Longshore of Santa Ana Dies After Renomination

Assemblyman Richard E. Longshore, who triumphed in his 1986 election to the Legislature after two unsuccessful tries, died in Sacramento on Wednesday, one day after voters in his Santa Ana district nominated him for a second term.

The 62-year-old Republican, who had been ill for many months, died of pneumonia at 10:30 a.m. He had entered Sutter General Hospital 10 days ago, said Mike Pottage, director of communications for the Assembly Republican caucus. Longshore’s wife, Linda, was at his side, Pottage said.

Longshore’s death caught his colleagues and staff by surprise. “His office is just devastated by it,” Pottage said.

“We begged him to go to the hospital many weeks ago,” said his friend, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach). “But he felt so obligated to be here. He wanted to be here every moment we were in session.” Facing the primary uncontested, Longshore was “looking forward to winning the November election and no longer being a freshman,” Pottage said.

New Political Picture

The death of Longshore, who was expected to face a tough challenge in November’s general election, could profoundly change the near-term political pictures in Sacramento and Orange County.

In the capital, Longshore’s death leaves the Republicans with 35 seats in the 80-member Assembly. That means the GOP and the five rebellious Democrats who have come to be known as the “Gang of Five” can now muster only 40 votes--one short of the majority the coalition needs to continue its battles with Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and his leadership circle.

In Orange County, Longshore will be replaced on the ballot by a candidate chosen by the county’s Republican Central Committee, according to Rosalyn Lever, assistant registrar of voters. She said Longshore’s seat cannot be filled by a special election between now and November and will remain open until his successor is sworn in in December.

The 72nd District includes parts of Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Westminster and all of the city of Stanton.

Lever said the county party faces no time limit for the decision except the deadline for preparing the ballot material to be printed, which this year will fall around Sept. 1.

Period of Mourning

Although speculation was already beginning in political circles Wednesday about who might get the party’s nod, county Republican Chairman Tom Fuentes said the committee will wait to fill the vacancy until after an appropriate period of mourning.

“We will set aside political considerations and issues and discussions in the days ahead,” Fuentes said. “Our very genuine first concern at this time is that of the loss of a very genuine friend in Dick Longshore.”

But Fuentes did say that the committee will probably confer with Gov. George Deukmejian and Assembly Republican leader Pat Nolan of Glendale before making a selection.

Voter registration in the 72nd District is the most Democratic in the county, with about 50% of the voters claiming allegiance to the Democrats and just 39% calling themselves Republicans. Former Assemblyman Richard Robinson of Garden Grove held the seat for 12 years before giving it up in a failed run for Congress.

The district is considered winnable by the GOP because Republican voters tend to turn out in greater numbers and be more loyal to their party. But the campaign would have been considered easier for the Republicans with an incumbent on the ballot.

The district’s Democratic nominee is Deputy Dist. Atty. Christian (Rick) Thierbach, who, like Longshore, was unopposed on the primary ballot. On Tuesday, Thierbach got more votes--14,492--from Democrats than Longshore got from Republicans--13,567.

Thierbach said he was “shocked” by Longshore’s passing but added that he plans to change little in his strategy to recapture the 72nd District.

“It doesn’t change my overall strategy to go out in the field and try to personally contact as many voters as I can,” Thierbach said. “The only difference now is that obviously there is no incumbent to attack, no record to debate. The issues are still the same.”

Longshore was born in Arkansas City, Kan., and had a 31-year career in the Navy, retiring as a lieutenant commander before becoming a real estate broker in Orange County. In 1985, Deukmejian appointed him to the California Veterans Board.

Longshore had run head-to-head against Robinson in 1982 and 1984, when he lost to the veteran politician by a scant 256 votes in a race that cost more than $1 million.

Low Profile 1st Year

Longshore kept a fairly low profile during his first year in office, and his performance was hampered by illness for much of 1988. For several weeks he could speak no louder than a whisper, and recently his doctors reportedly advised him to stop speaking entirely.

A loyal member of the caucus who rarely bucked the leadership, Longshore introduced 39 bills in his short career and five of them became law by the time of his death. Among the laws enacted under his name was a measure prohibiting public agencies from treating military veterans differently than others seeking social services and another that advanced the efforts to construct a veteran’s memorial at the Capitol.

His death prompted expressions of sympathy from throughout the state.

The governor, in a statement, said he was saddened by Longshore’s death. “He will be missed by both his colleagues and constituents,” he said.

State Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) said he was saddened on two counts.

“Dick was very, very committed to public service,” Seymour said. “After all his efforts (to be elected), he had but a short time to serve the people he wanted” so badly to serve.

In addition, Longshore--who remarried after his first wife died--was a recent father, Seymour said, “and it’s certainly very sad and a tremendous burden on his wife.”

Longshore had a 5-year-old daughter, Rebecca, and a 2-year-old son, David, in addition to grown daughters, Judy Raya of Orange County and Mary Katherine Marshburn of Panama City, Fla., from his first marriage.

State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), said she was “shocked. I didn’t realize he had been so ill.” She called Longshore a “conscientious legislator who cared a lot about his people.”

Assembly Republican leader Nolan said Longshore “devoted his whole life to serving his fellow Americans. . . . Even during his final illness, he continued to participate fully in the Assembly, seeing to it that his constituents were well represented as we grappled with the many issues confronting the state. Dick was a man of courage and grit.”

Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra) said: “I am very saddened. . . . He was really dedicated to being there and trying to do the job even though his health really was at the point where it was not wise.”

Assembly Speaker Brown said a delegation from the Assembly will represent the entire membership at funeral services, which are pending.

Fuentes said the party was “deeply saddened by the loss of one of our favorites. Dick Longshore was among the most hard working Orange County Republicans. . . . He was always sensitive to the traditions and values that are Orange County in a special way.” He said that everyone “who shares the conservative cause in this community and the pro-life cause, which were very important to Dick, will particularly be impacted by his death.”