Olaes' Surprise Victory Gives City Council an Asian-American Majority : Elections: Dispersion of the African-American vote among five candidates sees Filipina win and leaves Carson without a black council member for first time.

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD

June 10, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Conventional wisdom had either one of five black candidates or another contender with the support of influential mobile home groups winning Tuesday night’s special City Council election in Carson.

But instead it was a virtual unknown named Lorelie S. Olaes who was the talk of the town Wednesday, thanks to her surprise victory in the record eight-person race for a single seat. The surprising outcome marked a number of milestones, including:

* At 30, Olaes is the youngest person ever elected to the City Council.

* A Filipina, she is the first Asian-American woman elected to the council.

* The five-member council will now have an Asian-American majority, with a Japanese-American and two Filipino-Americans.

* And for the first time in the city’s 25-year history, no African-Americans will sit on the council.

Olaes captured 22% of the vote, beating second-place finisher James H. Peoples, a civic watchdog, who received 16% of the ballots cast. Olaes will serve until April, filling the remaining term of Juanita McDonald, who was elected to the state Assembly last fall.

Olaes is expected to be sworn in after the election results are certified, probably early next month.

Local politicians said Olaes’ victory shows the strength of the Filipino voting bloc, which last year was credited with helping Peter Fajardo become the city’s first Filipino councilman.

The victory was also chalked up to two factors: her strong campaigning, which included aggressive door-to-door work and appeals to the city’s youth, and the dispersion of black votes among five African-American candidates.

“Everywhere you went, she or her people were in your face,” said one observer.

For her part, the UCLA scholarship program administrator said she relied on old-fashioned precinct walking, with 92 volunteers canvassing neighborhoods and working phones on her behalf. She said she spent about $7,000 on the campaign, well below the high of $18,000 spent by McDonald, Juanita McDonald’s son and the fifth-place finisher.

Yet at times Olaes employed unconventional tactics: She courted the 400 registered voters at Carson High School, passing out free sodas at a candidates forum sponsored by students, and urged those children who are not eligible to vote to tell their parents about her.

But Olaes considered the Filipino community her base, with its several thousand registered voters out of a total registration of 40,681.

Nevertheless, she seemed slightly bemused at her rise from obscurity. When she filed campaign papers April 1, workers in the city clerk’s office, who generally know all the political players, could offer nothing on her.

“On April 1 I had zero visibility,” said Olaes, who vowed Wednesday to fulfill campaign promises to form a youth advisory commission and energize Neighborhood Watch groups. “I was unknown. Now I think people know who I am.”

Olaes will be the second Filipino-American on the council, although she did not receive the endorsement of the council’s first Filipino, Fajardo, or his political organization, the Pilipino American Alliance.

Fajardo said he endorsed mobile homes activist Coni Hathaway “because I was supported by Coni in the 1992 election.” He said he welcomed the chance to work with Olaes now.

In the African-American community, there was disappointment. With five blacks in the race, the thinking went, nobody could pull together a strong bloc.

“I don’t believe in racial politics but you had too many blacks running and the Filipinos stuck together,” said Peoples, who is black. “If all of the blacks had not run, a (single) black could have won it.”

Peoples said he approached the other candidates about narrowing the African-American field, but was rebuffed. Since he was the top African-American vote getter last year, Peoples suggested he should have been the unified candidate.

“You can’t tell people they can’t run,” said Marvin Clayton, a former candidate and the president of the Carson chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

“I strongly feel Olaes won it fair and square,” Clayton said. “We as African-Americans need to take a lesson from that, to get ourselves together. I applaud the Filipino community for doing what it has done.”

Clayton said African-American leaders would soon meet to discuss the 1994 election and try to sort out who might be the strongest possibilities for the two council seats and mayor’s seat that will be open.

Meanwhile, Olaes, who has worked as a mediator at UCLA, promised to work with all ethnic groups and neighborhoods in the community, which is 26% African-American, 25% Asian and Pacific Islander, and 27% Latino, according to the 1990 U.S. Census.

She also said campaigning awakened her to the need for district, instead of at-large elections, so that council members could stay in closer contact with constituents. The formation of a health advisory group is also on her agenda.

But Olaes said she realizes a one-year term might make it difficult to accomplish much. The feeling has her thinking about her future and signaling that she may be in for the long haul.

“Of course the reality is you can’t do anything,” Olaes said. “You can start things in a year, but it takes at least three years to refine things and make sure they are working properly.”

Carson City Council

100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%)

Lorelie S. Olaes: 2,203 (27%)

James H. Peoples: 1,526 (19%)

Harold C. Williams: 1,307 (16%)

Coni Hathaway: 1,220 (15%)

Keith McDonald: 1,187 (15%)

Carl E. Robinson: 303 (4%)

Victoria McKinney: 218 (3%)

Gayle L. Konig: 110 (1%)

Carson

100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) E--Allow Schools to Separate From LAUSD (Advisory)