Can friends fight fair?

Can two longtime Lions Club buddies seeking the same state Assembly seat run positive campaigns focusing on the issues? Or will they resort to the negative attack mailers so often used by candidates fighting for voter approval in hotly contested party primaries?

Yorba Linda Mayor and second-term Councilman Mike Duvall and third-term Brea Councilman Marty Simonoff--friends for years through the Brea Lions Club--are now competing for the 72^nd Assembly District’s Republican nomination on the June 6 ballot.

The state’s lower-house legislative district covers western and central Yorba Linda, along with all of Brea, Fullerton and Placentia and parts of Anaheim, La Habra and Orange.

Registration as of March 3 is overwhelming Republican—96,224 to 62,985 Democrats, so the GOP primary winner is virtually guaranteed a November victory, unless some intervening event or spicy revelation upsets the normal course of Orange County voting.

Both Duvall and Simonoff are expected to spend heavily on colorful brochures they’ll mail to voters’ homes during the next two and one-half months. As of Dec. 31, Duvall had raised $288,645 to Simonoff’s $182,090, with updated reports due Wednesday.

Hopefully, the contenders will use their mailers to clearly explain their stands on state issues, rather than attack each other personally and misrepresent each other’s positions.

The last time the 72^nd District’s GOP voters had a contested primary was in 2000, when the district included all of Yorba Linda and the state experimented with an “open primary,” allowing Democrats and others to cast ballots in the Republican race.

Two candidates--the moderate and eventual winner Lynn Daucher, a former Brea school trustee and City Council member, and conservative businessman Bruce Matthias--traded increasingly bitter charges and insults in a long series of noxious mailers sent to voters.

An issue of special interest to Yorba Linda’s Republican voters in the current contest is the use or threatened use of eminent domain and the proper role for a city Redevelopment Agency in developing property for commercial use and possible high-density housing.

While Simonoff has supported redevelopment in Downtown Brea, Duvall hasn’t cast a vote on Yorba Linda’s Town Center plans because he owns a building on Lemon Drive.

But Duvall has issued a campaign statement, calling for legislation “to protect private property rights from predatory local government entities that are salivating at the prospect of being able to condemn private property to boost local tax revenues.”

Many residents are asking Duvall why he’s never made a similarly strong statement against eminent domain abuses during his six years at the council dais.

A FINAL NOTE--In November, either Duvall or Simonoff will face Democrat John MacMurray and Libertarian Brian Cross, who are both unopposed for their party bids.

Primary races in the 60^th Assembly District--which includes eastern Yorba Linda--are pretty tame. First-term incumbent Republican Bob Huff, Democrat Van Tamom and Libertarian Anthony Watson are running unopposed for their party nominations.

One familiar name on the ballot for the 60^th District is former three-term Councilman Mark Schwing. He’s seeking re-election to the county Republican Central Committee and is the only Yorba Lindan currently serving as an elected party representative.