Watchdogs’ Former Head Joins Ferguson

The former executive director of the conservative watchdog group Accuracy in Academia has become the new chief of staff for Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach).

Leslie Carbone, 27, said she passed up an offer to join the Buchanan for President campaign in order to work for Ferguson.

“It was a difficult decision for me to make because I admire both Gil and Pat Buchanan so much,” Carbone said. “But I felt I could do more here.”

The Massachusetts native served for four years as the head of Accuracy in Academia--an offshoot of Accuracy in Media--which opposes “a progressive ideological orthodoxy” on college campuses.

Carbone said the organization, based in Washington, has opposed affirmative action policies at colleges and monitored women’s studies courses that “indoctrinate” feminism.

The newsletter for the nonprofit organization is circulated to about 70,000 subscribers, she said.

As the new chief of staff for the conservative assemblyman, Carbone said her duties will be “a very different kind of work. But certainly the experience of running an organization and the knowledge that I gained on a few issues will help me in this job.”

Carbone joins Ferguson’s staff as he faces a Republican challenge from Costa Mesa Mayor Mary Hornbuckle in the June 2 primary. He is seeking his fifth term in the Assembly.

“With reapportionment and the election and everything else going on in California, it’s a great time to have come here,” Carbone said.

While working toward a political science degree from the American University in Washington, Carbone participated in numerous conservative causes, including the 1984 reelection campaign for President Reagan.

She said she met Ferguson at the 1989 California Republican Party convention.

They worked together in 1990 when she spoke at a news conference supporting his efforts to win legislative approval of a resolution justifying the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The resolution failed by a vote of 60 to 4.