Unashamed Democrat : For GOP Chairman Fuentes, County Clerk Granville Is the One That Got Away

Saying he is “not ashamed to be a Democrat, “ Orange County Clerk Gary L. Granville on Monday spurned an invitation to switch parties and dealt an unaccustomed setback to county Republican Party Chairman Thomas Fuentes.

Like all county offices, the clerkship is a nonpartisan post, meaning candidates do not run as party candidates. But Fuentes has specialized in recent years in getting Democrats to switch to the GOP.

“You look at that 160,000 registration margin” by which Republicans outnumber Democrats in Orange County, and “if someone wants to make it a partisan issue, those are tough odds,” Granville said.

“I think it shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but if it is, I’m not ashamed to be a Democrat.”

Fuentes agreed that the office should remain nonpartisan but said he “would have been happier” if Granville had responded to his invitation to switch.

‘Healthy for My Ego’

“I guess I feel like the captain of a high school football team who through the course of the year gets a date with every one of the cheerleaders and finally someone turns him down,” Fuentes said. “We’ve had such success in the last couple of years with everyone saying yes, and finally to get turned down. . . . It’s probably very healthy for my ego.”

Granville, 56, is a former newspaper reporter and editor who was working as an aide to Supervisor Ralph B. Clark when the Board of Supervisors picked him in September as county clerk, a $57,012-a-year job.

The action came when the supervisors split the clerk-recorder job in two and the incumbent, Lee Branch, chose the recorder’s post.

The supervisors’ decision to split the office came in the wake of a harsh audit of the clerk’s office by the county administrative office that reported “low morale and observed rude behavior toward clients” and “a generally negative tone which is promoted by management.”

Announced Opposition

Granville’s bid to win the post at the polls next year will be his first try for elective office. His only announced opposition so far is Marshall Norris, a deputy clerk who has run unsuccessfully in past years for sheriff-coroner and for clerk-recorder.

Granville admitted that by staying a Democrat, “I left the gate open” to other opponents who might seek funds and campaign workers from the Republican ranks.

“I think if I’d said I’d make the conversion I’d be in win city right now,” Granville said. “I think it would have shot down any opposition.”

But switching “is just not in me,” he said. “I am what I am. I’m proud of being a Democrat.”

Still, Granville labeled himself a Truman-Kennedy Democrat and criticized the county Democratic Party which, he said, “goes out of its way to be concerned with (U.S. Sen.) Gary Hart’s sniffles” while not sufficiently supporting local candidates.

He said he had not spoken to county Democratic Party officials about his decision but would solicit support from members of both parties in the campaign for next year’s election.

Lined Up GOP Endorsements

Granville said he had lined up Republican endorsements from Orange County Supervisors Thomas F. Riley and Bruce Nestande, Sheriff-Coroner Brad Gates and state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) in an attempt to display bipartisan support and discourage potential opponents.

“I don’t think there should be an environment in Orange County where we have to be political clones of each other,” Granville said in an interview. “The two-party system has worked well. There should be room for people of different stripes.”

In the past few years a number of county Democrats have switched their registration to Republican, including Supervisor Roger Stanton. Garden Grove Mayor Jonathan H. Cannon joined the list last month.

Fuentes said he had invited Granville to join the GOP “as a personal friend” and believes him to be “a man of real integrity” who pondered what action to take before deciding to stay a Democrat, which he has been for more than 30 years.

“I want to see (the clerk’s office) remain a nonpartisan office, and Gary does, too,” Fuentes said. “I do not believe that Gary will take any kind of activist partisan role in the Democratic Party. He never has, and I do not believe that he will today. We remain good friends.”