ORANGE COUNTY State, Local Races: State Senate, Assembly, O.C. Seats at Stake

Voters go to the polls Tuesday to choose candidates who will appear on the November ballot. Here’s a closer look at candidates for Congress, state Senate and state Assembly. Candidates were asked about their goals and their stand on the proposed El Toro Airport. They were also asked their position on county toll roads which have come under scrutiny in recent months.

33RD DISTRICT

Dick Ackerman

Personal: 57, married, three children

Education: Law degree from Hastings School of Law

Party: Republican

Career highlights: The incumbent state assemblyman (R-Fullerton) was named Legislator of the Year in 1997 by the Orange County League of Cities.

Goals: Make it easier for companies to do business in California. Limit state regulation on local school boards.

El Toro: Questions whether El Toro should be an airport.

Toll roads: Opposes toll roads. “We pay enough gasoline taxes as it is without having to pay again to drive on a freeway.”

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Jack Roberts

Personal: 61, married, two children

Education: Graduate degree in negotiations and conflict management from Cal State Dominguez Hills

Party: Democrat

Career highlights: Business agent for Service Employees International Union Local 660 in Los Angeles.

Goals: Deliver better education and health care to families and senior citizens.

El Toro: Anti-airport.

Toll roads: Wants state to buy the 91 Express Lanes and turn it into a carpool lane.

35TH DISTRICT

Ross Johnson

Personal: 60, married, two children

Education: Law degree from Western State College of Law

Party: Republican

Career highlights: Current state Senate minority leader (R-Irvine) and former Assembly minority leader. First state legislator to serve as party leader in both houses.

Goals: Demand merit pay for teachers and increase local control of schools.

El Toro: Communities around El Toro must have their legitimate environmental concerns taken into consideration.

Toll roads: Supports toll roads.

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Steve Ray

Personal: 51, married, two children

Education: Undergraduate degree in government and classics from the University of Texas

Party: Democrat

Career highlights: Small-business owner for 12 years. Previously, a special-education teacher.

Goals: To do a better job of representing the district’s needs.

El Toro: Anti-airport.

Toll roads: “There should be no private ownership of toll roads.”

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Paul L. Studier

Personal: 45, single

Education: Undergraduate physics degree from University of Illinois

Party: Libertarian

Career highlights: Designed video board for automated inspection of circuit boards.

Goals: “I want to end the drug war by implementing Prop. 215, which allows the medicinal use of marijuana.”

El Toro: Anti-airport.

Toll roads: “I don’t think the state should bail out the owners of toll roads.”

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Also running for the 33rd district seat is Michael Chacon, a Libertarian technical consultant and Wm. “Bill” Verkamp, a Natural Law contractor. Also running for the 35th district seat is Cindy Katz, a Natural Law chiropractor. Chacon, Verkamp and Katz did not return phone calls seeking comment.

STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICTS

67TH DISTRICT

Tom Harman

Personal: 58, married, two children

Party: Republican

Career highlights: Attorney, Huntington Beach city councilman and mayor pro tem

Goals: Improve education, health care, transportation and the environment.

El Toro: Has reservations about an airport.

Toll road: “Safety improvements need to be done. That place is a bottleneck to end all bottlenecks.”

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Jim Righeimer

Personal: 41, married, one child

Party: Republican

Career highlights: Owns property management company. Leader in the 1995 fight against a half-cent sales tax proposed in the wake of Orange County’s bankruptcy. Co-wrote Proposition 226, an unsuccessful 1998 initiative that would have required permission from union workers before dues could be spent on political activities.

Goals: Protect taxpayers’ money by opposing tax increases.

El Toro: Pro-airport.

Toll roads: The state should sue for the right to make needed road improvements.

Running unopposed for the 67th Assembly seat are Democrat and engineering business manager Andy Hilbert and Libertarian teacher Autumn Browne. Republican Dennis Brown will appear on the ballot but has dropped out of the race.

71ST DISTRICT

Bill Campbell

Personal: 57, married, three children

Party: Republican

Career highlights: Assemblyman (R-Villa Park). First elected in 1996 and reelected in 1998. Owns 14 Taco Bell franchises.

Goals: Welfare and education reform. Improve state’s economy, schools.

El Toro: Anti-airport.

Toll roads: “The state shouldn’t buy the toll lanes. The people who developed it took a risk when they took it on.”

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Gary C. Beck

Personal: 42, married, one child

Party: Republican

Career highlights: A Christian mediator, former lobbyist for the National Rifle Assn. Helped pass legislation allowing private businesses to run smog check stations.

Goals: Create a California state park at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

El Toro: Anti-airport.

Toll roads: Opposed to private toll road.

