh ideas and faces,” said Mark Baldassare, a UC Irvine political science professor. “It’s a lot more difficult for incumbents to get a free ride.”

Incumbents fared far worse in this election than in 1994, when only four council members lost reelection bids.

In San Clemente, Diehl and Councilwoman Candace Haggard were defeated by retired nurse Lois R. Berg and fire Capt. Jim Dahl. Both challengers criticized the property assessments that the council imposed last year to fund road repairs and park maintenance.

“We felt it was time for a change, and I had a sense that a lot of people agreed with us,” Berg said.

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With his defeat, Diehl said he will step down as chairman of the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency. “I feel I worked hard and did a good job for the residents,” he added. “I have no regrets.”

In La Palma, voters defeated Mayor Duane Schuster and Councilman Wally Linn, who was recently elected president of the Orange County League of California Cities by his fellow council members.

Linn and Schuster attributed their upset losses to the possible sale of land next to Kennedy High School. Opponents accused the incumbents of supporting apartment-type development on the property, even though the issue has not come before the council. Voters elected community activists Paul F. Walker and Alta E. Duke.

“It’s bizarre. That’s the only way to describe it,” said Linn.

Yorba Linda voters ousted Councilman Daniel T. Welch, and Councilwoman Barbara Kiley was trailing in a tight and undecided race against dentist Robert L. Meador. The main issue in the election was a city plan to widen and landscape Imperial Highway.

The race proved to be a political comeback for Henry W. Wedaa, a former councilman who once served as the powerful chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Wedaa, 72, a strident opponent of the Imperial Highway plan, came out of retirement this year and won back his council seat. Wedaa refused to comment on his victory.

In Huntington Beach, aggressive campaigning by the city Police Officers’ Assn. paid off in part with the election of union-backed businesswoman Pam Julien.

But Mayor Dave Sullivan and Councilman Tom Harman were reelected despite being the primary targets of the union, whose members contacted more than 20,000 residents in a vigorous door-to-door campaign against them.

Councilman Victor Leipzig, a Golden West College biology teacher and environmental activist, lost his council seat to Julien. Leipzig said Wednesday that his reputation as a crusader for the preservation of wetlands in the city may have hurt him in an election dominated by economic issues.

Anaheim voters elected only the second female council member in city history but also ousted veteran community leader Frank Feldhaus.

Shirley McCracken, a former junior high school teacher, won a place on the council along with incumbent Tom Tait.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to add another dimension and make it a better council than it is,” McCracken said.

Feldhaus vowed to remain involved in community activities despite the loss. “I’m disappointed because there are things I wanted to continue to work on, but I will not stop on those and neither will my wife,” he said.

The other council incumbents to lose their seats were Garden Grove’s Tony Ingegneri, Lake Forest’s Ann Van Haun and Placentia’s John O. Tynes, the dean of city politics who was first elected to the council in 1950.

“I knew it was going to be close because of my age,” said Tynes, 79, who intermittently served on the council a total of 18 years. “It’s the same as Bob Dole.”

Despite the loss, Tynes said he remains upbeat about his years of service. “I’ve held just about every job in town at one time or another,” he said. “This is a great little town, and I’m proud of the support I’ve had from the people.”

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Voters in Yorba Linda limited council members to three consecutive terms in office, while voters in Orange, La Palma, Costa Mesa, Laguna Niguel, Buena Park and Dana Point approved two-term limits. Ironically, La Palma Councilwoman Eva Miner Bradford won a third term the same day the two-term limit was approved.

In other closely watched municipal races:

* Irvine Councilwoman Christina L. Shea was elected mayor, defeating former mayor Sally Anne Sheridan.

* Fullerton council members Julie Sa and Chris Norby held on to their seats despite vigorous challenges from several anti-tax activists.

* Westminster Councilman Frank Fry Jr. defeated Councilwoman Charmayne S. Bohman in a mayoral race that was dominated by a city plan to lease its aging water system to a private company.

Also contributing to this report were Times correspondents Hope Hamashige, John Pope, Kimberly Brower, Julie Fate Sullivan, John Canalis, Jeff Kass, Lori Haycox, Mimi Ko Cruz and Leslie Earnest.

O.C. VOTE TABLES: A28

* REFORMERS WIN

Laguna votes two cost-cutters onto school board. B4