Congress Race Runner-Up Faces Check Allegation

An Orange County congressional candidate who placed a close second in the June 7 elections faces an allegation that he wrote an unauthorized $48,000 check on the account of a nonprofit foundation to cover campaign expenses.

After being confronted with the allegation, C. David Baker was hospitalized for depression and exhaustion three days before the election, sources said this week.

Baker was the acknowledged early front-runner in the GOP primary in the 40th Congressional District, one of the most heavily Republican districts in the nation, and ultimately lost the nomination by fewer than 1,200 votes to C. Christopher Cox.

An Irvine city councilman, the 35-year-old Baker was admitted to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach after an emotional meeting on June 3 with three board members of the Irvine Health Foundation, the sources said. Baker was forced to resign as executive director of the foundation after being questioned about the $48,000 check.

The chairman of the board of the foundation, Superior Court Judge David G. Sills, said Baker has admitted that he countersigned the judge’s name on the $48,000 check.

Baker’s attorney, Paul S. Meyer, has said Baker put a stop-payment order on the check before any cash was transferred.

The Orange County district attorney’s office is investigating “some possible improprieties” involving Baker and the Irvine Health Foundation, according to Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi.