Ties to Wilson, Persistence Pay Off for Seymour

Gov.-elect Pete Wilson’s choice of state Sen. John Seymour to succeed him in the U.S. Senate proves that in politics, few things can beat the combination of untamed ambition, a healthy streak of loyalty and a generous portion of persistence.

Seymour has all three, and though he is little known outside of an Orange County district that includes Disneyland, the former realtor’s drive for higher office, his long ties to Wilson and his knack for never quitting paid dividends Wednesday when he received the state’s choicest political plum.

But some of Seymour’s strengths might turn out to be weaknesses. Critics say his recent changes of position on abortion and offshore oil drilling--made as he was preparing to run for statewide office--are evidence that Seymour’s ambitions have led him to abandon principle.

“He is a shallow, calculating type of political operative that is willing to switch as the winds change,” said Brian Johnston, director of the National Right to Life Committee’s California office. “Flip-flopping on abortion has done something to his image. When on an issue of principle he was willing to make a move like that, it gives him an image of oilyness.”

In politics, though, perspective is everything. Wilson said Wednesday that he considers Seymour a person of high integrity willing to make tough decisions, even if that means changing his position on a major issue.

“He’s a tough guy who has a strong streak of independence,” Wilson said.

Seymour is a friendly, blunt-talking, self-made millionaire who started in government as an Anaheim city councilman and mayor. His personal trademark is a Mickey Mouse wristwatch.

He is probably best known as the man who stole the Rams from Los Angeles. In the state Senate, he was considered a tough player and an expert at extracting contributions from special interests.

A former president of the California Assn. of Realtors, Seymour has received major financial backing from the development industry and from real estate agents. A Times study of his campaign fund-raising during the 1987-1988 election cycle showed that he received about 40% of his contributions from developers and others who made their livelihood off the land business.

“John, coming from Southern California, from Orange County, is a good fund-raiser,” said William Campbell, a former state senator who now serves as president of the California Manufacturers Assn. “He has contacts in every city, village, town and hamlet in California. I think he feels he can use that to get reelected, and that’s one of the most important criteria.”

Seymour’s touch for fund-raising and helping colleagues, however, has raised some questions about how he conducts business in Sacramento.

As mayor of Anaheim, Seymour had stridently opposed legislation sponsored by former Orange County fireworks magnate Patrick Moriarty that would have overturned local laws banning dangerous fireworks.

But months after he was elected to the state Senate in 1982--and after Moriarty gave him a $2,000 campaign contribution--Seymour changed his mind. As a freshman, he cast the deciding vote for the bill. Although Moriarty was convicted of bribery in connection with his political efforts, Seymour was never implicated in any wrongdoing.

Two years later, Seymour was co-author of a bill that would have granted a medical license to a former Anaheim City Council colleague who failed the state’s medical tests three times. More recently, he drew editorial rebukes for pressuring an Orange County school district over a development fee it wanted to charge an apartment builder and campaign contributor.

Meanwhile, Seymour’s legislative record has underscored a keen sense of political timing on major issues. Besides his reversal from opposing abortion to favoring it, Seymour also managed a major shift on environmental matters.

Before the March, 1989, wreck of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska, he voted against legislation making oil companies pay for such spills and establishing $2.5 million in state money to aid in such catastrophes. But the Valdez, and last year’s oil spill off Huntington Beach, marked the greening of John Seymour.

“We make mistakes,” Seymour explained last year about his change. “I make mistakes. I’m not going to always be right. Therefore, to expect one to never change a position on an issue . . . is too much to ask.”

Yet Seymour was unwavering on a number of issues. He has sponsored tough legislation against drugs, drunk drivers and speeding truckers. He was author of several bills that will lead to construction of California’s first toll roads in Orange County. He has written legislation requiring the deportation of illegal aliens caught committing felonies.

Content aside, Seymour seems to relish even more the very exercise of making law. He once said that writing legislation on hot issues of the day was the political equivalent of surfing. He called it “catching the wave.”

“That’s the big turn-on for me--being adroit enough to have this legislation get through a Democrat-controlled Legislature, and it still has enough meat on the bones to mean something,” he said recently. “In fact, that’s why I’m here and continue to practice this primitive art form.”

Friends such as Orange County political consultant Eileen Padberg describe Seymour as energetic and thorough. “The thing I’ve always said about John is that he makes every one of your brain cells work,” Padberg said.

During his unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor in 1990, Seymour, seeking to demonstrate his commitment to capital punishment, asked to personally witness what was scheduled to be California’s first execution in 23 years. The governor denied the request and the execution was later postponed.

A former Marine Corps sergeant and a graduate of UCLA, Seymour, 53, became a millionaire in the real estate business after starting out with a $10,000 loan co-signed by his father. In 1974, he turned to politics when he was elected to the Anaheim City Council. Later, as mayor, Seymour helped broker the deal that brought the Los Angeles Rams to Orange County.

In 1980, he was elected president of the California Assn. of Realtors, a position that enabled him to build a statewide network of supporters and campaign contributors. His experience and connections paid off in 1982 when he easily won a special election to the state Senate.

He moved quickly up the ranks. Little more than a year after his election, Seymour joined an internal uprising that dumped two Republican Party leaders. In the coup, Seymour was named caucus chairman, the party’s No. 2 job in the Senate.

Although he raised millions of dollars to help elect and reelect his colleagues, many resented his ambition for higher office, which he never kept a secret. He was forced from the leadership job in 1987 after the Republicans lost a special election for a Senate seat they had been expected to win.

Seymour ran for lieutenant governor in 1990 but lost the Republican nomination to state Sen. Marian Bergeson, despite raising $1.3 million for the race.

In 1982 and 1988, Seymour helped Wilson, an old friend from their days as mayors, win election and reelection to the Senate. That loyalty came in handy when Wilson went looking for someone who mirrored his own philosophy. Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) described Seymour as a Wilson “clone.”

“Not only are they both about the same stature, they’re the same age,” Ferguson said. “They were both Marines. They both have been very successful as politicians. Both have suffered defeats. Both share a very common philosophy of government service. They are very practical, pragmatic people.”

In Washington, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) agreed, adding that the appointment could turn out to be a political godsend for anti-abortion conservatives like himself.

“What Wilson has done is picked a Wilson--a white male who cloned himself on issues of principal to be a Wilson twin,” said Dornan, who hinted he may oppose Seymour in the 1992 GOP primary.

Dornan was especially critical of Seymour for changing his views on abortion in advance of his unsuccessful race for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor.

An aide to Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), an equally strong abortion opponent, said the Seymour appointment “is going to create a battle for the soul of the party out there” in California. “There will no doubt be a vicious bloodletting in a primary battle,” said Paul Mero, Dannemeyer’s press secretary.

But Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach), whose district includes northwestern Orange County, was less certain that a showdown in the party ranks is inevitable.

“Those of us who are pro-life were concerned about Seymour’s position, and his flip-flop,” Rohrabacher said, ruling out any interest in a challenge of Seymour. “But abortion is (only) one of several priority items on the agenda. . . . He’s very good on many other core issues, law and order and taxes.”

Times staff writers Bob Schwartz in Orange County, Dave Lesher in Los Angeles and Robert W. Stewart in Washington contributed to this story.