California Elections : Legislature’s ‘Rambo’ Faces a Challenge From 2 Other Orange County Republicans

The man the Legislature knows as “Rambo” has been ambushed by his own forces in southern Orange County.

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson, a Newport Beach Republican who is one of the leaders in the GOP battle to capture control of the Legislature, is facing a feisty challenge from two fellow Republicans in his race to hang onto the 70th Assembly District seat.

One of his opponents, Newport Beach Councilwoman Evelyn Hart, entered the race despite being told that she might face retribution from the county’s Republican hierarchy. Ferguson’s other opponent, Laguna Beach resident Michael Mang, is a self-styled radical environmentalist with no ties to the party and thus little to lose politically.

Ferguson is well known and well financed, and he is expected to beat back the challenge on June 7. The district is the most Republican in the state--about 62% of its voters are registered Republicans--so the winner of the primary election is all but guaranteed to defeat Democrat Michael Gallups in the fall.

On the Spot

But in the meantime, Hart and Mang are putting the two-term assemblyman on the spot, with Hart publicizing an embarrassing investigation of Ferguson’s political finances and Mang blaming him for the maddening traffic congestion that is clogging the county’s freeways and frustrating its voters.

Ferguson, 65, is a former Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who proudly announces to most audiences that he has fought in this country’s last three wars. He is best known outside of Orange County for his efforts to expel liberal Democrat Tom Hayden of Santa Monica from the Assembly because of his involvement in the anti-Vietnam War movement, particularly a wartime trip to Hanoi.

Ferguson also once opposed funding for a Japanese-American memorial by reminding colleagues that the Marines who fought against the Japanese in World War II had to raise their own memorial fund by collecting “nickels and dimes.”

“If the Japanese can’t afford one, they don’t deserve one,” he said.

‘Rambo Nickname’

It was comments such as those on military issues that earned Ferguson the “Rambo” nickname. But his true passion is the fight for the rights of property owners. He calls himself a “kamikaze pilot” on behalf of those who own land and want to use it as they wish.

Ferguson told a recent gathering of apartment owners in Anaheim that they had only themselves to blame for restrictions placed on private enterprise by the “do-gooders and the crazies” in the name of environmentalism and the anti-poverty movement.

Paraphrasing the Declaration of Independence, Ferguson said the Founding Fathers declared that all men were “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and among those rights are your life, your liberty and your property.

“The government does not give you those rights,” he bellowed.

Ferguson’s support for the free-enterprise system has been his strong suit in conservative Orange County, where business-backed Republicans have long dominated the political landscape. No Democrat representing a district predominantly in Orange County serves in either the state Legislature or Congress.

Measure Opposed

But rapid development, particularly in and around Ferguson’s district, which stretches from Newport Beach to Capistrano Beach and inland past Mission Viejo, has angered voters and prompted placement of a growth-control initiative on the June 7 ballot.

Ferguson, who in the past has carried legislation that would crimp the use of voter-inspired growth initiatives, is opposing the Orange County ballot measure, but not actively. He says he drives the freeways, too, and so he understands why county residents are fed up with growth. He puts the blame not on builders but on local politicians, whom he accuses of faulty planning.

But with polls showing an overwhelming majority in favor of the slow-growth measure, Ferguson has tried to steer the campaign to other issues. He has concentrated his fire on Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, the San Francisco Democrat, and told voters that he is working with a group of five rebel Democrats to enact legislation that Brown opposes.

Awkward Corner

But this strategy, too, has forced Ferguson into an awkward corner. Hart has repeatedly pressured him to explain why the 36 Assembly Republicans have not joined forces with the so-called “Gang of Five” Democrats to topple Brown. It takes 41 votes to choose a new Assembly Speaker.

Ferguson responds that his fellow Republican caucus members are reluctant to dump Brown without knowing who would replace him as Speaker.

Hart, 57, has been a Newport Beach councilwoman for 10 years. She has tried to position herself as a conservative who is open to compromise.

Candidate Was Warned

Hart has been criticized by county Republican leaders for diverting Ferguson’s attention and campaign money at a time when he should be helping other California Republicans win seats in the Legislature.

Hart also got a call from Assemblyman Pat Nolan of Glendale, the Republicans’ Assembly leader.

“I told her I was very disappointed that she was running,” Nolan said in an interview. “We should be running against Democrats, not each other.”

Hart also has been criticized by the county Republican Party Central Committee for the way she has discussed a state Fair Political Practices Commission investigation of Ferguson’s personal finances. The commission is investigating Ferguson’s failure to properly report at least $30,000 in consulting fees he received from two Orange County developers. The FBI also is looking into the matter.

‘Unethical and Unfair’

Although Hart was found by the Orange County Republican Party’s ethics committee to have used “unethical and unfair” tactics in attacking Ferguson, Hart has not let up.

“The Fair Political Practices Commission would not have turned him over to the FBI if there wasn’t something wrong there,” she said.

Hart appears less comfortable on policy issues. She speaks in generalities--she is neutral on slow-growth, but supports the measure if it wins voter approval--and sometimes chuckles nervously when asked about an issue with which she is not entirely familiar.

In one recent interview, Hart first said she favored Proposition 68 on the June 7 ballot, which would limit political contributions and spending and provide partial taxpayer financing of campaigns. Public financing is opposed by virtually every major Republican leader in California.

Reconsiders Her Position

Hart was not aware that another measure on the ballot, co-authored by Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra), would also limit contributions but would prohibit public financing of campaigns. Told of Johnson’s measure, Hart said she would study them both and reconsider her position.

On insurance-rate regulation, a problem the Legislature has barely begun to address, Hart predicted her touch would be just what is needed.

“We need some real reform on insurance,” Hart said. “I’m as good as anyone else to work on those” issues.

Ferguson, who plans to spend at least $200,000 before June 7, is regarded as a heavy favorite to beat Hart, who hopes to raise and spend $125,000. The third candidate--Mang--so far has not been taken seriously by party insiders.

Mang, 48, a former high school civics teacher who said he lives off money he made in real estate, is an outspoken advocate of growth controls. He says Ferguson and Hart, both of whom get much of their campaign money from developers, are out of step with the voters. Mang describes himself as a “radical for clean air and clean water.”