Politics & Government

Two Recently Re-Elected Capo Trustees Seek Countywide Offices

After two elections and three years of service, two school board members file papers for new positions. One of them is poised to face a political enemy.

Often volatile Capistrano Unified School District politics may spill over into races for countywide offices. Fourteen months after being re-elected to the Capistrano Unified school board, two trustees are now seeking new positions on the June ballot.

Board President John Alpay filed papers this past week to run for Orange County Public Administrator, who handles the estates of people who die without a will or trust. Besides being a school board member, Alpay is director of legal affairs at Oakley in Foothill Ranch.

Meanwhile, Gary Pritchard, also a CUSD trustee, filed to run for Orange County Clerk-Recorder.

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The public administrator election sets up an interesting race. Also running so far are Steve Rocco and Ken Lopez Maddox. Along with Pritchard, Alpay was part of the new majority that unseated part of what was called Capo Unified’s “reform board,” in part by recalling Lopez Maddox, in November 2010.

Rocco, a perennial candidate for office, spent one term on the Orange Unified school board. He also notoriously was caught stealing a bottle of ketchup from Chapman University.

Find out what's happening in San Juan Capistranowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

So far, Pritchard is squaring off with incumbent Hugh Nguyen and Lopez Maddox’s wife Monica Lopez Maddox.

Both offices are nonpartisan. Allies at Capo, Alpay has been an active Republican and Pritchard an active Democrat.


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