Pringle’s Anti-Jail Campaign a Hard Cell in Santa Ana

George H. Wright, where are you?

Curt Pringle, the Republican candidate for the 72nd Assembly District, sent a campaign mailer to Wright with an initiative petition aimed at stopping construction of a new jail in Santa Ana. On the envelope, Pringle urged, “No Jail Here.”

But the mailer could just as well have said “No Wright Here.” It was returned to Pringle stamped with the post office’s finger-pointing stamp with this notation: “Returned to Sender. Not in Custody.”

Custody?

Well, it seems that Wright had given his address as the Orange County Jail at 550 N. Flower St. Santa Ana.

“It’s unfortunate he’s out,” Pringle said of Wright. “Now we won’t be able to find him, and we may need his vote.”

72nd Assembly District, Take 2:

One almost might think Pringle was running against Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) instead of Christian F. (Rick) Thierbach.

Several of Pringle’s mailers have barely mentioned Thierbach, while featuring pictures of Brown. One mailer features an unflattering photo of Brown and the headline: “Meet Assembly Boss Willie Brown.” There is a much smaller picture of Thierbach, whom Pringle accused of being under Brown’s control.

In his first public comment on the mailers since they began going out last month, Brown, who is black, said Friday that he believes that Pringle is “playing to base racism” that exists among some voters. He “wants to run against me and me only on the basis of racism,” Brown said.

But then Brown’s sense of humor got the better of him. The Speaker joked that he had attended an event Thursday night in Orange County despite his misgivings over the tenor of Pringle’s campaign.

“I don’t ordinarily come into Orange County after dark,” Brown said.

72nd Assembly District, Take 3:

The Pledge of Allegiance seems to be getting good mileage for Republican Vice President George Bush’s presidential campaign. So Thierbach decided to give it a try.

Thierbach, a Democrat, sent voters in the district a letter praising the pledge for “expressing the values that have made America the land of freedom and opportunity.” He even offered to send registered voters a copy of the Pledge of Allegiance “specially printed on parchment paper and . . . with a short history of the pledge.”

Thierbach added in the mailer that he and his wife, Marlene, “have made a special effort to teach these values to our children, Alison and Chris.” Six-year-old Chris, he said, was already learning to recite the pledge.

But Alison may take a little longer. Maybe even years.

She’s barely 6 months old.

“She’s quite a kid. Before she can say ‘mom’ or ‘dad,’ she recites the Pledge of Allegiance,” Thierbach joked. Then, despite his fatherly pride, he was forced to admit, “She’s bright, but not that bright.”

72nd Assembly District, Take 4:

Baseball and politics don’t mix--at least not when the team involved is the Los Angeles Dodgers.

That was the edict handed down by Pringle after learning that several of his campaign workers were phoning voters during the Dodgers’ playoff games with the New York Mets. It seems Pringle is an avid baseball fan and Dodger follower, and when he heard that some voters were annoyed at being disturbed during the game, he put an end to the phone calls. The phone ban extended through the World Series.

“The last thing I need are angry baseball fans,” Pringle said.

As for the candidate, he reportedly took his dinner break just about the time the first pitch was thrown each night.

72nd Assembly District, Take 5:

Last week, Thierbach got a temporary restraining order in Superior Court in Santa Ana preventing Pringle from laying claim to the incumbency in his campaign mailers. Now, on the same issue, Thierbach has asked Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner to look into whether Pringle violated a state criminal statute.

Curt Livesay, Los Angeles assistant district attorney, said he has assigned the matter to the special investigations division, which will determine within a few days whether an investigation is warranted.

Thierbach’s lawyer, Frank P. Barbaro of Santa Ana, said the candidate took the matter to Reiner because the materials in question were produced in Los Angeles County. Barbaro said it had nothing to do with the fact that Reiner is a Democrat and that Orange County Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks is a Republican.

Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez is about to go coast-to-coast once again.

Following his impressive prime-time speech last summer at the Republican National Convention in New Orleans, Vasquez has agreed to appear as a conservative commentator on election night for the Spanish-language network UniVision. The network, based in Laguna Niguel, is carried nationwide by 465 affiliates, reaching more than 5 million households, the network’s news director, Guillermo Martinez, said. It is also seen in 10 Central and South American countries.

Appearing with Vasquez will be Democrat Raul Martinez, a mayor of Hialeah, Fla.

“This is a great opportunity,” Vasquez said, “to discuss politics to a national audience.”

In Orange County, UniVision’s election-night coverage can be seen on cable Channel 12.

U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) on Friday received the endorsement of Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates and several statewide police organizations at a news conference at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel in Costa Mesa.

“We are very pleased with his efforts to help fight narcotics in California,” said Costa Mesa Police Chief Dave Snowden, head of the California Police Chiefs Assn.

Other groups endorsing Wilson Friday were the California Narcotics Officers Assn., the Latino Police Officers Assn. and the California Peace Officers Assn.