Orange County Elections ’88 : Badham Referees as Candidates Go at It

Now that he is out of the fray himself, Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach) relished his job Sunday: moderating a forum of 12 of the 14 Republican candidates vying to succeed him in the heavily GOP district he has represented for almost 12 years.

“You have no idea how much fun this is,” Badham said at one point, as the candidates began taking a few shots at each other. “The gloves are starting to come off.”

There is little doubt that one of those who appeared before the 75 people attending the event sponsored by the Costa Mesa Republican Assembly will end up in Washington. With the GOP’s 2-1 voter registration edge in the district, the two Democrats and two minor party candidates who also are in the race attract only modest attention.

The leading GOP contenders for the June 7 primary race in the 40th Congressional District at this point are three 35-year-olds: Irvine City Councilman C. David Baker, Newport Beach businessman Nathan Rosenberg and former senior assistant White House counsel C. Christopher Cox. All three were at the Costa Mesa Country Club for the forum.

Making their first appearances were five new Republican faces who emerged after Friday’s deadline for filing candidacy papers.

They included two women--management consultant Patricia Gunter Kishel, 39, of Laguna Hills, and entrepreneur and business consultant Kathleen B. Latham, 46, of Irvine.

While the number of candidates put severe time restrictions on their responses, the dozen men and women who faced prospective voters were able to give their views on the budget deficit, immigration, Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, military defense and assorted other subjects.

The most interesting question of the afternoon involved North, the fired National Security Council aide who coordinated the diversion of Iran arms sale profits to Nicaraguan rebels.

North is expected to face serious legal problems now that Robert C. McFarlane, President Reagan’s former national security adviser, has pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor criminal charges in the Iran-Contra scandal and has agreed to cooperate with the independent counsel’s continuing investigation of the affair.

Cox, who met North while working in the White House himself, defended the lieutenant colonel, saying he was the victim of a “show trial” on Capitol Hill.

“Ollie was trying, obviously, to do his best to help,” said Cox, who said North once attended a chili-and-tequila party at his house in Washington. Speaking of a possible pardon by Reagan should North face jail, Cox said, “I’d like to see him helped out.”

One of the new candidates, Larry F. Sternberg, 60, of Santa Ana, was the strongest defender of North. “I believe Oliver North is a patriot,” Sternberg said. “We have too few of them. And whatever needs to be done to keep him from going to jail should be done.”

Rosenberg, who attended the U.S. Air Force Academy, said that North violated the officers’ code in coordinating the diversion of funds.

“While we all appreciate the spirit in which he was doing it, the fact of the matter is he went over the line,” Rosenberg said. “And he’s going to go to jail for it, probably.”

Unfair Advantage Feared

Rosenberg was a last-minute addition to the forum, having initially refused the invitation because he said he feared that Badham would give an “unfair advantage” to Baker because of his endorsement of him. Rosenberg said he changed his mind after a member of Badham’s staff, Lucy Olsen, called to assure him the forum would be conducted in a fair manner.

Thanks to their moderator, the candidates never had to say whether they have ever smoked marijuana.

“Have you?” Badham asked the questioner, Greg Kelly, brother of candidate John Kelly, 26, a Tustin city councilman. “No,” Greg Kelly responded. “Neither have I,” Badham said. “Next question?”

As for John Kelly, he once again stunned his audience, as he has at previous forums, with his head-on confrontational style. He attacked Badham as “a zilch and a big dud” and Badham’s chosen successor--Baker--as “the big dud on the Irvine City Council.” Then he mocked--and mimed--Costa Mesa City Councilman Peter Buffa’s campaign speech about the mediocrity of America’s educational system.

However, Buffa got the last laugh--and a big one from the audience--when he called Kelly a “living, breathing visual aid” for those “concerned about the productivity and products of our education system over the last 25 years.”

At the conclusion of the forum, Badham thanked the audience, saying that such meetings “now take on a different tone” for him since he is not a candidate and is above the battle.

But, earlier, in a more private moment during a break, Badham could not help rating himself against the others. “I think I could hold my own in this group,” he said.