Recount Request Dropped

Kenneth Manning, a Hacienda La Puente school board member who lost the Republican primary in the 52nd Assembly District on June 5 by 70 votes, conceded defeat this week after a partial recount showed him still trailing by 69 votes.

Manning said that, after 15 of the district’s 284 precincts were recounted Monday, it was clear that he was not going to close the gap on Diamond Bar Councilman Paul V. Horcher. So he withdrew his recount request.

Horcher will face Democrat Gary Neely of Diamond Bar in November for the Assembly seat vacated when Republican Frank Hill of Whittier was elected to the state Senate earlier this year. Manning, who said it cost him $280 for the partial recount, said he will decide in the next few weeks whether to run a write-in campaign for the seat.