Push Underway to Get Moderates Seats on Central GOP Committee

The New Majority Committee, a neophyte group of wealthy Orange County Republicans that hopes to steer the party more toward the political center, will assist 41 candidates in their bid for spots on the local Central Committee, according to financial reports filed with the registrar of voters.

New Majority leaders said they are backing candidates who will broaden the GOP in Orange County from its domination by social conservatives. Opposition to such issues as abortion rights, gun control and increased funding for public education by party officials, including Chairman Thomas Fuentes, has alienated voters and led to Democratic success here and statewide, they said.

It is the first time significant funds will be spent on what usually are overlooked races for the party’s 60-member governing body.

The move toward moderation isn’t limited to Orange County: GOP insurgents in Ventura, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties also have targeted Central Committee races there as Republicans struggle internally across the state to end the party’s identification with such divisive issues as abortion.

The New Majority reported spending $30,550 to buy spots for candidates on six slate mailers being sent to Republican households for the March 7 election. The candidates were recruited by a separate group, Republicans for New Directions, which elected 11 moderate members to the Central Committee in 1998.

Conservatives Deride Candidates’ Experience

Overall, New Majority’s political action committee reported raising $120,000 through Jan. 22 and had about $150,000 in cash on hand. Among its newest members are Marion Knott, daughter of Knott’s Berry Farm founder Walter Knott.

Spokesman Chris St. Hilaire said the group “will meet our budget goals” of spending $500,000 on Central Committee races and other as-yet-unidentified contests by March.

“It’s going to be a tough battle because these are people who are entrenched in the right wing of the party,” said GOP committee candidate Emmy Day, a Mission Viejo planning commissioner running for a seat in the 71st Assembly District, where Fuentes is seeking a ninth term.

Conservative activists, meanwhile, met Tuesday night at a fund-raiser to collect contributions to counter the funds raised by the New Majority Committee. Fuentes’ group, Unity 2000, reported raising $19,650 through Jan. 22 and had $12,950 in cash on hand, according to its financial report.

Fuentes announced at Tuesday’s gathering that GOP benefactor John Crean had contributed another $25,000 to Unity 2000.

Central Committee member Matt Cunningham said that many of the members of the New Majority haven’t been active in politics and don’t understand the Central Committee’s role in registering and turning out Republican voters.

The committee, for example, has passed only three resolutions since Fuentes became chairman, he said: praising the Boy Scouts, condemning a 1995 tax increase and blasting a recent county deal favoring labor unions on public works projects.

“It’d be nice if [the New Majority candidates] had a track record in Republican politics, but they don’t,” Cunningham said.

Several Central Committee candidates backed by the New Majority vowed to bring more diverse views to the party and encourage voter participation, citing sagging GOP registration and turnout numbers in Orange County since 1990. They also fault Fuentes for injecting partisanship into nonpartisan races.

Some candidates stressed that there should be no litmus test on any single issue--including the continued chairmanship of Fuentes, though most candidates believe that his 16 years leading the party is enough.

Like Day, many of the candidates backed by New Majority already hold elected positions on city councils or school boards, giving them critical name recognition for their races.

Of the committee’s 60 members, 42 are elected by voters--six from each of seven Assembly districts. The other 18 are legislative officeholders or the party’s nominees for those seats. Nearly all of the legislators are supporting Fuentes.

Several New Majority candidates said the party must address devastating electoral losses in 1996 and 1998 and take steps to encourage more Republican votes.

“We have a small group of people that are selecting the people to run for office,” said Laurann Cook, a Fountain Valley council member running for the Central Committee in the 67th Assembly District. “The party will continue to lose good candidates and momentum if things don’t change.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace Wade, a committee candidate in the 73rd Assembly District, said that the Orange County GOP has a reputation for being “mean-spirited” and clubby.

“Decisions are being made not on principles but whether or not you’re in the ‘in’ crowd,” he said. “I know a lot of people in law enforcement and in business who registered Republican but are now Democrats. When I argue why to them, they say, ‘Look at the people who are in the leadership circle.’ ”

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RUNNING TO CHANGE THE GOP

Forty-one candidates for the Orange County Republican Central Committee are backed by two GOP groups hoping to open the party to more moderate social views. Below are the candidates being promoted in six slate mailers to be sent to Republican voters for the March 7 election. The mailers were paid for by the New Majority Committee, a group of wealthy GOP donors:

67th Assembly District

Laurann Cook, Fountain Valley City Council member

Shirley Carey, Huntington Beach City School District member

Tom Harman (I), Huntington Beach City Council member

Edmund Zysk, retired army general, Huntington Beach

Michael H. Simons, Huntington Beach Union High School District member

Virginia F. Wilson (I), Los Alamitos Unified School District member

68th Assembly District

Sheldon S. Singer, retired businessman, Garden Grove

Joanne L. Stanton (I), Anaheim

Charmayne Bowman, businesswoman, Westminster

Jerry Buchanan, business manager, Buena Park

Elizabeth “Betsy” Bay, business development specialist, Anaheim

Frank Feldhaus, Anaheim City Council member

69th Assembly District

Jim Vanderbilt, education consultant, Anaheim

Robert L. Richardson (I), Santa Ana City Council member

Tom Lutz, Santa Ana City Council member

Jim Morrissey, retired Assembly member, Anaheim

Margaret E. Morrissey, retired, Anaheim

70th Assembly District

Elizabeth “Liz” Parker, Orange County Board of Education member

Walter G. Howald, Coast Community College District board member

Evelyn Hart (I), former Newport Beach City Council member

Serene R. Stokes, Newport-Mesa Unified School District board member

Jim Ferryman, Newport-Mesa Unified School District board member

Martha Fluor (I), Newport-Mesa Unified School District board member

71st Assembly District

John Koos, planning commissioner, Anaheim

William A. Dougherty, retired Marine colonel

Ken Domer, community relations manager, Orange

Richard Dixon, Lake Forest City Council member

Emmy Day, Mission Viejo planning commissioner

Brenda J. Martin, businesswoman, Santa Ana

72nd Assembly District

Susie Sokol, school trustee, Brea

Mark Schwing (I), Yorba Linda City Council member

G. Steve Simonian, retired police chief, La Habra

Henry W. Wedaa, Yorba Linda City Council member

Constance Underhill, Placentia City Council member

Marilyn B. Buchi, school board trustee, Fullerton

73rd Assembly District

Don Sedgwick (I), Laguna Hills

Crystal Kochendorfer, Capistrano Unified School District board member

Linda Lindholm, Laguna Niguel City Council member

Wallace Wade, deputy district attorney, San Juan Capistrano

Sheila J. Benecke (I), Laguna Niguel

Steven A. Apodaca, businessman, San Clemente

Source: Campaign filings, New Majority Committee