Irvine Co. Executive to Head Bush’s Campaign in California

President Bush’s reelection staff said Monday that a difficult search for a California campaign director has ended with the selection of John C. (Jack) Flanigan, a vice president with the Irvine Co. and longtime associate of Gov. Pete Wilson.

Flanigan has been a low-profile, high-power political operative in California since the early 1970s, usually working as a representative of real estate interests.

His close relationship with the governor dates to 1967, when Wilson was a freshman assemblyman and Flanigan joined his Sacramento office staff as a college intern. Flanigan has since worked on most of Wilson’s campaigns, and for the last seven years has been the political attache for Irvine Co. president Donald Bren, one of Bush’s major contributors.

Neither Flanigan nor officials of the Irvine Co. would comment Monday. Flanigan, 46, was expected to resign from the Orange County development company. His selection for the top campaign post was expected to be announced this week.

After the campaign staff confirmed the choice of Flanigan, supporters said he would bridge the myriad GOP factions that must be united behind the Bush campaign--not just moderates and conservatives, but also strategy teams from both Washington, D.C., and California.

Originally, the Bush campaign had planned to name Norman Cummings, a Republican Party operative in Washington, to head the campaign in California.

Cummings, until recently political director of the Republican National Committee and, more recently, the committee’s chief of staff, visited Wilson, who later objected to a non-Californian being named to the post. Wilson is chairman of Bush’s California reelection campaign.

The matter apparently was resolved over the weekend, when campaign Chairman Robert M. Teeter and political director Mary Matalin called on Wilson in Los Angeles.

“We’re thrilled” that Flanigan is taking the director’s post, Matalin said. “Our first preference always was a Californian. There just wasn’t a Californian available.

“Everyone settled on Norm, and then Flanigan did become available,” she said.

Another senior campaign official said the dispute over who would be the California director reflected continuing friction between Wilson and his allies and the Bush campaign headquarters in Washington.

“California is still a complete mess, and no one has figured out how to clean it up,” the campaign official said.

Flanigan helped to organize the fund-raising apparatus for Bush’s 1988 campaign and has been a key organizer and fund-raiser for numerous initiatives and candidates in the state.