Orange County Democrats Find No Life in the Party

Things are always tough for Democrats in Republican-rich Orange County. But these days, they’ve gotten tougher.

Last week, party leaders announced at a meeting in a Santa Ana union hall that they were flat broke. Actually, they were about $4,000 in the red.

In fact, the party’s executive director had to quit recently because the party didn’t have enough money to pay his salary.

A new $100-per-month club called the Truman Forum brought in just one donation last month--$100. And that came from party chairman Michael Balmages, who started the program last spring.

“The party is in the same precarious situation it has been in for years and years and years,” Balmages said. “It’s a concern and it’s something that’s typical. Does it make it right because it’s typical? No.”

Money is not the only problem. There has been in-fighting among the leadership. Balmages said he has been busy with his law practice and unable to dedicate the time he should to the party. And now, with no money in the bank, the party still has no plans for fund-raisers or strategies to strengthen itself.

Privately, some party officials say they are concerned about the deterioration. But many said the situation is typical--a fact of life for Democrats in Orange County.

“It’s not unusual to be very lean at this time of year and just barely making it,” said John Hanna, former county Democratic chairman. “If it’s April of 1990 and there’s no staff, then I think it’s something to be concerned about. . . . That’s a party in trouble.”

The Democrats’ problems appear even more severe when compared to the power of the Republican Party in Orange County. The GOP’s influence can hardly be overstated.

For one thing, there are about 560,000 registered Republicans compared to about 365,000 Democrats.

Then there is the fact that Republican candidates hold all of the area’s 23 county, state and federal elected offices except one, an Assembly district that straddles the Los Angeles County line. Of the 146 city council seats in Orange County, Democrats hold only 37.

And financially, even in their best year ever, Democrats were soundly beaten by the Republicans. During the 1988 presidential race, Democrats raised about $212,000 while the county Republican Party raised $462,000.

Greg Haskin, executive director of the local Republican Party, said Orange County’s GOP has the “largest county operation in the country.” It has a full-time staff of three with up to 15 part-time employees, including an accountant and a crew of operators for a phone bank.

Despite the dismal facts, Democratic leaders see the framework of a strong opposition in Orange County.

Almost 400,000 Democrats live here, more than in 16 states. The number is the fourth highest among all of California’s counties. And, party leaders reason, the pool of Democrats in this affluent county probably represents untapped resources.

The task, however, is to organize that power.

Balmages said he wants to cultivate modest donations from the county’s Democrats, forming a donor base that could then be sustained.

“It’s the only way we are going to permanently get out of this hand-to-mouth situation and develop an ongoing source of funds,” he said.

“It doesn’t take a lot of math to figure that if we got a penny each month from the 400,000 Democrats, that would be enough to fund the basic operation right there,” Balmages said. “If you got a dollar a year from 400,000 Democrats, you’ve got a lot of money.”

But so far, Balmages said, there hasn’t been any work done to get such a fund-raising program under way. And there has not been any discussion about how to pay for the start-up cost of a donor program or for the hiring of a new executive director.

The money raised by the party is important because it pays for the foundation of the power of local as well as state and federal officials. The political parties sponsor voter registration drives, coordinate appearances for outside politicians, seek out and encourage candidates to run for office, donate to campaigns and rally their forces during elections.

Balmages said he was hoping to get some money from the state Democratic Party because it passed a resolution in February pledging support for Orange County’s attack on freshman Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove).

Last year, Pringle won the only legislative seat in Orange County that has a Democratic majority in a close race that was marred by the Republican Party’s hiring of security guards at 20 Santa Ana polling places.

But Cathy Calfo, executive director of the state party, said last week that the “resolution is not a binding order allocating money” to Orange County. And, she said, the party has since adopted an annual budget that does not include financial help for county Democrats.

“That’s bad news,” Balmages said.

Also troubling the party’s financial effort, say party insiders, is a rift between Balmages and Audrey Redfearn, chairwoman of the Democratic Foundation.

The foundation is a club with about 100 Democrats who pay $1,000 each year to be members. The group is host to appearances by leading state and national Democrats and contributes to Democratic candidates inside and outside Orange County.

Balmages said he was concerned that the foundation is draining money from the party organization and he disagrees with Redfearn about how much the foundation should pay to support the county party.

“I never felt any rift,” said Redfearn. “The rift was created by Mike Balmages insisting he get whatever money he wanted. He was quite demanding.”

Balmages said he would like to see the relationship between the foundation and the party changed, but he hasn’t talked to Redfearn about it. He suggested that the foundation has been attractive to members because it hosts famous Democrats. “We can do that too,” he said.

Several Democratic leaders said they were not surprised that the party is short of money during the holidays in an off-election year. It has happened several times before.

None criticized Balmages’ leadership either, but they encouraged him to begin a fund-raising program to replenish the party coffers.

Paul Garza, the former executive director who left recently, said: “We need to do some ongoing fund-raising; we need to get much more serious about it. My leaving is just one of those slumps you hit now and then. I do feel very positive about the party’s prospects.”

James Toledano, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Associates, said: “Right now we are in the coalescing stage. We have a lot of unstructured capabilities; we are just looking for the chemistry.”

Redfearn said: “We just need something for people to become excited about. I don’t see anything alarming about the situation.”

Jerry Yudelson, a Democrat who has already announced his challenge to Pringle, said, “You’ve got to remember the dictum of Will Rogers: ‘I belong to no organized political party; I’m a Democrat.’ ”

Political Contributions Total contributions raised by the county Democratic and Republican parties. In 1988, 387, 515 people registered as Democrats in the county; 596,151 registered as Republicans. In thousands of dollars 1985 Democrats: $26 Republicans: $274 1986 Democrats: $42 Republicans: $258 1987 Democrats: $43 Republicans: $189 1988 Democrats: $212 Republicans: $462 Source: County registrar of voters