County GOP Leaders Blame Partisanship for Lungren’s Defeat

Four Republican state senators who represent parts of Orange County blamed partisan politics for the Senate’s rejection Thursday of Rep. Daniel E. Lungren for the position of state treasurer.

But the one Democrat who represents a part of Orange County in the Senate said he voted against Lungren because the Long Beach Republican’s philosophy was “almost 180 degrees” away from his own.

The Senate voted, 21-19, to reject Gov. George Deukmejian’s nomination of Lungren to complete the unexpired term of the late Jesse M. Unruh, who died in August. All 15 Senate Republicans voted for Lungren’s confirmation, as did four Democrats.

In the Assembly, all eight Orange County Republicans voted for Lungren, as the lower house voted, 43-32, to confirm his nomination.

Democrats, backed by a legal opinion from Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, contend that the split decision means Lungren’s nomination has been rejected. Deukmejian and his fellow Republicans have said for several weeks that they believe approval by one house of the Legislature is sufficient for confirmation, but the governor did not say Thursday what his next move would be.

The four county Republicans in the Senate all attributed Lungren’s defeat there to last-minute political maneuvering by the Democratic leadership. They speculated that intense pressure was brought to bear on Quentin Kopp, an independent from San Francisco, and two or three conservative Democrats who were considered possible votes for Lungren but who voted against him.

“I thought we had the votes,” said Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights). “Unfortunately, there was a lot of work done last night and this morning, and now we don’t have them.”

Campbell, who represents a swath of the county stretching from Brea to Laguna Niguel, described the Senate’s decision as “a blatant political maneuver against a very decent human being.”

“I find that unfortunate and unfair,” he said. “He is eminently qualified to be treasurer of the state of California.”

Sen. John Seymour, who contributed $5,000 to Kopp’s Senate campaign in 1986, said he was “extraordinarily surprised and discouraged” by Kopp’s decision to vote against Lungren. Seymour, an Anaheim Republican, said the Senate’s consideration of Lungren was manipulated by the congressman’s opponents to make Lungren’s political views appear more extreme than they actually are.

“There is no doubt in my mind that this was orchestrated from the first day,” Seymour said. “It was well-planned and well ‘strategized’ and carried out in that fashion. It had a lynch mob mentality to it. That’s sad.”

Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) said she had also been optimistic that the votes for Lungren “were there.”

“It’s a big disappointment,” Bergeson said. “ . . . I’m sure it has to be a disappointment for the governor.”

Campbell, Seymour and Bergeson were all considered to be candidates for the job before Deukmejian named Lungren.

State Sen. Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim) said he was “disappointed by the partisanship” displayed in the Senate.

“Looking at Congressman Lungren’s record, his integrity and his accomplishments, there was no justifiable reason for the type of treatment he was subjected to,” he said. Royce said he hoped the governor would have Lungren sworn into office and challenge the Democrats to take the matter to court.

But Sen. Cecil N. Green, a Norwalk Democrat who represents parts of Anaheim, Buena Park and Garden Grove, said it would be a mistake for Deukmejian to ignore the Senate’s rejection of Lungren.

“That’s a legal question,” he said. “The attorney general has ruled that if one house turns him down, he should not be in office. I think that would be a blatant disregard of the wants of the Legislature. I think that would be very bad.”

Green, a conservative Democrat who was considered one of the swing votes, said he voted against Lungren because the congressman’s record showed his philosophy to be fundamentally opposed to the things in which Green believes.

“I had to analyze my philosophy,” he said. “I campaigned on senior issues. I campaigned on education. I was elected on those issues, and Lungren is almost 180 degrees away from that.”

Green, who is chairman of the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee, said he feared that Lungren, who as treasurer would sit on commissions overseeing the public employee retirement system, might try to curtail those workers’ benefits.

“He has voted against seniors from the day he got into Congress,” Green said. “If nothing else, I owed it to my retirees.”