Orange County Elections 1988

The slow-growth movement, which has hopes of sweeping California like a Proposition 13 prairie fire, was given some painful political lessons in Tuesday's election. One was that a well-financed, well-planned advertising campaign, pointing out ambiguities and possible weaknesses of complex slow-growth citizen initiatives, can defeat them. That was demonstrated by the rejection Tuesday of such measures in Orange County and Pasadena.

Closing the final chapter of a landmark civil rights case, officials with the California Republican Party said a settlement was reached Monday with five Orange County plaintiffs who had accused the GOP of placing uniformed guards at polling places in 1988 to deter Latinos from voting.

The California Republican Party, which was absolved of wrongdoing in a lawsuit over the posting of security guards at Santa Ana polling places in 1988, is now seeking more than $287,000 in costs and attorney's fees, contending it never should have been sued. In documents filed in U.S. District Court, the state GOP demands $251,538.50 for attorney's fees and $35,674.25 to cover other expenses incurred in defending itself against the lawsuit brought by five Latino voters.

A group of Latino community leaders angrily charged Tuesday that Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi is playing politics with his department's criminal investigations by not resolving a civil rights case involving Republican officials who support his election campaign.

The 72nd Assembly District is shaped something like an upside-down dog. It's front paw is in Disneyland, a rear leg is in Stanton, its head is in Santa Ana and the tail is in Westminster. It may look funny, but to Democrats it looks like opportunity. It is an island of Democratic real estate in Republican-rich Orange County. Two years ago, attorney Christian F. (Rick) Thierbach sought to recapture the Democrats' territory from the Republican politicians who have held it since 1986.

Orange County supervisors voted unanimously to place a controversial slow-growth initiative on the June 7 countywide ballot despite members' concerns that the measure will damage the region's economy and fail to relieve traffic congestion. The board also unanimously adopted "in concept" a growth management plan of its own that would place less stringent restrictions on development. The supervisors said they wanted voters to have an alternative to the initiative.

While they have to share credit with some expensive outside political consulting help and $2 million in campaign contributions that came mostly from the building industry, John Erskine and Gordon Tippell won a national award from Professional Builder Magazine for helping defeat last year's slow-growth initiative at the polls. Erskine is executive director of the Building Industry Assn.

A federal judge Wednesday approved County Registrar of Voters Donald Tanney's offer to settle a lawsuit by Latino voters who contend they were intimidated at polling places by uniformed guards hired by the Orange County Republican Party last year. U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts signed an order formally accepting Tanney's proposed settlement, which had been submitted to the court Nov. 2.

A federal judge in Santa Ana on Monday absolved the California Republican Central Committee of any liability stemming from a decision by local Republicans to station security guards at several polling places in Orange County on Election Day in November, 1988. U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts said it would require "piling inference on inference" to conclude that the committee was responsible for actions it knew nothing about until afterward.

A group of Latino Democrats, angry with the pace of an investigation into the Republican Party's use of uniformed poll guards during last November's election, had some sharp words for the Orange County district attorney's office Friday. "We express our outrage, our anger, and our shame at the absence of criminal charges filed against those responsible for posting uniformed security guards . . .

The California Republican Party, which was absolved of wrongdoing in a lawsuit over the posting of security guards at Santa Ana polling places in 1988, is now seeking more than $287,000 in costs and attorney's fees, contending it never should have been sued. In documents filed in U.S. District Court, the state GOP demands $251,538.50 for attorney's fees and $35,674.25 to cover other expenses incurred in defending itself against the lawsuit brought by five Latino voters.

The 72nd Assembly District is shaped something like an upside-down dog. It's front paw is in Disneyland, a rear leg is in Stanton, its head is in Santa Ana and the tail is in Westminster. It may look funny, but to Democrats it looks like opportunity. It is an island of Democratic real estate in Republican-rich Orange County. Two years ago, attorney Christian F. (Rick) Thierbach sought to recapture the Democrats' territory from the Republican politicians who have held it since 1986.

The state's Fair Political Practices Commission on Wednesday accused Councilman Daniel E. Griset of making five improper campaign mailings during his 1988 reelection bid. The complaint accuses Griset and two of his campaign committees of "negligently or purposely" violating the state's Political Reform Act by failing to properly identify the source of the mailings.

The state Fair Political Practices Commission has accused former Santa Ana City Councilman Wilson B. Hart of improperly mailing thousands of letters during the 1989 council campaign. According to the complaint, the Friends of Wilson Hart Committee sent out 11,000 letters purportedly by former Santa Ana Police Chief Raymond Davis suggesting that the other City Council candidates had "conflicts of interest." The mailings were paid by Hart's committee.

Despite the defeat of countywide slow-growth and traffic-improvement ballot measures, an influential group of local municipal officials announced a major effort Friday to create multi-city growth-management areas in which traffic and development decisions would be coordinated.

Republican Assemblyman Curt Pringle, the Orange County Republican Party and others who infuriated Latinos and Democrats by posting uniformed guards at polling places last year agreed Friday to pay $400,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit against them. But lawyers for the six Latino voters who filed the federal lawsuit said they have not signed the proposed settlement.

Advocates of a San Clemente slow-growth initiative passed last year suffered another setback this week when the City Council decided not to enforce the measure pending the outcome of a court appeal. The slow-growth proposal, Measure E, was approved by San Clemente voters by a 2-to-1 margin in June, 1988, but was struck down Oct. 19 by Superior Court Judge John C. Woolley, who ruled that it placed an unfair burden on developers and was unconstitutional.

Angrily blaming developers and politicians for Orange County's traffic jams, a citizens' group Saturday unveiled a proposed June, 1988, ballot initiative that would ban major construction projects countywide except where average vehicle speeds are at least 30 to 35 m.p.h. and stops at intersections last through only one red light. County officials immediately branded the measure unworkable, and John Erskine, executive director of the Orange County Building Industry Assn.

A federal judge in Santa Ana on Monday absolved the California Republican Central Committee of any liability stemming from a decision by local Republicans to station security guards at several polling places in Orange County on Election Day in November, 1988. U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts said it would require "piling inference on inference" to conclude that the committee was responsible for actions it knew nothing about until afterward.