Running unopposed for the 71st Assembly seat are Libertarian contractor Brian Lee Cross, Democrat and teacher Bea Foster and Natural Law candidate and high school principal Brenda Jo Bryant.

72ND DISTRICT

Don Bankhead

Personal: 67, married, seven children

Party: Republican

Career highlights: Fullerton city councilman for 11 years. Retired police captain. A Navy veteran, he served during the Korean War.

Goals: Bring back local control to schools and cities, improve local funding.

El Toro: Leans toward an airport but said issue is best decided locally.

Toll roads: “We should never have had toll roads in the first place. People who live in this state should be able to use the roads for free.”

Lynn Daucher

Personal: 53, married, four children

Party: Republican

Career highlights: Brea city councilwoman since 1994, former teacher and Brea-Olinda School District board member. Helped oversee construction of a $36-million high school that did not require taxpayers’ money.

Goals: Improve education, lower taxes and improve traffic. Make government more accountable.

El Toro: Favors an airport but believes “it’s not the role of Sacramento legislators” to decide.

Toll roads: “Buying the toll lanes might be a good idea, but there are probably other good ideas as well.”

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Bruce Matthias

Personal: 50, married, two children

Party: Republican

Career highlights: Former head of the simulcast department at Santa Anita Park for 10 years, former chief of staff for state Sen. John Lewis (R-Orange) and aide to former Rep. Bill Dannemeyer.

Goals: More local control over schools, raise teachers’ salaries, cut the size of government.

El Toro: Supports an El Toro airport but says planning control is a local issue.

Toll roads: “Deal with the conflict [by] buying the people out.”

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Also running unopposed for the 72nd Assembly seat are Natural Law candidate and physician John Wm. Zamarra and Democratic candidate and Cal State Fullerton professor Gangadharappa Nanjundappa.

SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE OFFICE NO. 1

* Marc Kelly, 39. A senior Orange County deputy district attorney. Specializes in gang crimes.

* John Michael Gullixson, 51. Mayor of Yorba Linda. Has been in private practice for more than 20 years.

OFFICE NO. 6

* John Conley, 58. An Orange County prosecutor for more than 27 years. Now a senior deputy district attorney.

* Erick L. “Rick” Larsh, 42. A Superior Court commissioner since 1997. Practiced law for nine years and was a city prosecutor for two.

OFFICE NO. 7

* Michael A. Leversen, 52. A Superior Court commissioner since 1995. Handled more than 100 felony trials as a defense attorney.

* Tom Dunn, 45. A senior judicial attorney for the California Court of Appeal. An Orange County prosecutor for 12 years. Teaches law.

* Sheila Fell, 58. A judicial commissioner since 1994.Previously specialized in bankruptcy and debtor-creditor cases.

OFFICE NO. 10

* Terese S. Oliver, 47. A prosecutor. Has tried more than 125 cases, most involving drunk driving and family violence.

* Gary Paer, 42. A former FBI agent and Orange County prosecutor. Became a Superior Court commissioner in 1997.

OFFICE NO. 24

* Michael R. Capizzi, 60. Former district attorney. Spent nearly 30 years prosecuting crime.

* Stephanie George, 41. Orange County prosecutor. Specializes in rape and child molestation cases.

OFFICE NO. 26

* H. Warren Siegel, 60. An Orange County Superior Court judge since 1993. Previously in private practice, specializing in litigation.

* Mark E. Farrar, 50. In private practice for more than 23 years. Volunteer arbitrator of civil cases in Los Angeles.

* Fred Anderson, 57. A consumer law attorney specializing in consumer rights.

OFFICE NO. 30

* Michael J. Cassidy, 46. A Superior Court referee overseeing juvenile cases. Former police officer.

* Jamie Duarte, 42. A private attorney for 15 years, specializing in complex civil litigation.

* Dan McNerney, 47. A senior Orange County deputy district attorney in the homicide unit.

* Jan Nolan. Recently retired as an Orange County assistant district attorney. Specialized in drug and fraud cases.

ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION

TRUSTEE AREA 1

Felix Rocha Jr.

Personal: 54, retired immigration agent, incumbent Board of Education member

Goals: The first Latino elected to the board, Rocha is seeking a third term. Wants to establish a county inspector general’s office to oversee spending of state and federal funds.

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Jose Luis Moreno

Personal: 31, businessman, commissioner of Santa Ana’s cable board

Goals: Expand charter schools. Demand fiscal accountability and ensure literacy for district students

TRUSTEE AREA 3

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Joanne L. Stanton

Personal: 71, retired educator and former 19-year Anaheim Union High School District board member

Goals: Demand fiscal responsibility and strengthen county school-to-work programs

Eric H. Woolery

Personal: 33, business owner and certified public accountant

Goals: Seek new ways to serve troubled students in the county’s corrections school programs, ultimately returning them to regular public schools