Republican Party Stalwarts Target of Voter Anger

In the weeks before the California primary, political forecasters warned of the anti-incumbency protest that was making its way across the country. But no one predicted the glitch that occurred in Orange County.

While most of the county’s incumbent lawmakers survived the June 2 election, many members of the Orange County Republican Central Committee did not. Of the 37 incumbent committee members seeking reelection, 26 were defeated.

County GOP Chairman Thomas A. Fuentes fared well, but most of his executive committee will be leaving office at the end of the year, including First Vice Chairman Dennis R. Catron, who heads the local party’s minority outreach effort, and Ethics Committee Chairman Roy B. Le Quire.

“It’s definitely a different (election) year,” Catron said last week, still perplexed by the political phenomenon.

Numerous theories have been advanced as to why voters vented their frustration on Republican stalwarts who do not set policy, raise taxes, receive a public stipend, or, in most cases, even campaign for the job. The Central Committee is made up of six representatives from each of the county’s seven state Assembly districts. Members serve as unpaid volunteers whose main purpose is to work for the election of Republicans.

But many of the losers and winners in the election point to two general reasons for the mass turnover: The public wanted to vote against incumbents they did not know and committee members made easy targets because “incumbent” appeared on the ballot after their names; and the Pro-Life Political Action Committee of Orange County campaigned effectively for its slate of candidates.

The usual factors that sometimes play into quirky election results, such as where a candidate was positioned on the ballot, did not seem to matter this year.

The result is that only 11 current committee members were reelected (one did not use “incumbent” after his name and only three of the incumbents who survived the election are men). Also, women will make up a majority of the committee when the new members take office in January, and most of the new members are anti-abortion advocates.

“I didn’t think it was possible, but maybe (the Central Committee) is going to be more conservative,” said Fuentes, whose own candidacy defied the anti-incumbency trend and received more votes than any other committee member.

While conceding that the anti-incumbency factor contributed to the defeat of so many party regulars, Fuentes tends to steer away from any definitive conclusions. Figuring out this year’s results, he said, is as unscientific as trying to pick a winner at the racetrack.

“It was a good year for ‘Allens,’ ” he joked, referring to newly elected committee members Debra Allen of Corona del Mar and Dorothy Marie Allen of Brea, as well as the primary victories of state Assemblywoman Doris Allen of Cypress and Republican candidate Jo Ellen Allen of Santa Ana.

Among the election casualties were the longest-serving committee member, John A. Prescott of Santa Ana, who represented his district for 24 years; the husband and wife team of Margaret E. and Jim Morrissey of Anaheim; and Barbara Brown of Fountain Valley, who is an aide to Orange County Supervisor Roger R. Stanton.

Brown said that because the Central Committee is relatively unknown, voters thought “maybe that’s a good place to send the message that they would like to see some change.”

Margaret E. Morrissey said that in addition to the anti-incumbency factor, she believes she lost because she did not fill out a questionnaire from the Pro-Life Political Action Committee and was left off the endorsement list even though she supports the cause.

“Before the election, we received letters from different (special interest) groups, but I did not feel they had any business interfering,” Morrissey said. “We do not make any policies, we do not make decisions that relate to what the party thinks. We follow the platform and we get out the vote.”

Anti-abortion supporter Mary Mays-McCaughey, sister of state Assemblyman Tom Mays (R-Huntington Beach), said she never received a questionnaire from the Pro-Life PAC, but the lack of endorsement did not keep her from getting the most votes in her district.

The abortion rights group, California Republicans for Choice, recruited candidates for Central Committee positions in some counties across the state, but decided not to wage a major effort in Orange County, officials said. Public affairs director DeAnn Erlin said the group’s limited resources were spent in counties where there were greater chances of victory.

Harriett Stinson, the founding director of California Republicans for Choice, said it is important to win Central Committee seats because members can influence the makeup of the statewide party organization, which has been taken over by conservatives.

“It’s not just about abortion,” she said. “All sorts of liberties are going to go. (The party conservatives) have a large say in who gets money, they have a large say in which candidates run, they could de-charter our organization.”

Out of concern that the moderate wing of the party might try to make an inroad at the local level, Matthew Cunningham, an aide to state Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange), was among 16 successful Central Committee candidates who paid $100 to join the conservative Team For The 90s slate.

Wayne Johnson, the group’s political consultant in Sacramento, said he was not too worried about Orange Count y because most Central Committee candidates were “good conservatives.”

“I think we were very much on track this time,” Johnson said.

While party leaders sometimes could not find enough people to sign up for the six slots from each district in recent years, this election drew 18 or more candidates in five of the seven districts.

Newly elected committee member James F. Tucker of Santa Ana said he wondered if party activists were trying to send a message to the local leadership that they disagreed with the attempts by conservatives to dissuade moderate candidates from running in the primary.

But others who won said that questions about the philosophical bent of the county Republican Party are not usually on the minds of voters when they cast their ballots for the Central Committee members.

“It’s kind of a mixed blessing,” newly elected member Charles S. De Vore of Irvine said of the results. “On the one hand, you are losing a lot of experience, and on the other hand, you get fresh blood to energize things out.”

Fuentes said the large turnover means a doubling up of troops for the November general election, because current members will want to leave with a victory while incoming members are anxious to get involved before they take office.

Cognizant of the anti-incumbency fever, Fuentes said he has frequently toyed with the idea of “term limits” for the local party chairman. He has been chairman for eight years.

While he said it’s too early to say whether he will seek reappointment when the new officers are chosen early next year, he predicted it would be harder now to change leaders.

“A couple of the best (committee members) who I was hoping would be there when the time comes (to step down) were not reelected,” Fuentes said. “We have to build and train the leadership to come aboard.”