Catching up with congressional and council races, golf course

Whatever happened with former Assemblyman Scott Baugh’s run for Congress and businessman Buck Johns and the Newport Beach Golf Course? And who the heck is Shelley Henderson?

Let’s start with Baugh. Back in February, I wrote about how Baugh, former chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, was contemplating a run for Congress if his longtime friend, U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), wouldn’t seek reelection.

Readers I heard from were in favor of Baugh making this move, but they’ll have to wait awhile.

On March 24, Baugh emailed, saying that since Rohrabacher pulled papers to run, he won’t.

But don’t count out Baugh just yet.

“Dana has made it clear to me that he does not intend to run in 2018, and he may even leave earlier than that,” Baugh wrote. “Thus, I will continue raising money and developing my campaign. Nothing changes from my perspective.”

Segue to Johns, a go-to guy for Republican fundraising in this county.

I also have an update on his acquisition of the Newport Beach Golf Course.

In December, I wrote about Johns petitioning the O.C. Board of Supervisors to take over the 10-year golf course lease that expires in 2020.

His plan, approved by the supes, included improving the fairways, upgrading the pro shop and replacing the current restaurant with something along the lines of the Yard House.

Spending in the initial improvement phase, $722,000, was to be mostly for the course itself, with the second phase including $1.2 million for the driving range and $1 million for the pro shop, starting in early 2016.

The third phase included improvements of $178,000 to the restaurant/bar, $900,000 to the parking lot/garage and $600,000 for the events room.

Total upgrades: an estimated $4.6 million.

What’s been done so far?

Asking Johns in an email prompted him to have the course’s new general manager, Rick Perrault, call me. Perrault started April 1.

He says tree trimming starts this week on the driving range and front side of the golf course.

In addition to “spring maintenance,” he’s working on the driving range with a plan for partial synthetic surfaces and replacement of 18 tee boxes. The restaurant building has been painted.

Perrault says the course will be more “aesthetically pleasing,” with a “country club look.”

When I asked what courses he had worked at before, he said only that he’s been a “consultant with 30 years’ golf course experience.”

When I pressed him for how much of the $722,000 of Johns’ Phase 1 plan had been spent so far, he didn’t know.

Speaking of Johns, he and Dave Ellis, the consultant on the project, recently had a conversation with several members of the AirFair board, including my neighbor Tim Stoaks. AirFair is a watchdog group monitoring growth at John Wayne Airport.

Though Ellis wouldn’t comment, Stoaks says Johns explained his need now for a 50-year lease on the property from the Board of Supervisors — something the Newport City Council supports — to seal the deal with Chinese investors.

Perrault wouldn’t comment specifically but confirmed there were Chinese investors and that “the longer lease was needed for amortization on investment.”

I called Supervisor Michelle Steel’s office to see if it had been monitoring the golf course’s progress, as outlined in Johns’ initial plan.

Not hearing back in time for deadline, I’ll keep following this.

Meanwhile, who is mystery woman Shelley Henderson, and why is she running for Newport City Council against incumbent Tony Petros?

On March 28, Henderson filed her candidate statement with the city.

Normally, when people file, they include their local address and phone number.

Henderson listed the address of Political Reporting Plus in Inglewood and its number, not hers. So there’s no local info on her.

Political Reporting Plus is a “full-service political campaign provider specializing in political treasury services including accounting, reporting and consulting, with partnerships in all areas of political campaigning,” according to its website.

Partner Michelle Moore Sanders says it’s working with Henderson on her Newport campaign.

I found Henderson’s Facebook page and sent her a message there asking to talk to her about her council run. She replied with her cell number.

After several calls, Henderson called me back and agreed to be interviewed next week. I’ll have that in my next column.

Here’s what I know about her from her page:

Henderson is 43, a White House P.R. veteran and a law degree candidate.

Her LinkedIn page adds: legal analyst, Cambodian Children’s Fund, May 2015 to present, and law school admissions lead recruiter, Trinity Law School [Santa Ana], 2014 to present. She also is an ordained minister.

Looking at her social media, I saw no mention of Newport.

But Ellis tells me the two met about 10 days ago for what he described as an “overview chat.”

I am so looking forward to Henderson’s call…

BARBARA VENEZIA lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com.