Costa Mesa : Democrats Give Badham ‘Golden Turkey Award’

Standing outside the Gucci store in South Coast Plaza, Orange County Democratic Party leaders Friday named Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach) recipient of their “Golden Turkey Award” for using campaign funds to pay for “personal” expenses such as his wife’s $400 dermatology bill, Gucci gift items and a 1982 Cadillac.

Citing campaign finance documents filed by Badham with the Federal Elections Commission, John Whitehurst, executive director of the Democratic Foundation, a volunteer group of party activists, said $51,570 of the $342,701 Badham spent on his 1986 reelection effort was for items such as dresses for his wife and her hotel bills in Great Britain, Korea and New Zealand. Included in the figure was the $6,000 for the 1982 Cadillac, which Badham acquired for campaign transportation in his district, according to campaign finance reports.

Told about the award, Badham said sarcastically:

“When a (political) party of the viability and strength of the Orange County Democratic Party wants to be childish. . . . Let them go ahead.”

He was referring to frequent Democratic losses in recent county elections and the fact that registered Republicans now outnumber Democrats by about a 5-3 margin in the county.

Badham, now serving his sixth two-year term, said he has consistently returned thousands of dollars in unused congressional office funds to the U.S. Treasury and recently led a successful effort to cut congressional administrative budgets.