Ferguson Urges GOP Followers to Bend

Often regarded as one of the most archaic of Orange County’s conservative “cavemen,” Newport Beach Assemblyman Gil Ferguson is stepping forward with a new message for his followers in the right wing--one that is more pragmatic than dogmatic.

Ferguson warns that the Republican Party is being splintered and weakened by its internal battles over a few red-hot social issues such as abortion and gay rights. Now, the five-term lawmaker said he believes those battles have become futile and they are benefiting the liberal opposition.

“If (conservatives) don’t recognize the reality that the Supreme Court of the United States--as conservative as it is--will not reverse (its abortion decision in) Roe vs. Wade, then what they’re saying is that we should all go up to this cliff and jump off and continue to be a minority party,” said Ferguson, whose campaigns have relied heavily on volunteers generated by anti-abortion groups and the religious right.

“It’s foolish for the party to go on dividing itself to the amusement and benefit of the Democrats over an issue that is no longer an issue,” said the assemblyman, who is a longtime opponent of abortion rights. “It doesn’t mean that I’ve changed my convictions, it means that I’m a realist and looking at the facts of the world.”

Looking to the party’s future, Ferguson also suggested that Republicans have to step up their attempts at reaching out to ethnic communities “because that is the future of California. If we can’t do that, we are destined to always be the minority party.”

Because of his reputation, Ferguson’s call to expand the party’s base is likely to cause some GOP observers to do a double take. The burly 69-year-old ex-Marine has become known among his critics as an extremist known for a slanderous tongue and outrageous crusades.

Two of his most publicized causes in Sacramento have been an attempt to oust Democrat Tom Hayden from the Assembly for supposedly traitorous acts during the Vietnam War and a resolution justifying the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

But as one of the right wing’s staunchest warriors in the past decade, Ferguson’s change of tone is evidence that the drubbing suffered by the GOP in November has shaken the party to its core.

Although none of the Republican offices in Orange County--the state’s strongest GOP territory--were lost in November, the county’s Republican turnout fell far short of its traditional high level.

Republican leaders are worried that the elections in 1994 could also be in jeopardy if the party does not steady itself. As a result, Ferguson and some of Orange County’s top financial and administrative leaders are planning a series of “unity meetings” beginning next month to discuss problems within the party and to search for common ground among GOP leaders and activists.

The meetings’ organizers hope that the Republican Party’s pro-business approach to the economy as well as its call for low taxes and less regulation will be a rallying cry for candidates and organizations.

The election results in the state Senate and the Assembly “where we had worked our hearts out to raise money up and down the state . . . really is a slap in the face to the Republican Party,” said Gus Owen, the president of the prestigious GOP Lincoln Club who is working with Ferguson to organize the upcoming unity meetings. “I think that’s really driven home the message that everyone’s got to set aside those (social) issues and say, ‘Let’s do the job that needs to be done.’ ”

Ferguson said that although he believes the party needs to begin a dialogue about itself, he is uncertain whether it will be successful at healing the party.

“It’s going to be dependent on the Christian groups and those who believe in pro-life,” said Ferguson. “If they accept it in the best sense, then our party breach will be healed. If they interpret that as flip-flopping and backing off, then the breach will continue.”

Ferguson said he would not try to dissuade activists from supporting their causes. But he hopes that issues such as abortion will not be litmus tests for candidates or the party’s leadership.

He suggested that a first step might be to remove the anti-abortion rights plank from the Republican platform, an action also advocated by former U.S. Sen. John Seymour, a GOP moderate.

“It implies that (any Republican) candidate who is to be supported should be the same way,” Ferguson said. “That’s what has caused the rift.”

For Ferguson and Seymour to wind up on the same side of the abortion issue has surprised many in the ranks of moderate Republicans.

“My first instinct is not to trust that,” said Eileen Padberg, a Republican campaign consultant who has been a leader among GOP abortion rights activists. “I’d like to think that I’m wrong about him (Ferguson), but I’ve not seen anything over the last 10 years that gives me that feeling.”

Mike Schroeder, president of the Coordinating Republican Assembly, the state’s largest rank-and-file conservative organization, said Ferguson is part of an emerging school in the party’s right wing that seeks reconciliation with moderate Republicans. He said another school wants to reinforce its conservative credentials and “get behind the barricades.”