Longshore’s Widow Becomes 10th to File for Assembly Seat

Pledging to carry on her family’s commitment to “conservative values,” Linda Longshore announced Monday that she will seek the Republican nomination for the 72nd Assembly District, a seat left vacant by the recent death of husband, Richard E. Longshore.

She is among 10 Republicans who filed papers by Monday’s deadline to qualify for party consideration as candidates for the GOP berth in the November election. Other candidates include aides to a U.S. senator and a congressman and a member of the Santa Ana City Council.

The 64-member Orange County Republican Central Committee will decide by July 21 which of the 10 will be the ballot replacement for the late assemblyman, who died of pneumonia June 8, one day after winning the GOP nomination for reelection in the district. Longshore, 62, first won the seat in 1986.

Angered by Politicking

After his death, Longshore’s widow was angered by the immediate jockeying that occurred for the Republican nomination, particularly at Longshore’s funeral. The behavior prompted her to speak publicly of running for the seat. Late Monday afternoon, she officially joined the scramble to become the party nominee and run against the Democratic nominee, Christian F. (Rick) Thierbach III of Anaheim.

Thierbach, a deputy district attorney in Riverside County, ran unopposed in the June 7 primary. The 72nd District is considered the only legislative district in the county in which the Democrats have a chance to win because they hold a substantial edge, 50.1% to 39.7%, in voter registration over Republicans.

In an interview Monday, Linda Longshore, 33, said it was a “tough decision” to seek the nomination. A mother of two young children, she is a political newcomer who acknowledged that her lack of experience “may be a handicap.”

Nonetheless, she said, family and friends encouraged her to “carry on the work of my husband,” particularly in the areas of seeking tougher gang laws, benefits for senior citizens and protections for mobile home owners.

A 1973 graduate of Katella High School, Longshore earned a degree from Sawyer Business School as a legal secretary, then received an associate of arts degree from Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana.

In addition to Longshore, the following people are seeking the GOP nomination:

- Brian Bennett, chief of staff for Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) and an Anaheim resident.

- Scott Hart, a Garden Grove resident and county field director for Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.).

- George V. Heaney, a Santa Ana insurance adjuster who ran unsuccessfully against Longshore in the 1986 GOP primary.

- Patricia A. McGuigan, a seven-year veteran of the Santa Ana City Council.

- Daniel Barrett McNerney, a Garden Grove resident and deputy district attorney.

- Virgel L. Nickell, a real estate developer and longtime Westminster political activist.

- Curt Pringle, a Garden Grove planning commissioner and second vice chairman of the county GOP Central Committee.

- Raoul Silva, a Garden Grove resident and former Dornan aide. Silva ran unsuccessfully for the Assembly seat in 1980.

- Dewey Wiles, a Westminster resident and member of the Midway Sanitary District.

A seven-member subcommittee has been set up by the GOP Central Committee to screen the applicants, who had to fill out an eight-page questionnaire.

The questionnaire--which delves into private matters such as family background, business dealings and sexual conduct--was prepared partly in reaction to revelations in two recent congressional races in the county, said Thomas A. Fuentes, chairman of the county Republican Party.

“We don’t want any surprises,” said Fuentes, referring to the recent GOP primaries in the 40th and 42nd congressional districts. Damaging personal information surfaced about Republican contenders in both primaries.

In the 40th District, allegations of adultery surfaced against Irvine Councilman C. David Baker, while in the 42nd District, county Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder admitted that she never attended a Detroit university from which she had said she received a degree.

“We know that if we don’t ask the questions and get the answers now,” Fuentes said, “the Democrats will (find them) downstream.”

Some candidates, including Bennett, said they were taken aback by the breadth and personal nature of the questionnaire. He completed the document, but when he returned it Monday to county Republican headquarters, he said, “I thought about submitting a pint of blood as well.”

He added: “I’m a conservative, and we cherish our privacy. . . . Frankly, some of the questions were an invasion of that privacy.”

But others, such as McGuigan, said the committee’s questionnaire was justified.

“The Democrats already have a head start in this race,” the Santa Ana councilwoman said. “They have targeted this seat, and the Republicans can’t afford to select a candidate who later stumbles over something in his or her past.”