ELECTIONS ’88 : Genis Leads in Costa Mesa, Young in Santa Ana

Slow-growth advocate Sandra L. Genis seemed to be on her way to winning a seat on the Costa Mesa City Council Tuesday night, while in the first-ever elective race for mayor in Santa Ana, Dan Young was leading George Hanna in early returns.

Genis’ surprisingly strong showing was only part of a grass-roots surge of support for the slow-growth movement, including an unexpected early but narrow lead for Costa Mesa ballot Measure G, which she co-authored.

“Oh, you’re kidding,” a startled Genis said when learning of the returns after awaking from an early evening nap. “I hope it holds.”

Genis, incumbent Mary Hornbuckle and challenger Ed Glasgow were three top vote-getters in early returns for three Costa Mesa council posts.

In Anaheim, meanwhile, Fred Hunter had taken a lead over Irv Pickler in a high-spending campaign for mayor.

“We have a long way to go; you’re talking 80,000 voters out there,” Pickler said. “I still feel confident we can pull it out.”

In Newport Beach, Ruthelyn Plummer, Jean Watt and John C. Cox Jr. were running handily ahead in three races for the City Council. There were lots of complaints about dirty campaign tactics.

“We’ve seen some pretty awful campaigning,” said Watt, who was leading Ralph Rodheim for Council District 5. “I personally don’t condone it.”

Rodheim had a similar lament: “There’s just no room in Newport Beach or any place to run personal slurs and personal attacks.”

The nine council candidates in Costa Mesa were sharply divided by the growth issue. Six lined up behind ballot measures H and I, both of which would allow a controversial high-rise development north of the San Diego Freeway on vacant land known as the Home Ranch.

Both measures, heavily bankrolled by the development firm C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, were trailing by healthy margins.

“I think it shows the voters of Costa Mesa can’t be bought . . . and the voters for our council (candidates) can’t be bought,” Genis said.

Measure H would permit a 3.1-million-square-foot commercial complex with offices, retail stores, a hotel, restaurant, child-care facility, health club and museum.

Measure I called for a 2.2-million-square-foot version of the plan. Both versions had been approved by the City Council, but opponents circulated petitions placing each on the ballot. If both receive a majority of the vote, Measure H will prevail.

Candidates Genis, John V. Humphrey and Scott Williams opposed the development and measures H and I. Instead, they backed Measure G, the local version of the countywide slow-growth measure that failed at the polls in June.

In Santa Ana, residents voted for mayor for the first time in the city’s history. Both current Mayor Young--appointed by the City Council--and businessman Hanna spent more than $100,000 in hard-hitting campaigns. Former Santa Ana Unified School Board president Sadie Reid-Benham ran a scaled-down, less virulent race.

Three other council seats were up for grabs, with incumbents Dan Griset and Patricia A. McGuigan in tough fights in their wards. In the third race, council members John Acosta and Wilson B. Hart found themselves in the same ward earlier this year by virtue of a redistricting plan. That race also attracted three other candidates.

In Anaheim, Pickler, making his second bid for mayor, led a pack of 13 candidates in campaign spending. He had raised almost $170,000 by election day. Hunter, his opponent, collected more than $100,000 and relied heavily in the closing days on a large turnout of campaign volunteers to get out the vote.

Among the council candidates, incumbent William D. Ehrle had raised just over $100,000. Tom Daly, an aide to Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth, raised the second highest total at $78,000.

Hunter, Ehrle and Robert Zemel, a real estate broker, ran almost as a slate. Pickler and Daly, although sharing many of the same supporters, insisted they were running independent races.

In Huntington Beach, 15 candidates were running for three City Council seats in Orange County’s third-largest city. Council members Jack Kelly--staunchly pro-development--and Ruth Finley--usually aligned with environmentalists and slow-growth activists--have served the limit of two consecutive terms and could not run again. But Councilman Peter Green, also an environmentalist, faced a tough battle for reelection.

Growth was the major issue in the Newport Beach City Council race, which was marked by controversial “hit mail” political advertising.

Times staff writers Lonn Johnston, Bob Schwartz, Rick Vanderknyff and Nancy Wride contributed to this article.