California Elections : Griset Holds Big Dollar Lead Over Longshore in Assembly Race

Helped by a new infusion of money from Assembly Democrats, Santa Ana Mayor Dan Griset has maintained a hefty fund-raising lead over Republican Richard E. Longshore in Orange County’s most spirited state legislative race.

Griset led Longshore $478,203 to $267,175 in total receipts as of Oct. 18, the last date for which mandatory campaign finance disclosure reports have been filed with the secretary of state in Sacramento and the county registrar of voters in Santa Ana.

However, the figures do not include $38,284 in cash on hand that Longshore carried over from 1985, which increased his total to $305,459. Also, the figures do not include contributions reported by telegram, as required by law, after Oct. 18. Longshore had received about $53,000 in so-called telegram money compared to about $20,000 for Griset as of last Friday, but the totals change hourly as more telegrams arrive.

Griset and Longshore are running a close race for the 72nd Assembly District seat, which Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove) is vacating to challenge U.S. Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) in the 38th Congressional District. It is Longshore’s third campaign for the Assembly seat.

Two years ago, the Robinson-Longshore contest cost about $1.2 million, a record for a state Assembly seat in Orange County.

Longshore said Monday that “anything above $350,000” for an Assembly race is overkill and shows “a little bit of inefficiency.”

Griset was unavailable for comment. But his campaign manager, Gale Kaufman, disagreed with Longshore.

“It’s expensive to start a campaign in March and keep it running,” Kaufman said. “. . . I would say that spending $350,000 on mail alone is oversaturation, but we’re not spending it all on mail. We’re spending it on other things too, like 8,000 lawn signs.”

Both parties have targeted the seat because it is considered up for grabs. It’s also the only Assembly seat held by a Democrat in Orange County.

As of Oct. 18, according to Griset’s disclosure documents, the Assembly Democrats’ political action committee in Sacramento had contributed $211,246.68, or 44.2% of his total receipts. Most of the contributions were in-kind, which means that the PAC paid for campaign materials and services, such as mail and management personnel, on Griset’s behalf.

Griset also received $5,000 each from Assemblymen Tom Hannigan (D-Fairfield) and Jack O’Connell (D-Santa Barbara), $10,000 from Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara), and $6,500 from Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-San Diego).

Meanwhile, Longshore, who on previous reports showed receipts of more than $35,000 from the Assembly Republican Political Action Committee, recently received loans of $15,000 from his campaign manager, Assemblyman John R. Lewis (R-Orange), $10,000 from Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), $10,000 from Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-Fullerton) and $1,500 from Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach). The Free Market PAC, controlled by Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), also loaned $8,000 to Longshore in the period between Oct. 1 and Oct. 18.

Lewis, Frizzelle and several other GOP legislators had donated money or made loans to Longshore earlier. Taken together, about $98,000 or 36.7% of Longshore’s 1986 receipts have come from Assembly Republicans.

Longshore has attempted to make Griset’s contributions from Assembly Democrats (money controlled by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown of San Francisco) a campaign issue.

State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) has repeatedly carried legislation to ban transfers of money between candidates or limit out-of-district campaign receipts.

But Longshore said Monday that he has “mixed emotions” about such regulations and would not necessarily favor them. He said he could see the need for transferred money in poor districts where there is too little money available “to run a decent campaign.”