SPECIAL REPORT * City elections, school board races and bond measures are on the ballot Tuesday, as voters head . . . : Off to the Polls

In Claremont, the normally genteel school board election is rife with talk about neo-Nazis, as two candidates try to explain their past associations with white supremacists.

In Pasadena, five candidates are vying for one open school board seat, as talk of secession emerges in Altadena and a major financial executive cuts off needed gifts to the district.

And in Lynwood, one candidate for city treasurer said he is looking for a bulletproof vest, as allegations fly about everything from corruption and intimidation to drug dealing and drive-by shootings.

On Tuesday, voters in scores of communities surrounding the city of Los Angeles will head to the polls, casting ballots on special taxes and bond measures, 12 general city elections and races in water districts, community college boards and 59 school boards.

Many of the races range from routine to yawner. But scattered across this municipal sea of tranquillity are churning whirlpools bound to suck voters to the polls.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the small, working-class city of Lynwood, where fighting both crime and alleged municipal malfeasance are major campaign issues.

“I have worked many elections before, and I have never seen it like this,” said Maria Romero, a City Council candidate.

One of the more caustic accusations made--by Romero--on the council floor recently was that one slate of candidates orchestrated a drive-by shooting of its opponents as they finished walking precincts one night this month.

Romero said she and three other female candidates were standing outside a home when someone drove up in an old Ford Escort and began shooting.

Nobody was hurt in the alleged incident, and sheriff’s detectives say they have no suspects and “little or no workable information.” The candidates accused by Romero say the claim is just one more political punch in a bruising election, and deny any wrongdoing.

“If I did things like that, I’d be in jail,” said Edwin Jacinto, a real estate agent running for treasurer. Nonetheless, he expressed his own concerns about safety. “I asked my brother to get me a bulletproof vest, because it’s getting real here.”

Jacinto was the target in numerous dirty campaign fliers. But his ally Arturo Reyes, an incumbent council member running for reelection, was hit the hardest. One flier called Reyes a Mafioso who had been accused of money laundering, drug trafficking, operating a prostitution ring and child abuse.

Reyes denies all those accusations and has sued Mayor Ricardo Sanchez, who he believes distributed the anonymous flier, for defamation of character.

Though Lynwood candidates may be the only ones to claim that a drive-by shooting was used as campaign strategy, other elections also have heated up.

In the Pasadena Unified School District, frustration is building over low student test scores and what some see as an unresponsive bureaucracy. The adjoining community of Altadena recently raised the issue of seceding from the district, and a wealthy executive decided to stop his financial gifts to the district because he thinks the money was being misspent. Roland Arnell had donated more than $3 million to the district over the years.

“People are leaving the school district in droves because they feel it is not serving their kids,” said Pasadena Councilman Paul Little. “This school district is at a critical juncture right now.”

The open seat, vacated by retiring board member George Padilla, will be up again in March 2001. Though it’s a short term, the five candidates know that incumbency would help in the regular election. Their visions for the struggling district vary from an all-out revolution to some simple fine-tuning.

Education Is a Priority

The candidates are Rene Amy, a building contractor who has relentlessly taken the school board to task on its spending and program choices; Dennis Crable, a school teacher who also criticizes the district and wants better classrooms; Porfirio Frausto, a landscape business owner and outspoken Latino activist who is supported by prominent school board member Lisa Fowler; Alex Aghajanian, an attorney who has raised the most campaign money, gained some key endorsements and is more middle-of-the-road in his calls for change; and Martin Zitter, a home-loan consultant and school activist who is less critical of the current board.

“Education is huge on everybody’s priority list here,” said Little.

The same is true in Beverly Hills. For the last several years, members of the Beverly Hills Board of Education have been locked in a highly visible and vocal struggle over management of the school district--so much so that some residents have planned dinner parties around the broadcast of raucous board meetings by the local cable television station.

Now, with four candidates vying for three open board seats, officials say this year’s race is the stormiest in memory. “It’s a war zone,” said Barry Brucker, board president. “It’s like the Hatfields and the McCoys.” Two of the candidates, Virginia Maas and Allison Okyle, are incumbents. The other two candidates are Willie Brien, a surgeon, and Alissa Roston, an economic analyst.

Issues giving rise to the battle include this summer’s firing of Supt. Robert Pellicone, who was accused of racking up more than $6,000 in questionable charges on a district-issued credit card; a $100,000 school budget deficit and allegations that a board member improperly made arrangements for a friend’s children to attend Beverly Hills schools, even though the children lived in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, in Compton, where city and school officials often campaign strongly against state control of the local school district, this year’s school district campaign has been relatively quiet. In one election twist though, school board member Saul E. Lankster is also running for an open seat on the Compton Community College District Governing Board, a move that has generated some controversy.

But no one has created quite as much buzz as two Claremont school board candidates who once associated with white supremacists. Richard W. Bunck, 54, has admitted to suiting up as a neo-Nazi in his youth, while Pastor John Hale McGee, 64, has said he mingled with hatemongers only to bring them to God.

Under attack by opponents and the local newspaper, the pair have tried to play down reports about their involvement. Both have gone on their local cable access show to defend themselves. But two organizations that monitor hate groups say both men have had recent associations with such groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says McGee’s small Apple Valley congregation is among those preaching a White Identity doctrine, and an expert from the Simon Wiesenthal Center said McGee helped organize an “Aryan Fest.” Bunck is a good friend of McGee’s and regularly attended his church.

Claremont Mayor Karen Rosenthal said the two were certainly “stirring things up” and that the city has received numerous demands to yank their cable show, which would run awry of the 1st Amendment. She said few believe either of the two could win; Bunck ran for City Council in March and lost badly.

In Hermosa Beach, the issues are a little more routine, though significant. Residents will consider a measure to repeal the city’s controversial utility-users tax--a move that some claim would have a grave impact on the city budget. The issue has been a key talking point for 11 council candidates battling for two seats.

Taxes and Bond Measures

The repeal question was placed on the ballot by local petitioners, who say the 6% tax surcharge on all telephone, gas, electricity and water bills was supposed to be temporary when it was enacted 14 years ago. Although the tax has been criticized in the past, this is the first time residents have moved to eliminate it, claiming that revenues have been squandered.

But city officials say the tax brings in a critical sum of money--$1.7 million a year--and say it makes up 14% of the budget. The money, according to officials, is earmarked for sewer system upgrades and for police and firefighter wages.

“If we repeal it, the city will be forced to cut services. There’s no alternative source for that amount of money,” said Councilman Julious Reviczky.

In Arcadia, voters must decide on an $8-million bond to build a new police station, and in neighboring El Monte, school boosters are hoping voters will approve a $40-million issue to modernize 18 outdated and rundown elementary school campuses.

In Agoura Hills, a measure to preserve open space dominates the ballot. The measure would strip power over the issue from the City Council and require two-thirds of voters to approve any attempts to change the designation of land presently designated as open space.

Correspondent Richard Winton contributed to this report.