Orange County Official to Run for Lt. Governor

Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande on Tuesday became the first announced candidate for the 1986 Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. He said he will try to raise $2 million and will campaign as a staunch supporter and friend of Gov. George Deukmejian and President Reagan.

Other Republicans are interested in vying for the chance to unseat Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, a San Francisco Democrat, who has said that he will seek reelection next year. Former Lt. Gov. Mike Curb and state Sen. H. L. Richardson (R-Glendora) both say that they are considering the race.

In announcing his candidacy, Nestande, 47, emphasized his personal and political ties to Deukmejian and Reagan, and attacked Democrats generally for supporting Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird, one of four California Supreme Court justices up for voter approval next year.

He said he will not attack McCarthy by name because “I don’t feel that’s the kind of campaign I should run.”

In a speech Tuesday night to a gathering of supporters in Newport Beach, Nestande said:

“Their government (the Democrats’) would support the judicial arrogance of the State Supreme Court and Chief Justice Bird, the kind of arrogance that allows her to consistently reject the death penalty, even though over three-quarters of the people in this state support it.”

McCarthy said through a spokesman that he would not comment on Nestande’s candidacy or his remarks.

Nestande acknowledged Tuesday that he is virtually unknown outside Orange County except among party activists. But he said that the county has become a significant political base from which to seek statewide office.

Nestande worked in California for Reagan’s reelection campaign last year and for Deukmejian’s election effort in 1982. Both Reagan and Deukmejian have said that they will not become involved in contested primary elections.

Commission Chairman

Earlier this year, Deukmejian reappointed Nestande to the state Transportation Commission and he is now the panel’s chairman. He was first appointed in 1981 by then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.

A former legislator, Nestande gave up his Assembly seat in 1980 and defeated Orange County Supervisor Edison Miller, a controversial former prisoner of war in North Vietnam, whom Brown appointed to the board in 1979 to fill an unexpired term.

In 1983, Nestande said, he returned $18,000 in campaign contributions he had received from Anaheim fireworks manufacturer W. Patrick Moriarty after learning that the money had been “laundered” by Moriarty through several friends and business associates.

Moriarty pleaded guilty last March to corruption charges and is cooperating with an investigation of his activities by the U.S. attorney’s office and the Orange County district attorney. The probe involves allegations that Moriarty bribed state and local politicians with money, prostitutes, vehicles, vacation homes and the hiring of relatives.

Hires Managers

Nestande said he has hired former Deukmejian aides Sal Russo and Doug Watts, who are partners in a Sacramento-based firm, to manage his campaign. Donald Bren, chairman of Irvine Co., and longtime Reagan political adviser Stu Spencer will serve on his election committee, Nestande said.

Meanwhile Richardson, a conservative, said in an interview last week that Nestande’s candidacy is one reason he is considering the race. “I think I’d be a better candidate than Nestande. . . . He’s moderate to liberal in his voting record,” Richardson said.