California Elections : Twice Denied Backing Earlier : Rosenberg Finally Endorses Badham

It was a long time coming, but Republican Nathan Rosenberg on Wednesday finally endorsed the man who beat him in a divisive primary last June--five-term Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach).

In the five months since the primary, Badham twice had told reporters that Rosenberg was endorsing him, and Rosenberg twice had denied it.

“I’m not endorsing him. I’m not not endorsing him. I just haven’t taken any action yet,” Rosenberg said last week after a phone conversation with Badham that left Badham convinced he had been endorsed.

“Can you figure it out?” Badham mused Wednesday morning. He said Rosenberg called him “out of the blue” with an endorsement and then, when Rosenberg was asked about it by a reporter, “he says, ‘I never said that.’ ”

But Wednesday’s endorsement was for real.

In a press release, Rosenberg, 33, a management consultant and former president of Orange County Young Republicans, said he could not support Badham’s opponent, former Democratic Party Chairman Bruce W. Sumner, because Sumner’s “political views are totally incompatible with my own conservative philosophy. Robert Badham is the better choice,” Rosenberg said.

In an interview, Rosenberg said he and Badham have had several phone conversations in which they discussed the primary campaign charges and countercharges, including Badham’s harsh attacks on Rosenberg and his brother. Badham has not apologized, but he has explained himself, Rosenberg said.

“He wanted to win. That was about it,” he said.

Rosenberg’s brother is Werner Erhard, a 1960s guru who founded the human consciousness movement called est and, from headquarters in San Francisco, still runs training programs around the world. During the campaign, Badham claimed that Erhard was a cult figure who was masterminding Rosenberg’s campaign. A Badham campaign mailer termed est “a mind-control group like that of Jonestown and the Baghwan Rajneesh.”

For his part, Rosenberg produced a radio commercial that made fun of Badham’s wife and described Badham throughout the campaign as a junketeering congressman who missed significant votes.

Sumner, who must gain Republican votes if he is to win Badham’s predominantly Republican 40th Congressional District seat, said he was not disappointed by Rosenberg’s endorsement: “It doesn’t particularly surprise me nor does it affect me.”

He said “a lot of Rosenberg supporters” are backing his candidacy.

Rosenberg said his endorsement should have little effect on the race because “Bob’s going to win. . . . At the same time, I got 35% of the Republican vote . . . , and for those people that voted for me, this kind of greases the slide and may make it easier for some people to vote for him.”