Orange County Elections 1991

After hearing from county probation officials that overcrowding is as much of a concern in Juvenile Hall as it is in the county's adult jail system, the Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to seek Measure J funds to expand juvenile facilities. Voters will go the polls May 14 to decide on Measure J, the half-cent sales tax initiative to raise funds for construction and operation of new criminal justice facilities.

Candidates interested in running for one of three open seats this fall on the Orange Unified School District board must file papers with the registrar of voters by 5 p.m. Aug. 9. Trustees Jeff Holstien and Nancy L. Moore have said they will not seek reelection to another four-year term on the seven-member board. Trustee Russell Barrios has said he will run in the Nov. 5 election and has picked up candidate's papers, a registrar's spokeswoman said.

After a lively debate over Measure J at a Santa Ana Rotary Club luncheon meeting Wednesday, the Rotarians took a straw poll in which the jail tax initiative on next Tuesday's ballot was given the thumbs down by a margin of more than 4 to 1. Some Rotarians said that although new jail facilities are needed, now is not the time to raise taxes to pay for them. They also said their 37 to 9 vote against Measure J could reflect the sentiment of voters countywide.

With one week remaining in the campaign for the vacant 67th Assembly District race, candidate William G. Steiner Tuesday returned fire at his chief rival, Mickey R. Conroy, accusing him of engaging in a "vicious effort to discredit my campaign."

With one week remaining in the campaign for the vacant 67th Assembly District race, candidate William G. Steiner Tuesday returned fire at his chief rival, Mickey R. Conroy, accusing him of engaging in a "vicious effort to discredit my campaign."

Candidates interested in running for one of three open seats this fall on the Orange Unified School District board must file papers with the registrar of voters by 5 p.m. Aug. 9. Trustees Jeff Holstien and Nancy L. Moore have said they will not seek reelection to another four-year term on the seven-member board. Trustee Russell Barrios has said he will run in the Nov. 5 election and has picked up candidate's papers, a registrar's spokeswoman said.

Las Vegas hasn't set an early line on the likelihood of Orange County voters approving on May 14 a half-cent sales tax increase to build a new jail. But the ballot issue is already taking shape as an intriguing matchup. Carrying the banner for the new jail will be Sheriff Brad Gates, who has made no secret in the past of his willingness to be the point man in persuading the public that a jail needs to be built in Gypsum Canyon.

Voters looking for a difference in the eight Republican candidates seeking to replace former Anaheim state Sen. John Seymour won't find it on the issue of taxes. Despite a multibillion-dollar budget deficit facing the state government, several leading candidates in the race for the 35th Senate District seat said in their first public forum Thursday that higher taxes are not the answer. "If anything, we are to lower taxes," said Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach).

The Orange County Board of Supervisors capped years of intense debate Tuesday by unanimously approving a proposal that sets the stage for a countywide referendum on a half-cent sales tax for a new jail. The action, which came on a procedural vote, carries huge implications for the jail construction debate. The supervisors named two colleagues--Roger R. Stanton and Harriett M.

Orange Councilman William G. Steiner, a candidate for the vacant 67th Assembly District seat, committed a "minor violation" of the candidates' code of ethics in misrepresenting his chief opponent's positions on abortion and Proposition 98, the ethics committee of the county Republican Party ruled Monday. On a cross-complaint filed by Steiner against rival Mickey R.

The two sides in a fierce battle over the future of the Hellman Ranch property have spent more than $225,000--or about $13 per registered voter--in an attempt to win the June 4 election, according to campaign finance documents filed Friday. At stake are Measure A-91, Mola Development Corp.'s plan to build 329 houses on 149 acres, and Measure B-91, an alternative, non-binding recommendation to leave most of the property as open space or a golf course, with commercial development on a bluff area.

Despite the defeat of Measure J at the polls last week, members of the commission created to determine how to spend the revenues from the half-cent sales tax initiative decided Wednesday not to disband just yet. Instead, the five-member Regional Justice Facilities Commission will go on hiatus and not meet again until Aug. 28. In the meantime, commissioners said, they want to encourage discussions among city and county officials about how to ease the county's problem of jail overcrowding.

Measure J, which was defeated last week by a margin of more than 3 to 1, was rejected by voters in every city in the county, according to certified election results announced Monday by the registrar of voters office. The results also show that only 17.7% of the county's registered voters--or 185,847 out of 1.05 million--went to the polls last Tuesday, a record low turnout for a special countywide election, Registrar of Voters Donald Tanney said.

A day after Measure J received a trouncing at the polls, the debate over what to do about jail overcrowding continued anew Wednesday, with some county officials vowing to pursue plans for a jail in Gypsum Canyon and others saying it is time to seek alternatives. With just 17% of the county's 1.1 million registered voters casting ballots in Tuesday's election--the lowest turnout ever for a countywide vote--Measure J was defeated, 73.6% to 26.4%, according to unofficial election returns.

When a newly activated law enforcement group gathers for the first time today, it will leap immediately into the breach: By the end of the meeting, the Orange County Regional Justice Facilities Commission will have decided whether county voters should go to the polls in May to consider a half-cent sales tax for jail construction.

Some members of the County Board of Supervisors are considering a special session next week in an effort to set a May 14 sales tax referendum for jail construction, sources close to the board said Thursday. Advocates of building a new jail in Gypsum Canyon, about 10 miles east of downtown Anaheim, are racing against the clock to back the referendum date, which is being pushed by Sheriff Brad Gates.

Because of "human error," the county registrar of voters office accidentally sent out duplicate absentee ballots for today's Measure J election to more than 500 voters, election officials said Monday. Registrar of Voters Donald Tanney said the mistake occurred when someone in his office punched in the wrong computer code on address labels. Tanney also said that absentee balloting could determine the fate of Measure J, the half-cent sales tax initiative for criminal justice facilities.

The name Gypsum Canyon will not appear anywhere on the ballot Tuesday, when voters decide whether to raise the county's sales tax by half a cent for construction of regional justice facilities. But the rugged canyon between Anaheim Hills and the Riverside County border long has been the battleground in a protracted debate over where to build a new jail.