Moorlach out front

NEWPORT BEACH ? Orange County Treasurer John Moorlach was in a good position to win the race for the second district county supervisor’s seat at press time Tuesday, with a lead of more than 45 percentage points on his opponent, Stanton City Councilman David Shawver.

As of 10:30 p.m., incomplete results from absentee ballots showed Moorlach with 72.7% and Shawver with 27.3%. Total turnout was expected to be about 40% of county voters.

If the early unofficial results bear out, Moorlach would be the first supervisor from Costa Mesa for some time.

The second district supervisor represents Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and nine other cities as well as some unincorporated county areas.

While waiting for results to come in, Moorlach and other Republicans celebrated under a light drizzle in the courtyard of a North Bristol Street office complex. Ice-filled tubs held bottles of beer and wine, a catering table offered Mexican food, and some of the guests wore Hawaiian shirts.

The early results pleased Moorlach, who said he didn’t expect such a big lead.

“I’d have been happy at 60/40, because I lost 60/40 to [Robert] Citron in my first contested race,” he said.

Moorlach, 50, was appointed treasurer in 1995 and has been elected to the office three times.

While he was backed by the Orange County GOP and boasted a huge list of endorsements from local elected officials, public employee unions vehemently opposed his election and paid for mailers criticizing him and supporting Shawver.

Before the county’s 1994 bankruptcy, Moorlach warned officials about risky investments then-Treasurer Robert Citron was making, and he now says he’s alarmed by the county’s unfunded liability, which he pegs at $3.4 billion. Part of the problem, Moorlach has said, is the soaring cost of county employee pensions.

Union officials have argued that Moorlach is estimating the pension’s investment revenues will be low, creating an artificial crisis.

Moorlach said Tuesday that the county will be paying off the bankruptcy through 2016, so dealing with that and other debts will be his top priority if he wins.

“We have to figure out how to address this debt, how quickly we pay it down and how we make that all fit in our budget,” he said. “If we put it off, it grows.”

Early election results also showed Republican Huntington Beach Assemblyman Tom Harman ahead of Democrat Larry Caballero, a teacher from La Palma, in a bid for the open 35th District state Senate seat.

“It’s pretty much as expected. I’m happy and ready to go to the Senate,” Harman said by phone from his Huntington Beach home. Depending on how quickly the election results are certified, he expects to be sworn in Monday.

At press time, Costa Mesa Assemblyman Van Tran had a healthy lead on fellow Republican Long Kim Pham in unofficial results. Tran had 70.9% of the votes, while Pham had 29.1%. If that lead holds, Tran will run against Democrat Paul Lucas in November.

Despite being dogged by accusations of fraud and a lawsuit, assistant county treasurer Chriss Street of Newport Beach was beating opponent Patrick Desmond, an auditor who works for the county, in the race for the treasurer’s seat.

Unofficial early results also showed former Assemblywoman Patricia Bates was leading three opponents in a race for the 5th district supervisor’s seat, which represents Newport Coast as well as Laguna Beach and nine other south county cities.dpt.07-harman-1-cw-CPhotoInfoQK1RNLFT20060607j0h4izncCHRISTOPHER WAGNER / DAILY PILOT(LA)Dianne Harman calculates results at her home in Huntington Beach. dpt.07-moorlach-b-kt-CPhotoInfoQK1RNM1U20060607j0h60enc KENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)From left, Reed Royalty, Chriss Street, John Moorlach and his son, Caleb Moorlach, chat at Moorlach’s campaign headquarters in Newport Beach as they await election results on Tuesday night. John Moorlach is running for county supervisor while Street is a candidate for county treasurer.