Assembly Candidate’s Foes Raise Questions : Election: But Democrat Ted R. Moreno downplays his link to Republican Rep. Jay C. Kim, who is under investigation.

The race for Orange County’s 69th Assembly District seat has barely begun, but already some local Democrats say Santa Ana Councilman Ted R. Moreno has stumbled out of the starting blocks.

In recent days, local politicos have wondered aloud about the 26-year-old Democrat’s role in the 1992 congressional campaign of Rep. Jay C. Kim, the Diamond Bar Republican under federal investigation for alleged violations of campaign, labor and tax laws. Democrats are grumbling simply because Moreno worked for a GOP candidate.

Moreno’s campaign manager recently quit after learning of Moreno’s involvement with Kim. And some within the party question Moreno’s chances because two other Latino candidates could splinter his support in Santa Ana’s ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, the first-term councilman has collected about $24,000 in campaign contributions, a fraction of what will be needed to capture the hotly contested central county district, which includes parts of Santa Ana, Anaheim and Garden Grove.

“He’s not that serious a candidate,” said Dan Wooldridge, a Costa Mesa-based political consultant and a Democrat. “Clearly, Ted has a long ways to go in terms of his fund raising and his record. A lot of questions are being raised about him.”

Some go even further. George Urch, chief of staff for Assemblyman Tom Umberg, the Garden Grove Democrat who is vacating the 69th-District seat to run for state attorney general, bluntly suggested Moreno ought to pull out of the race.

“I think he’s a good kid who’s a little bit over his head and a little naive,” Urch said. “If Ted was smart, he’d fold the tent on this puppy, pack it up and take care of these problems with the Kim campaign, gain some experience on the council and then maybe run in a few years.”

Moreno, however, remains undeterred, saying he has no intention of being forced out of the Assembly race by critics. Moreno suggested he is being targeted because foes see him as the front-runner.

“If I was not the top contender in this race, they wouldn’t care about that,” he said.

Moreno also downplayed criticism from fellow Democrats for his role in Kim’s Republican campaign. He said he briefly helped Kim in early 1992 as a favor to a friend who managed the campaign.

“Big deal. How else are we supposed to solve the problems of California if we can’t get along with Republicans?” Moreno said, adding that he has not been contacted or questioned by the FBI about his involvement in the Kim campaign. “There’s nothing there. They are trying to make an issue out of nothing.”

As Moreno sees it, he is experiencing the same sort of opposition he weathered during his quest for City Council in 1992. Despite opposition from Santa Ana Mayor Dan Young and other well-entrenched politicians, Moreno managed to win a council seat. And he says he will fight to the end for the Assembly: “I am going to work the hardest of anybody.”

For now, he will be working without a professional campaign manager. Jerry Seedborg, a Long Beach political consultant, was handling Moreno’s campaign up until he learned last month that the candidate had been a bookkeeper in Kim’s campaign.

“He very well may have done nothing wrong. I just didn’t want to be involved with him after learning about that,” Seedborg said.

But not all Democrats have given up on Moreno.

“Everyone told him not to run for City Council, and he worked his butt off and won,” said John Hanna, a Santa Ana attorney and former Orange County Democratic chairman. “The guy is motivated, he’s a hard worker and he feels he can overcome this stuff.”

Dorianne Garcia, Orange County Democratic chairwoman, said Moreno has “a step up” on the other contenders because he holds public office. “It remains to be seen whether he’s made up of the stuff that’s needed to get elected,” she said.

Moreno said his chief obstacle right now is critics such as Urch, who has made no secret of his support for Mike Metzler, the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce president who also is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 69th Assembly District seat.

Urch, however, suggested that Moreno has no idea what he faces in a race against the GOP.

“He’s dreaming if he thinks he has half a chance in this race,” Urch said. “He’s never been involved in a partisan race where the Republicans spend $1 million to defeat you and go through your background to find out if you swore at your first-grade teacher so they can use it against you. They’ll nail him on this Kim thing.”