72nd Assembly District

Re "Pringle Defends Seat in Hot O.C. Assembly Race" (Oct. 21) reporting that Assemblyman (Curt) Pringle doesn't think that the poll guard incident which occurred in the last election and prevented many Latinos from voting is an issue in this year's race. I beg to differ with the freshman assemblyman in that we Chicanos in the 72nd District have made unseating him our highest priority because of his prejudice towards the Mexican-American community. Pringle does not represent the 72nd Assembly District adequately and must not be reelected, and Chicano activists are going to make sure of that through the electoral process.

In a year when voter frustration threatens to turn politics topsy-turvy, the two Garden Grove state Assembly candidates battling in one of California's most hotly contested legislative races debated Thursday about the good and bad of being an incumbent.

Politically, Garden Grove and the surrounding cities that make up the 72nd Assembly District are an aberration in the middle of California's Republican stronghold. It is predominantly Democratic, the only such legislative district in Orange County. Still, its voters are conservative and have shown themselves quite willing to elect a Republican. So it is natural that the battle to represent this district in Sacramento has become very competitive.

The combatants: Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) faces a political newcomer in Democrat Tom Umberg. Incumbents are usually safe, but Democrats consider this race one of their best chances this year to unseat a Republican because Pringle is sitting in the only district in Orange County that is not dominated by GOP voters. Key issues: This district includes some of the county's most notorious drug and gang neighborhoods, so both candidates are fighting hard for the title of crime fighter.

On a hot canyon hillside near the Mexican border, Assemblyman Curt Pringle watched recently as National Guard soldiers in full combat gear scrambled through the desert brush during a drug surveillance exercise. They were hidden so well that the troop commander challenged Pringle to scan the bushes up close to detect their location. Pringle, a Garden Grove Republican, shook his head. Moments later, a camouflaged soldier popped up just a few feet from the assemblyman and snapped to attention.

Underscoring his campaign image as an activist and an environmentalist, Democratic Assembly candidate Jerry Yudelson and a group of Hollywood celebrity supporters sought Sunday to turn Orange County's outrage over malathion spraying into an election victory on Tuesday. In Orange County's heaviest malathion spray area, all three candidates seeking the 72nd Assembly District seat--including Yudelson's Democratic opponent, Tom Umberg--have called for a halt to the aerial spraying.

Ever since the Democrats narrowly lost the Assembly race in the 72nd District to Republican Curt Pringle almost two years ago, they have been thirsting for a rematch this year. The Democrats figured that freshman Assemblyman Pringle--wounded by an Election Day scandal in 1988 involving the hiring of security guards at polling places--would still be vulnerable in the only Orange County Assembly District with a Democratic majority.

Jerry Yudelson, who has campaigned as the Democrat with the deepest roots in central Orange County's 72nd Assembly District, received most of his contributions over the past two months from Los Angeles County, according to campaign finance statements. The bulk of the money that Yudelson raised in the two-month period ended May 19 came from the entertainment community, in which his wife has worked as an actress.

Democratic Assembly hopeful Jerry Yudelson waited about one minute Thursday night at a candidates' forum before launching the first of several broadsides at his June 5 primary opponent, Tom Umberg, who later warned Yudelson "to stay away from my family." The rancorous forum, hosted by the Democratic Associates, a group of young Democrats, also saw both men standing face to face at one point, accusing each other of lying.

Assembly candidate Jerry Yudelson charged in a complaint to state election officials Tuesday that his Democratic primary opponent has received an improper campaign contribution. Democrat Tom Umberg, who is facing Yudelson in the June 5 primary, disputed the allegations and responded by calling his opponent a "compulsive liar." The complaint was filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission.