Correa, Dunn Lead GOP Incumbents

Bidding to gain ground in the state’s most Republican county, a pair of Democratic challengers Tuesday forged ahead of incumbent Assemblyman Jim Morrissey and state Sen. Rob Hurtt.

Democrat Lou Correa held a commanding lead over Morrissey, an Anaheim Republican, with more than half the vote counted in the 69th Assembly District.

Meanwhile, attorney Joe Dunn continued to cling to a narrow lead over Hurtt in the central county’s 34th Senate District.

But the Republicans were convincingly beating their Democratic foes in every other state legislative district, including the 68th Assembly District. Republican Ken Maddox, a Garden Grove councilman and police officer, held a big lead over Democrat Mike Matsuda, a teacher.

“Wednesday, I’m back in the classroom,” Matsuda conceded Tuesday night. “That’s what I love.”

Correa, who lost a narrow race to Morrissey in 1996, said he felt upbeat about his chances this time.

“I feel good about this one,” said Correa, who mobilized hundreds of volunteers on election day, including a local high school wrestling team that helped get out the vote. “I know we did what we needed to do. We had adequate resources.”

In the Senate contest, Hurtt complained bitterly Tuesday evening about a last-minute mailer featuring outgoing Sheriff Brad Gates sent out by Dunn in the final days of the campaign. Gates criticized Hurtt for his absences during key votes in the Senate.

The Republican lawmaker said the Gates mailer was “payback” for Hurtt’s support of sheriff-elect Mike Carona and opposition to Measure R, the failed 1995 half-cent sales tax meant to yank the county out of bankruptcy.

“As a Republican, he’s finished,” a bitter Hurtt said of Gates.

The Central County legislative races were among the most closely watched in the state, largely because of the potential spillover from the bitter congressional fight between Democrat Rep. Loretta Sanchez and Republican Robert K. Dornan.

Democrats hoped that an influx of campaign cash for Sanchez would help legislative candidates score upset victories.

Among those expected to benefit most was Correa, who lost to Morrissey two years ago by a scant 93 votes in the 69th Assembly District.

Correa, 40, was outspent nearly 2 to 1 in 1996 but received big financial help this time from Democrats in Sacramento, particularly the large and powerful Latino caucus. Correa pinned his hopes in part on appealing to the district’s large number of Latinos, who make up 35% of the electorate.

An associate real estate broker who moonlights as an evening high school continuation teacher, Correa campaigned on better education funding, banning cheap handguns used by teenagers in crime, and reform of health maintenance organizations.

Morrissey, 68, spent the last two years smoothing his conservative edges to better fit a blue-collar district in which Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans. Morrissey also haunted the home turf, blanketing it with mailers highlighting his hopes and legislative exploits, walking countless precincts and attending every Rotary Club or Chamber of Commerce meeting he could find.

The incumbent ran on his record of getting funding for projects in the district, including $6.75 million for the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana and nearly $400,000 for police departments in Santa Ana and Anaheim.

In the 34th Senate race, Dunn faced a formidable challenge trying to overcome the financial muscle of Hurtt, a wealthy Garden Grove industrialist who has been among the most generous donors to GOP candidates and causes in the 1990s.

Hurtt, the 54-year-old former Senate GOP leader, set aside more than $700,000 to defend his seat. Dunn, 40, countered with support from the state’s network of trial attorneys and late contributions from Sacramento Democrats.

That investment was based on the district’s registration numbers--it actually has more Democratic voters than Republican--as well as synergy from Sanchez’s congressional run. Democrats also felt Hurtt was vulnerable because he has low name recognition in the district, where he has never before faced a tough campaign challenger. In campaign mail, Dunn battered Hurtt repeatedly for missing votes on the Senate floor.

Hurtt punched back by targeting Dunn’s ties to the Consumer Attorneys of California, which Republicans revile as a group that has killed jobs and stifled the state’s business climate with legal attacks. Dunn, an attorney, is a former leader in the group.

In addition to their vastly different career backgrounds, the two men had virtually nothing in common on the issues. Hurtt opposes abortion rights, while Dunn supports a woman’s right to choose. Hurtt backs vouchers to help parents more easily afford private schools; Dunn opposes them as an erosion of support for public education. Hurtt doesn’t want government to tamper with HMOs, and Dunn wants broad reforms. Hurtt wants to slash the state’s vehicle license fee, Dunn opposes the move.

Of the three Democrats vying for Central County seats, Matsuda seemed to have the toughest challenge. Republicans have a registration edge in the 68th Assembly District. And his GOP foe, Maddox, had the blessing of the party’s inner circle.

But the Democrat predicted he could overcome that disadvantage. Matsuda figured he would get blue-collar Democrats, who typically stay home in mid-term elections, as well as much of the district’s large Asian vote, which normally sides with Republicans.

Matsuda, 41, never attracted the windfall of dollars from Sacramento Democrats typically needed to score an upset victory. Instead, he mounted a self-described “guerrilla” campaign with the help of more than 400 volunteers.

A junior high school teacher in Anaheim, Matsuda targeted three key issues--education, gun control and health-care reform--in his uphill fight against Maddox. He campaigned against school vouchers, advocated reducing class sizes and pushed for providing more books for students. Matsuda also vowed to ban the sale of cheap handguns and copycat assault weapons. He also supported Democrat efforts to reform the health-care industry.

Maddox, 34, blanketed the district with campaign mail and got backing from top GOP politicians, among them Gov. Pete Wilson and former Assemblyman Curt Pringle, who was termed-out this year and ran for treasurer.

A supporter of tax vouchers for parents with children in low-performing public schools, Maddox encouraged returning “family values” to the classroom. He wants to expand the class-size reduction movement now underway in public schools and backs an end to bilingual education.

Maddox said he has never supported a tax increase and pledged to push for lower taxes and smaller government. He said gun restriction efforts are wrongheaded. And he said proposed Democratic reforms of the health maintenance organizations amounted to government overkill.

* ASSESSOR’S RACE

Assistant O.C. Assessor Webster J. Guillory led opponent James S. Bone. B3