Heated primary race foreshadows council battles

Despite a record-low election turnout – just one in four of Yorba Linda's registered voters bothered to visit a polling place or mail in a ballot – aspects of one June 3 primary race foreshadow the two upcoming contests for majority control of this city's governing body.

The presaging contest involved two conservative Republicans – Ling-Ling Chang and Phil Chen – waging wildly negative campaigns against each other for a two-year term in the 80-member state Assembly representing Yorba Linda and nine other cities.

Residents can expect all-Republican fields when candidates file to run in the special election to replace City Council members Tom Lindsey and Craig Young – if voters say “yes” to recall – and for seats now held by Lindsey and John Anderson in the November election.

And, if past races for council jobs are a guide, residents can expect candidates, as well as political action committees and independent expenditure groups supporting contenders, to loudly tout conservative credentials as they beat each other up in big-spending campaigns.

I counted 13 mailers from the Chang camp: four pro-Chang, seven anti-Chen and two responses to Chen's charges. The Chen count for 10 mailers: five pro-Chen, three anti-Chang and two answering Chang. As council races heat up, expect mailers of similar number and tone.

Chang won in Yorba Linda and district-wide, while Chen placed second in Yorba Linda but ran third district-wide, so Chang will face Democrat Greg Fritchle, who ran second district-wide (but last in Yorba Linda), in the Nov. 4 runoff, before she packs for her Sacramento sojourn.

Interestingly, a third Republican, late-comer Steve Tye, scored high in the vote count, despite spending 90 percent less than the front-runners (one mailer, no key endorsements and a few signs) in, perhaps, negative reaction to the Chang-Chen hostility.

The Lindsey recall ballot presents an intriguing possibility, since removal from office will take one vote more than 50 percent, with Lindsey potentially forced out at an October or November council meeting, depending on when the county Registrar of Voters certifies results.

As a candidate for a second term on the Nov. 4 ballot, Lindsey could win one of the two seats, based on past council election results, by taking from 16.7 to 23.3 percent of the vote – depending on how many candidates join the race – and re-assume office at the Dec. 2 meeting.

Only 10,622 out of 40,815 registered Yorba Lindans voted in the primary (7,196 by mail), the lowest percentage ever for a ballot with a race for governor or president. Governor contend-er Neel Kashkari won 3,970 votes, Tom Donnelly 2,846 and Jerry Brown 2,651.

Popular GOP Congressman Ed Royce beat Democrat Peter Anderson 8,141 to 2,042 in Yorba Linda (48,484 to 20,203 district-wide) in a little-noticed, low-budget campaign. The pair will compete again in November, since they were the only candidates in that contest.