Jerry Yudelson

Orange County's most hotly contested Assembly race of 1990 took shape Thursday as a second Democrat launched his campaign and another rumored challenger took his name out of the running. Thomas Umberg, who quit his job as a federal prosecutor in Irvine last month so that he could enter the race to unseat Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), officially announced his candidacy at a news conference.

Healing the wounds from a bitter June election, Democratic Assembly candidate Tom Umberg announced Monday that he has received the endorsement of his opponent in the primary, Jerry Yudelson. The acrimony between the two Democrats who sought to challenge Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) in November became so heated that Yudelson pledged at one point he would never endorse Umberg.

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.

On Nov. 8, Latinos will have the greatest opportunity to set down the platform for a better future in our society. Latinos should vote in this presidential election for Michael S. Dukakis, Jerry Yudelson for congressman and Rick Thierbach for state assemblyman. Those opposing these candidates are not even in touch with reality, let alone in touch with the Latino community. JAIME VEGA Anaheim

Actors James Brolin, Robert Walden and Jan Smithers, along with other Democrats, will walk precincts today for Democratic congressional candidate Jerry Yudelson. Yudelson is running against incumbent Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) in the 38th District in central Orange County. Yudelson's supporters will meet at 10 a.m. in the parking lot of Coco's, 12332 Brookhurst St., Garden Grove. For more information, call (714) 648-0462.

Healing the wounds from a bitter June election, Democratic Assembly candidate Tom Umberg announced Monday that he has received the endorsement of his opponent in the primary, Jerry Yudelson. The acrimony between the two Democrats who sought to challenge Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) in November became so heated that Yudelson pledged at one point he would never endorse Umberg.

Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic may have decided not to run against Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), but he has not disappeared from the Orange County political scene. Jerry Yudelson, one of two Democratic candidates for the 72nd Assembly District seat held by Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), announced Thursday that he has the endorsement of Kovic, whose life is portrayed in the movie "Born on the Fourth of July."

Your article, "Democrats Take Aim at Pringle" (Dec. 29), misleads on several issues. You state, "Local Democrats promised Thursday to use the explosive issue as the most potent weapon to defeat state Assemblyman Curt Pringle." This, of course, refers to Pringle's posting of security guards at polling places in Latino neighborhoods in the November, 1988, election. However, we local Democrats have promised since Nov. 8, 1988, the date Pringle perpetrated this illegal and immoral act, to use this issue to defeat him. Your article also does a disservice to the only actual Democratic candidate for the seat, Jerry Yudelson.

A story (May 11) was extremely offensive to myself and all other local residents who are fighting to end the malathion aerial spraying. The story boasted that Mollie Haines, so-called activist against the spraying, was going to reregister from Republican to Democrat to support Jerry Yudelson for the state Assembly. I wish the partisan people would stay away from this issue. We need bipartisan support and determination to end the spraying immediately. My message to all hopeful officeholders is support us but don't use us. Both Yudelson and Tom Umberg have attempted to hijack this issue for their campaigns, and I don't like it. If either man didn't think he had a chance to win office, he wouldn't have moved here in the first place.

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.

A story (May 11) was extremely offensive to myself and all other local residents who are fighting to end the malathion aerial spraying. The story boasted that Mollie Haines, so-called activist against the spraying, was going to reregister from Republican to Democrat to support Jerry Yudelson for the state Assembly. I wish the partisan people would stay away from this issue. We need bipartisan support and determination to end the spraying immediately. My message to all hopeful officeholders is support us but don't use us. Both Yudelson and Tom Umberg have attempted to hijack this issue for their campaigns, and I don't like it. If either man didn't think he had a chance to win office, he wouldn't have moved here in the first place.

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.

At the request of Garden Grove Assembly candidate Jerry Yudelson, a Democratic congressman from San Diego has called for a hearing on the 1988 Election Day decision by Orange County Republicans to place uniformed security guards at several polling places in Santa Ana. Rep. Jim Bates said the U.S. Justice Department has taken too long to conclude its criminal investigation, which is being conducted with the Orange County district attorney's office.

I, like Brenda Hester, am a resident of the 38th Congressional District. But I cannot call Bob Dornan my "representative" because he does not represent me, my family, or many of his constituents in any way, shape or form. How can Dornan represent those he swore under oath to when he locks his district office doors during business hours on those who come to present an opposing view? It's fact! I was there. How can Dornan represent his constituents when he spends more time, at taxpayers' expense, hopping around the country and the world promoting the Administration's "foreign policy" than in his own district?

The state and county authorities need to stop the malathion spraying program immediately in Orange County! Regardless of the technical and medical questions about the efficacy of malathion spraying and the short-term and long-term medical impacts, hundreds of thousands of citizens, taxpayers and residents of central Orange County are being needlessly put at risk and put money out of pocket. What is the rush to spray? Why not try the equally effective methods of biological control (sterile male flies)

Democratic Assembly candidate Jerry Yudelson is exploiting a rift within the Orange County Democratic Party in a campaign brochure in which he charges that his opponent in the June 5 primary is being supported by South County "party bosses and developers." The brochure, mailed to Democratic voters last weekend in the 72nd Assembly District, prompted one of the so-called "party bosses" to say Tuesday: "After hearing this, I've lost all respect for Yudelson. That's despicable.

The leader of a Garden Grove residents' group created to battle malathion spraying said Monday that she has switched her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat so she can vote for Assembly candidate Jerry Yudelson in next month's primary. Mollie Haines, chairwoman of Garden Grove Residents Against Malathion Spraying, said at a morning press conference in Santa Ana that Yudelson is "the one candidate we can totally trust to get malathion spraying stopped permanently. . . .