ORANGE : Political Freshman Wins by Default

Bill Lewis had the publicity photos, the campaign flyer, the political consultant and the endorsements. But he won’t need any of them for this year’s Orange Unified School Board race.

After just three years as an Orange resident, Lewis, 38, won his trustee seat by default because no one filed to run against him. The victory is an unusual trophy for a newcomer to local politics, election officials say.

Lewis will replace Trustee Nancy L. Moore, who is not seeking reelection in Area 3, the northwest area of the district.

While three other potential candidates took out filing papers to fill Moore’s seat, Lewis was the only one to return them by the August deadline. The trustees will appoint Lewis on Dec. 12, the first board meeting after the Nov. 5 election.

Incumbents often run unopposed in Orange County school board elections, but it is unusual for a political freshman to gain a seat without a campaign, said officials at the county registrar of voters office and the county Department of Education. Such an event has not happened in the Orange Unified district in the last 20 years, according to district records.

Other candidates may have been scared off by internal board politics and the district’s severe financial problems, Lewis said. They also may have realized that “they would have to fight a very uphill battle” if they ran against him, he said.

Lewis was endorsed early on by City Councilwoman Joanne Coontz and state Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange). He was also backed by the Orange Unified Education Assn. and Orange PAC, a vocal political action group that he helped create a little over two years ago.

Lewis also brought his personal campaign organizing skills to the race. He works days as an administrator of his family’s psychological clinic but has spent his off time as a press secretary in various Republican campaigns.

He and his wife, Lisa, have four children. Their 8-year-old son, John, the only one old enough to attend an Orange Unified school, is a third-grader at Fletcher Elementary School.

Lewis became involved in local politics about 2 1/2 years ago during a neighborhood drive to save Olive Elementary School from demolition. He founded Orange PAC and spent two years as its president. Lewis also helped organize support for school board candidates in the 1989 race. All his candidates won, recalled Carole Walters, Orange PAC’s new president who worked with Lewis on the campaigns.

Despite the endorsement of the teachers’ union and his ties to political groups, Lewis insists that because he did not have to make campaign promises or accept contributions, he comes to the school board unencumbered.

“Really, I’ll have the best of all worlds,” Lewis said. “I don’t owe anybody anything.”

Besides, he added: “They can recall me in six months if they don’t like me.”

Despite having lived in Orange just a few years, Lewis said he understands the mismanagement and fiscal crises that have confronted the district for a decade.

On the most controversial matter to come before the trustees in years, the annual $30 maintenance assessment fee to pay for the upkeep of school recreation facilities also used by the public, Lewis said the school board had taken the wrong approach.

“You could make an argument for (the assessment),” Lewis said, “but it had to be voted on” or it was in violation of Proposition 13 that requires a vote before a new tax can be levied.

Lewis doesn’t claim to bring any fund-raising answers to the school board. Instead, he says he’ll offer common sense and a talent for “consensus-building.”

“I’m optimistic,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t have your work cut out for you.”