High-Tech Executives in Zschau Fund-Raiser
A dozen of Orange County’s high-tech heavyweights have banded together to toss their silicon chips into the pot for Republican Senate hopeful Ed Zschau--a move that both political organizers and the business executives themselves say is highly unusual for the normally apolitical group.
“We don’t usually see a coalition of high-tech businessmen take such an active role” in a political campaign, said Greg Haskin, executive director of the Republican Party of Orange County. “Ed Zschau is one of their own, and they want to see him succeed.”
Zschau, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, is challenging Democratic incumbent Sen. Alan Cranston in the November election.
“This is our opportunity to elect a high-tech businessman to the U.S. Senate,” the 12 executives said in a letter promoting a Zschau fund-raiser that will be held Tuesday.
The executives--many of whom are flexing their political muscle for the first time--have sent the letter to hundreds of county residents to gain support for their candidate. They hope to raise $10,000 at Tuesday’s $100-a-plate gathering at the Hotel Meridien in Newport Beach. Zschau will speak at the lunch.
‘Have Seen Him in Action’
The high-tech support group includes executives from AST Research Inc., Printronix Inc., Toshiba America Inc., EECO Inc., Odetics Inc. and Applied Data Communications.
“It’s not just because he comes from our industry--although that’s a major factor--but because we’ve seen him in action,” said Gordon Benhard, president of Elpac Electronics Inc. in Santa Ana and one of the organizers of next week’s event.
Of the concerted effort by local computer and electronics industry executives, Benhard said, “You may never see this again. I think it’s one of our shortcomings, we get so involved in running the business” that there’s no time left for politics.
Another organizer of the Orange County business group, Bill Conlin, president of CalComp in Anaheim, said the joint political venture is his first try at politics. “This is totally foreign to me.”
Joel Slutsky, president of Odetics Inc. in Anaheim, said he believes that all 12 of the fund-raiser’s sponsors are taking their first active role in politics with the Zschau campaign.
“I think they’re all first-timers, from sitting in the meeting with them,” Slutsky said. “We’re not astute political observers but we’re behind him (Zschau) because we know him and like him.”
Slutsky and Benhard both worked with Zschau when he served on the board of directors for the American Electronics Assn. eight years ago.
Local business executives already have shown how effective they can be in raising money for politicians--they contributed about $325,000 to Zschau’s GOP primary campaign at a May 5 gathering.
‘First Political Experience’
“Many of the people were people going through their first political experience,” said Bill Raugh, Zschau’s county campaign chairman. “A very large percentage in attendance had never written out a check like that before or never attended a fund-raiser before in their lives.”
Raugh himself is a political rookie, having taken a leave of absence from his Newport Beach law firm to run the local campaign. Dick Allen, Zschau’s Southern California campaign chairman, also is an electoral first-timer, Raugh said. Allen, a co-founder of Caremark Inc., took leave from the Santa Ana company until the election Nov. 4.
In addition to Benhard, Slutsky and Conlin, the organizers for next week’s fund-raiser include: Safi Qureshey, president of AST Research Inc.; Robert A. Kleist, president of Printronix Inc.; John Rehfeld of Toshiba America Inc.; Pat Kane, chairman and president of Applied Data Communications; Burgess Dempster, chairman of EECO Inc.; Michael M. Mann, former president and chief executive of Helionetics Inc.; D. Howard Lewis of Archive Corp.; JayKear, an executive vice president of C. Itoh; and JeffersonZ. Amacker, president of LeachCorp.
