COUNTYWIDE : Democrats Zero In on Dornan, Pringle

State Democratic leaders said Monday that they will try to break the Republicans’ lock on Orange County’s state and federal legislative seats this year with a major registration effort aimed at Rep. Robert K. Dornan and Assemblyman Curt Pringle.

In an agreement reached at a weekend meeting in San Diego, state Democratic Chairman Edmund G. Brown Jr. pledged to contribute $25,000 to the registration drive and pay for a full-time staff director by March 1. He also said he will sponsor a fund-raiser for the financially strapped county party.

“This is an important area,” said Cathy Calfo, executive director of the state Democratic Party. Orange County “is crackable,” she said.

Strategically, the Dornan and Pringle seats are attractive to Democrats because both districts already have a Democratic edge in registration and both areas overlap, enhancing the impact of a registration drive.

Also, anti-war activist and Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic, whose life story is told in the current movie “Born on the Fourth of July,” is considering a challenge to Dornan (R-Garden Grove). Calfo said the state party would like to help his candidacy if Kovic decides to run.

Pringle (R-Garden Grove) is considered vulnerable because his 1988 campaign was involved in the decision to place uniformed guards at several polling places in predominantly Latino sections of Santa Ana. The FBI and the district attorney’s office are conducting a criminal investigation to determine whether the move violated voters’ civil rights.

Pringle said Monday that he has long expected the state Democratic Party to target his seat, as it did when he narrowly won his first election in 1988.

“I’ve known they were going to come after me,” he said. “I know I have a lot of support among Democrats. It remains to be seen what the outcome will be.”

Pringle said the Republican Party is also involved in registration efforts in his district. He noted that while the county Democratic Party has no full-time staff and has been short on funds, the county Republican Party has had a full-time registration officer and other staff members for several years.

“What you’re talking about is a Democratic Party that is absolutely dead in the water in Orange County,” Pringle said. “I get plenty of focus from the full-time . . . staff at the Republican Party.”

Dornan could not be reached for comment Monday.

Orange County Democratic Chairman Michael Balmages said that he negotiated the accord with Brown and Calfo at a meeting of the party’s executive board Saturday in San Diego.

The agreement resolved a dispute between county and state Democratic leaders over financing that has simmered for about a year.

At a state convention last February, delegates, shocked by the news of guards being stationed at polling places, adopted a resolution pledging to help finance a civil lawsuit, as well as a possible recall effort.

The county party eventually raised $25,000 for the cause, but last summer state party leaders declined to contribute, saying the resolution was not binding. With almost 400,000 registered Democrats, Brown said, Orange County should be financially self-sufficient.

Balmages said Monday: “We cleared the air. We spoke very frankly and very openly and came up with a good solution.”

Calfo said, “What we decided to do is let bygones be bygones.”

The $25,000 dedicated by the state to the registration effort should generate about 10,000 additional Democratic voters in the district, Calfo said.

There are now almost 89,000 Democrats and 77,000 Republicans in Dornan’s 38th Congressional District. There are about 50,000 Democrats and 40,000 Republicans in Pringle’s 72nd Assembly District.