Nestande Back in Political Ring--as a Campaign Chief : Elections: The ex-county supervisor will coordinate a Republican challenger’s attempt to unseat an 18-year Ventura congressman in a newly drawn district.

Former Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande, who bowed out of elective politics in 1986 after a losing bid to become secretary of state, is back in it again--this time as a paid political campaign manager in one of the state’s hottest congressional races.

Republican Michael Huffington has hired Nestande, a consultant to several developers and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, to coordinate his campaign to unseat Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) in the new congressional district that encompasses Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Nestande, 54, a former state assemblyman and one-time aide to then-Gov. Ronald Reagan, will handle the day-to-day operations of Huffington’s campaign, which has recruited some of the nation’s best and most expensive political consultants. Huffington inherited a fortune from his family’s oil and gas company.

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

Huffington had already hired Nestande’s youngest son, Brian, 27, to work the campaign in the San Luis Obispo area.

Nestande is a consultant to various Orange County developers, including the Irvine Co., and to the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. He has a long history in state Republican politics, first as an aide to Reagan, then serving in the Assembly from 1974 to 1980 and on the Orange County Board of Supervisors from 1981 to 1987.

In 1986, Nestande lost a race for secretary of state by a more than 2-to-1 margin, and bowed out of elective politics.

Huffington assembled a collection of top political consultants early in his campaign, but had been unable to attract a campaign manager, reportedly because Lagomarsino supporters pressured political strategists to stay out of the race.

At one point, one California-based consultant to the Republican National Congressional Committee turned down the job as campaign manager, despite Huffington’s offer of $100,000 to manage the race, plus $25,000 bonuses for victories in the June primary and November election.

“I’m making less than half of that,” Nestande volunteered.

Nestande said that “without passing any judgment against Lagomarsino,” he agrees with Huffington’s crusade for term limitations for Congress and has a clear conscience about trying to unseat an 18-year congressman.

Nestande is no stranger to politics or controversy.

In 1980, he quit the state Assembly to successfully challenge Edison W. Miller, a former Vietnam-era prisoner of war, for a seat on the Board of Supervisors. Miller, a Democrat, had been appointed to the board by then-Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. to fill a vacancy left by Ralph Diedrich, who had been convicted of bribery.

In 1982, Brown stunned political observers by appointing Nestande to the powerful state Transportation Commission.

Nestande then garnered headlines by returning political contributions to Anaheim fireworks kingpin W. Patrick Moriarty, who had tried to hide the source of the contributions by funneling them through employees and associates.

Several political corruption probes led to convictions for Moriarty and others, but Nestande was never charged with any wrongdoing or called to testify at any of the grand jury proceedings.

When he quit the Board of Supervisors in January, 1987, Nestande said that he simply wanted to enter the world of business.

In 1989, some Costa Mesa residents questioned Nestande’s role in the city’s attempt to build a new off-ramp on the San Diego Freeway that would benefit Arnel Development Co., where Nestande still maintains an office. Nestande abstained from voting on the issue as a Transportation Commission member and did not lobby for the off-ramp.

In June, Nestande quit the state Transportation Commission, in part, he said, to avoid conflicts of interest involving his developer clients.

He’s never been able to stay out of politics.

In 1989, for example, he chaired the first campaign for Measure M, the half-cent sales tax for transportation projects. The measure lost that year, but voters approved it on the second try, in 1990.

“You don’t spend the time I’ve spent in politics, both as a child growing up and professionally, and just do it as an exercise,” said Nestande. “I enjoy being involved in public policy from a private sector standpoint. This way I can choose which issues I like and focus on them.”