County’s GOP Lawmakers Set the Pace in Helping Fellow Republicans

Orange County’s Republican legislators raised a total of $2.7 million in contributions to their Senate and Assembly campaigns last year and gave nearly $1 million of it to other candidates, campaign finance statements and Republican Party figures show.

Individual state senators from Orange County ranked first, third and fourth among senators giving money to the Senate Republicans’ political action committee, according to figures supplied by the Senate Republican Caucus. The committee funnels the money to candidates of its choice around the state.

Assembly members from Orange County ranked third, fourth and fifth in giving to fellow Republicans through their party structure during the six-month period beginning July 1, according to the office of Assembly Republican Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale.

Orange County’s representatives in both houses also gave generous amounts directly to candidates for both the Assembly and the Senate.

Aided Winning Republican

Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) gave $65,000 to the Senate Republican PAC and another $187,000 to four Republican candidates for the Senate, one of whom--Kern County’s Don Rogers--won his race. Seymour also gave $5,000 to Quentin L. Kopp of San Francisco, an independent who defeated former Democratic Assemblyman Lou Pappan and a Republican in a heated race.

Seymour is chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus and is the second-ranking member of his party in the Senate. Fellow Orange County Sens. Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim) and Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) also contributed heavily, giving a combined total of $54,000 to the Senate PAC and various candidates.

In the Assembly, Dennis Brown (R-Signal Hill), John R. Lewis (R-Orange) and Ross Johnson (R-La Habra) gave a total of $358,000 to the Assembly Republicans’ political action committee, known as ARPAC. Brown led the way with contributions totaling $192,500. He also gave $35,000 to unsuccessful candidates attempting to unseat Democratic Assemblymen Steve Clute of Riverside and Richard E. Floyd of Hawthorne respectively.

Johnson spread his money around, giving $53,000 to ARPAC and $10,000 each to candidates trying to unseat Clute and Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles), and $8,000 to Assemblyman Tim Leslie, who was elected to an open seat in a district covering parts of Sacramento and Placer counties.

Dozen Made Contributions

Together, the 12 Republican members of the county’s delegation gave $956,200 to the Republican cause, party figures show.

Democrat Paul Carpenter, who represented the 33rd state Senate District--part of which lies in Orange County--until he resigned after being elected to the state Board of Equalization, contributed $8,000 to the campaign of Democratic Assemblyman Rusty Areias of Los Banos. Carpenter raised $589,055 in his race for the Board of Equalization.

Generally, contributions to the party committees are considered evidence of loyalty to the party’s leadership in the Legislature. The amounts of contributions can also be influenced by the seriousness of a challenge to a legislator’s own reelection bid and by the financial base to which members have access for campaign gifts.

In Orange County, it seems, cadres loyal to the leadership, easy races and many willing contributors combine to put the county’s legislators near the top of the Republican Party’s givers.

“John (Seymour) is Senate caucus chairman, and he has a base of support in Orange County,” said Marty Wilson, caucus director and an aide to Seymour. “Pat Nolan’s base of support is also in Orange County. His closest allies are Dennis Brown, Ross Johnson, Gil Ferguson.”

Added Wilson: “Anybody from Orange County has a better financial base than a lot of other places in the state. Orange County givers are conditioned to giving to legislative campaigns. A lot of other people are not.”

Statewide, National Funds

Not all of the Orange County legislators’ campaign contributions come from Orange County, of course. Much of the money comes from statewide or national political action committees representing bankers, manufacturers, retailers, insurance companies, builders, doctors and others.

The California Medical Assn. PAC gave $18,500 to Lewis, $14,500 to Brown, and $13,500 to Johnson last year. The retailers’ association gave $8,000 to Seymour; $7,000 each to Brown and Lewis, and $5,500 to Ferguson.

The California Bankers’ Assn. gave $9,000 to Seymour; $5,000 to Assemblyman Richard E. Longshore (R-Santa Ana), and $2,000 each to Bergeson, Brown, Lewis, Ferguson and Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle of Huntington Beach.

With three exceptions--the most notable being Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights)--legislators whose districts lie all or in part in Orange County finished 1986 with surpluses, the reports filed this week with the secretary of state show.

Campbell raised $2.38 million in his unsuccessful bid to become state controller but was left with a debt of $569,000. Jerry Haleva, Campbell’s top aide, said the senator hopes to retire the debt by the end of 1987. He will begin the task with a fund-raiser in Sacramento in March and, in April, a “Hollywood Salute to Bill Campbell.”

Among his debts, Campbell owes $50,000 to the Irvine Co.; $10,000 to J.M. Peters Co.; $10,000 to the William Lyon Co. and $10,000 to John O’Donnell of Newport Beach.

Longshore, who was elected to represent the 72nd Assembly District, spent $423,000 on his race and received $15,392 in non-monetary contributions to his campaign. He ended the year with a deficit of more than $129,000.

Longshore’s opponent, Santa Ana Mayor Daniel E. Griset, spent $340,152 on his losing campaign and received another $221,741 in non-monetary contributions. He ended the year with a debt of about $6,000.

Sen. Royce reported a debt of $18,840.