COUNTYWIDE : Huffington Hires Ex-Assemblyman

Republican Michael Huffington has hired a former Orange County supervisor to manage his campaign to unseat Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) in the new congressional district north of Ventura County.

Huffington announced Wednesday that Bruce Nestande, a former assemblyman and Orange County supervisor, will manage the day-to-day operations of his campaign, which has signed on some of the nation’s best and most expensive political consultants.

“Mike said he was having a hard time finding someone and asked me to do it,” Nestande said. “I talked it over with my wife and decided I could do it if I juggle some of my clients.”

Nestande, 54, a consultant to various Orange County developers, has a long history in state Republican politics, beginning in the early 1970s as an aide to then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. He was an assemblyman from 1974 to 1980 and a county supervisor from 1981 to 1987.

Huffington, who inherited a fortune from his family’s oil and gas company, managed to assemble a collection of top political consultants early in his campaign. But he has been unable to attract a campaign manager because Lagomarsino supporters began to pressure strategists to stay out of the race.

Nestande said he agrees with Huffington’s campaign theme about term limits for Congress and has a clear conscience about helping challenge an 18-year congressman. “Without passing any judgment against Lagomarsino,” he said, “when you stay in there too long, a certain sentiment moves in that is bad for the country.”