Total Recall: Orange Voters Yank 3 Conservative Board Members

By JESSICA GARRISON and DAVID HALDANE

June 27, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Three conservative board members in the Orange Unified School District lost their posts by the narrowest of margins Tuesday night.

A bare majority of voters favored recalling Martin Jacobson, Maureen Aschoff and Linda Davis and replacing them with more moderate candidates sympathetic to the teachers union.

Replacement candidates Kathy Moffat, Melissa Taylor Smith and John H. Ortega won spots in their stead. It was the first successful recall against a school board in Orange County in 14 years.

“This is a victory for the schoolchildren of Orange Unified School District,” Smith said. “With a new board we will be able to forge a new relationship with the district employees, the cities we work with and our constituents.”

Turnout was just over 20%, about the same as in previous school board elections in the district. Lower-than-average turnout had been expected because the vote was held on an off date in an off year.

Tuesday’s vote marks the end of one vitriolic campaign but is probably just the beginning of another. Two of the three new board members voted in Tuesday night face reelection in November, along with two other board members.

Both sides have pledged to begin campaigning for the November election immediately.

The recall effort turned the town into an ideological battleground.

“The board members targeted for recall have an agenda and they’re lobbyists for specific groups,” Chris Caines said Tuesday as he left a voting booth. His son attends McPherson Magnet School. “We’ve had a mass exodus of all these good teachers, because [the board] couldn’t get it together.”

Another voter, Bob Burris, a minister at Evangelical Free Church in Orange whose four children attend district schools, said he supports the board.

Although he praised some individual teachers, Burris said “my experience with teachers in the district is there is a certain amount of liberal arrogance.”

A pro-recall party underway at candidate Smith’s Anaheim Hills home broke into screams, cheers and hugs as results arrived Tuesday night.

Earlier in the evening, about 100 people drifted in and out of the gathering. Most of the guests spoke about the election not in terms of politics or ideologies, but as a referendum on respect for teachers.

“We want to be competitive and keep good teachers,” said recall supporter Karen Eddy, whose husband teaches in the district. “The board has shown a lack of respect for teachers.”

The recalled board members could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. But Mark Bucher, a leading volunteer for their campaign, said the closeness of the vote showed strong support for the trustees.

“It’s just an amazingly small margin,” Bucher said, “and I think it shows that we had a lot of people understand what’s been happening in the district, despite the union’s attempt to demonize the trustees.”

Bucher said no decision has been made on asking for a recount.

A somber mood had settled over the headquarters of Stop the Union Takeover, the anti-recall group, as the polls closed at 8 p.m., well before results were available. The targeted trustees had no plans to gather to watch returns. A few volunteers were in the office but instead of sticking around, they pulled down posters and began cleaning out the office. Some announced they would go home and tap into the Internet to monitor returns.

Linda Davis said her only plan for the night was to have dinner with her husband. “I promised my husband dinner,” she said. “I don’t know what the other board members are doing.”

She praised the board’s efforts.

“We ran a very, very positive campaign,” she said. “We are proud of the accomplishments this board made..”

Two advisory measures also on the ballot Tuesday cruised to an easy victory.

Measure A asked voters if they agreed that teachers’ salaries should be increased so long as there is no increase in property taxes. Measure B asked voters whether they agreed that a back-to-basics approach is better than more innovative ways of teaching math and English.

* Times staff writer Evan Halper contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

EDITION TIME ELECTION RETURNS

Orange Unified School District

Recall Martin Jacobson?

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100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Yes 10,041 51.3 No 9,530 48.7

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If Jacobson is recalled

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100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Melissa Taylor Smith 10,280 100

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