Valley’s Election Night Full of Own Drama, Surprises

It was an evening of highs, lows and “what ifs.”

Election night, from the western edge of the San Fernando Valley in the Santa Monica Mountains to the embattled precincts in the James Rogan-Adam Schiff congressional race to the east, offered plenty of tense moments. And, as is the case every election night, some outcomes offer a bit of surprise.

Starting with a bird’s-eye view of the Valley, voters here supported Al Gore for president by larger margins than voters statewide, according to tallies released by the county registrar of voters.

Citywide, three of four voters supported Proposition F, the fire/animal shelter bond measure, and two out of three Valley voters supported the measure.

And Valleyites rejected the proposed school voucher initiative as decisively as the rest of California.

BUSY SIGNALS: It was clear the race in the 41st Assembly District would be easy to call, with Democrat Fran Pavley snaring 60% of the vote. But when her Republican opponent, Jayne Murphy Shapiro, tried calling Pavley to concede, all she got were busy signals on Pavley’s cell phones.

Ditto for Pavley’s aides.

So Shapiro and her staff members, anxious to reach Pavley, did the next best thing, frantically dialing a reporter’s cell phone at Pavley’s party at the Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center.

“Please tell Fran that Jayne Murphy Shapiro wants to concede defeat,” pleaded a Shapiro aide.

While Pavley was thanking her supporters, she was handed the phone, and finally got the word from the Shapiro camp.

GOOD HUMOR MAN? Republican congressman Rogan (R-Glendale) was full of witty, and oh-so-partisan one-liners on Tuesday--at least, early Tuesday evening.

After Rogan’s wife, Christine, introduced him to supporters at the Glendale Hilton, he gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

Then, he turned to his audience and said, “For the benefit of the press corps here tonight, I just want to assure you that that passionate kiss I just gave my wife was totally unrehearsed and spontaneous.”

He was referring, of course, to the long, amorous kiss Vice President Gore gave his wife, Tipper, moments before speaking at the Democratic National Convention this summer in Los Angeles.

Then, in a reference to his impeachment votes against President Clinton, Rogan told the Republican crowd he was nearly responsible for Gore becoming president.

“I am the only candidate running for the Congress of the United States that already two years ago voted eight times to make Al Gore the president of the United States.”

In his final comedic riff of the night, Rogan thanked his new barber for his shorter hairdo. The cut is so short, he said, “people have stopped asking me if it’s a toupee.”

Rogan’s remarks came hours before he learned he had lost to state Sen. Schiff (D-Burbank).

SPLIT PERSONALITY: What a difference a county border makes.

The 38th Assembly District straddles that line, on the Los Angeles County side including Chatsworth, Northridge and Santa Clarita, and bridging over to Fillmore and Simi Valley in Ventura County. And it was that split personality where Democrats on the L.A. side could almost taste victory.

The district lists 215,352 registered voters, and more than half--58.8%--of those, or 126,565, call L.A. County home.

According to voter records, the L.A. County portion of the district has about 5,000 more Democrats than Republicans. Yet, on the Ventura County side, Republicans rule, with 12,500 more voters than Democrats.

The result: The race was a cliffhanger on this side of the boundary, with Democrat hopeful Jon Lauritzen snapping up 47.95% of the vote, and GOP contender Keith Richman just a small fraction behind him with 47.04% of the vote.

But Ventura County brought Richman home to victory, where he snared 55.2% of the vote, compared with Lauritzen’s 39.8% of the vote. “Republicans are ahead there in registration,” Lauritzen said of Ventura County.

“It’s a two-pronged thing,” he added. “I’m really pleased we won in L.A. County, but I’m sorry that they are disenfranchised by the way the district is drawn. Sixty percent of the voters in the district should have been able to elect a representative. So they are disenfranchised because of the number of Republicans in Ventura County.”

GOOD COUNSEL: Campaign consultant Fred Register’s history with newly elected Democratic state Sen. Jack Scott goes back three elections to a 1996 address at Pasadena City College, where Scott began speaking while still wearing sunglasses.

Register stood at the back of the audience frantically tugging at his eyebrow to get Scott to shed the state trooper look.

“It’s his job to accentuate my strengths and downplay my weaknesses,” Scott said of Register.

Register broke in: “Once we got rid of the shades, we didn’t have any more trouble with weaknesses. It’s been pretty smooth since then.”

VALLEY REDUX: Statewide, 53.7% of the voters opted for Gore, compared with 41.4% who chose Texas Gov. George W. Bush. But the Valley posted even stronger numbers for Gore: About 61% of the voters selected the vice president compared with 32% who went with Bush.

Statewide, Proposition 38, which proposed school vouchers, was trounced, with nearly 71% of the voters opposed--the same rejection rate among Valley voters.

Valley support for the city’s Proposition F, the fire station/animal shelter bond measure, slightly lagged behind the rest of the city. Yet the fiscally conservative Valley, long viewed as the potential spoiler to the bond measure, still approved it.

Of the 202,654 Valley votes cast on the bond measure, about 67% were in favor while 33% opposed it. Citywide, the measure had slightly higher support, 76% backing it and 24% voting in opposition.

The Valley’s voting statistics are based on ballots cast in four City Council districts situated entirely in the Valley--the 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 12th. The 5th District, a seat held by Councilman Mike Feuer, was not included in the numbers because it straddles the Valley and the Westside.

In the 2nd council district, represented by Councilman Joel Wachs, 55,441 voted, with 33,609 supporting Gore and 17,374 supporting Bush. Also, 15,627 voted for Proposition 38 while 36,198 voted against the initiative. On Proposition F, the tally showed 33,979 in support and 15,616 voting against.

In the council’s 3rd District, held by Councilwoman Laura Chick, 65,050 ballots were cast, with 39,590 supporting Gore and 21,039 supporting Bush. On Proposition 38, 17,873 voted for the voucher initiative and 43,355 voted against the measure. On Proposition F, 39,802 votes were cast for the measure and 18,703 against.

In the council’s 7th District, represented by Councilman Alex Padilla, 33,425 voted, with 25,319 supporting Gore and 5,903 choosing Bush. On Proposition 38, the breakdown showed 7,127 in favor and 23,904 in opposition. On Proposition F, those in support totaled 21,305 while those rejecting it totaled 8,316.

In the 12th District, represented by Councilman Hal Bernson, 71,578 voted. While 39,256 supported Gore, 27,863 backed Bush. On Proposition 38, 21,651 supported it and 46,390 voted against the measure. On Proposition F, 41,336 voters approved the initiative and 23,597 were opposed.

NO REST: Just when voters thought they were in for a break from the barrage of campaign appeals, candidates for Los Angeles city office are gearing up their campaigns for the April 10 election. Next year’s ballot will include the race for mayor, city attorney, city controller and eight of the 15 council seats. Council seats on the ballot are the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th and 15th districts.

*

Staff writers Zanto Peabody, Jean Guccione, Caitlin Liu, Sue Fox contributed to this report.