Candidates in 30 Cities File for Nov. 3 Vote

Political rivals for the mayor’s post in Orange County’s two largest cities stole the spotlight Friday as candidates scrambled to file paperwork qualifying them to run for dozens of municipal, school board and special district seats in November.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly will face council nemesis Bob Zemel in the Nov. 3 election, while Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr. will be challenged by Councilman Ted R. Moreno. This will be the first time that Zemel has challenged Daly for the city’s top seat; Moreno ran against Pulido two years ago.

Both elections will be showdowns for rivals frequently at odds. But the stakes have been raised in Anaheim, where Daly is a rising star in the county’s Democratic Party and Zemel in the Republican Party. In Santa Ana, meanwhile, both Pulido and Moreno are Democrats.

Earlier this week, state Republican Party Chairman Michael Schroeder and county Chairman Thomas A. Fuentes sent letters to GOP donors urging them to “think twice” before donating money to Daly, who has enjoyed considerable support in the Republican business community since becoming mayor in 1990.

“A strong ‘Zemel for mayor’ campaign will have a significant impact on the GOP’s ability to garner a wide margin of victory for [governor nominee] Dan Lungren and the Republican team in Orange County,” said the letter, which labeled Daly as Orange County’s “most notorious liberal.”

Schroeder said the party, which honored Zemel as Local Elected Official of the Year in 1997, hopes to spend at least $100,000 for him and against Daly. Schroeder said that Daly abandoned his nonpartisan mantle in 1997 when he went to work for Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

“He burned his bridges by going to work for Loretta,” Schroeder said.

Daly said that he stands on his record in Anaheim and that partisanship doesn’t belong in the nonpartisan race.

“It’s nothing more than an attempt to prop up Bob Zemel,” he said.

In other cities, longtime council members chose not to run for reelection, including Mayor Peter Buffa in Costa Mesa and Mayor Thomas C. Edwards in Newport Beach. Buffa was out of town Friday, and Edwards couldn’t be reached for comment.

Elsewhere, past council members out of the limelight for years decided to try their luck again, including former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran and former Anaheim Councilman Frank Feldhaus.

In several cities where incumbents didn’t seek reelection, candidacy filing deadlines were extended until Wednesday.

For all other seats, Friday was crunch day at the registrar of voters office in Santa Ana and at city clerks’ offices across the county as candidates rushed to file papers to qualify for spots on 30 of the county’s 31 city councils. Every city but Seal Beach has scheduled municipal races for November in the hope that state and national races will stimulate voter turnout.

The November ballot also features candidates for 10 seats on four college district boards, 72 seats on 26 school boards and 83 seats on 32 special district boards.

Here is a summary of races in Orange County’s other large cities:

* In Newport Beach, council members John W. Hedges and Edwards are giving up their seats. Ron Winship, who ran against Edwards four years ago, is the only candidate opposed to a commercial airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station who is running for a seat. The city is known for its solid pro-airport constituency. Two incumbents, Norma Glover and Dennis D. O’Neil, are running unopposed for their seats.

* In Mission Viejo, 10 candidates are vying for three seats, with Susan Withrow, Sherri M. Butterfield and Lawrence H. Smith running for reelection. One of the most important issues for the city also is the proposed El Toro airport, which all of the candidates oppose. The city also will be dealing with continuing expansion of Mission Viejo Mall, which is to be completed by Christmas 1999.

* In Orange, the last year brought a police and district attorney investigation into allegations of a $6-million embezzlement involving the city’s longtime trash hauler; the firing of the police chief; and a conflict-of-interest investigation of the city manager, who enjoys a one-vote majority of support on the council. Councilman Mike Alvarez, who backed Police Chief John R. Robertson, is challenging Mayor Joanne Coontz, who voted to fire Robertson. Councilman Dan Slater, up for reelection, also supported Robertson, while incumbent Mark Murphy voted to fire him. They have five challengers.

* In Westminster, the mayor’s race has several familiar names, including incumbent Frank G. Fry Jr.; Joy L. Neugebauer, who has two years left on her current council term and served three terms as mayor in the 1970s and ‘80s; and Margaret Shillington, elected to the council in 1996. In the council race, Tony Lam, the first Vietnamese American elected to public office in California, is seeking a third term.

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Also contributing to this report were Times staff writer Lorenza Munoz and Times correspondents Lesley Wright and John J. Pope.