Write-In Candidate May Have Won Seat on Board

A write-in candidate appears to have earned a seat on the Beverly Hills School Board, county officials said Thursday after a count of write-in ballots.

Businessman Barry Brucker was one of two candidates who unseated a pair of incumbents.

Brucker received 1,558 write-in votes. Nearly 3,000 voters--allowed to cast ballots for two candidates--went to the polls, said Conny McCormack, Los Angeles County registrar-recorder.

Century City lawyer Gerald E. Lunn Jr. won the second seat with 1,104 votes. Trailing were incumbents Lillian L. Raffel and A.J. Willmer, with 838 and 764 votes, respectively.

Other challengers were Dr. Trisha Roth, who received 401 votes, and Edward E. Rice, who received 221.

McCormack said that the voting results would not become official until Nov. 24, by which time any outstanding ballots will have been tabulated.

Brucker, who applied for but was not appointed to an empty seat on the board in September, entered the race barely a month before Tuesday’s election, too late to have his name printed on the ballot. His campaign centered on school repair and reconstruction. The issue has been an emotional one in Beverly Hills, where voters approved a $77-million construction bond measure in 1993, but repairs on the district’s schools have yet to begin.

“It was an incredible experience to see a city rile up itself to embrace the schools and say that education is still the most important thing in this community,” Brucker said.