GOP Legislators Squabble Over Rival Candidates : Politics: Two assemblymen who back an Assembly hopeful criticize 2 state senators for endorsing another for the 70th District.

A rift among conservatives over the 70th Assembly District seat intensified Friday when two Orange County assemblymen accused two of the county’s state senators of meddling in the race in order to “buy” political power.

During a news conference announcing their support for attorney Thomas G. Reinecke, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), who is giving up the 70th District seat, and Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) called for an end to the “vicious, unsigned, anonymous attacks” being circulated among Republican Party activists against Reinecke.

Ferguson and Conroy focused their anger at state Sen. Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove) and state Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange), who have endorsed Irvine City Councilman Barry J. Hammond in the June 7 primary.

“Rob Hurtt and John Lewis want to control a candidate,” Ferguson said. “There’s no other reason other than their desire to control . . . and obviously they are willing to buy it.”

Hurtt said later that he and Lewis had not intended to get involved in the race, but did so only after prospective candidates kept approaching them for endorsements.

“You have some people that are for Reinecke and other people that are for Barry Hammond, and that’s always going to happen,” Hurtt said, adding that he received a “one-two” punch from Ferguson and Conroy during a breakfast meeting earlier in the week. “Why Mr. Ferguson always insists on pointing fingers and shaking fingers always amazes me.”

Lewis was unavailable for comment, but his chief of staff, Christopher Jones, said the assemblymen “have the right to endorse Tom Reinecke, and Sen. Lewis and Sen. Hurtt also have the right to endorse the candidate who they think is best.”

Ferguson and Conroy maintain that if Hurtt, a wealthy businessman, pours funds into Hammond’s campaign, it will split the conservative vote and make it possible for Marilyn C. Brewer, who describes herself as a “mainstream Republican,” to win the nomination in June.

Ferguson and Conroy maintained that Reinecke should be the party’s nominee because he has paid his dues as a longtime GOP activist.

“I am sure they have the money to waste, and that’s exactly what it will be--wasted,” Ferguson said.

Hurtt, Lewis and other party power brokers were instrumental in persuading two other candidates, Phillip B. Greer and Bruce Peotter, to pull out of the race in order to avoid splitting the conservative vote.

Ferguson said that he also had hoped to remain neutral, and acknowledged that his endorsement of Reinecke poses some risk to his own political career, since he is planning to run next year in a special election for the state Senate.

But the assemblyman also has been increasingly frustrated with what he called “outsiders” trying to influence the politics within his Assembly district, which generally runs along the coastline from Newport Beach to Laguna Beach and inland to Tustin.

During the news conference, Conroy criticized those who have engaged in what he said was “character assassination” of Reinecke. He said one “hit piece” erroneously stated that Reinecke is a member of the California Trial Lawyers’ Assn., which is opposed by conservative Republicans.

Lewis also recently said in a letter to Republican members of the Legislature that Reinecke should not be supported because he is a member of the “anti-business” lawyers’ organization.

Reinecke’s camp, however, contended he never paid dues to the organization and was incorrectly listed in its membership roster.

Conroy also said it was time to put an end to a rumor circulating in Republican circles that Reinecke “had paid for an abortion for his girlfriend.” Reinecke, 34, is single.

Fueling the story was a document found in small claims court, alleging that Reinecke did not pay a $175 medical bill. But Conroy released a letter from the physician’s office that filed the claim, stating that the bill had been paid and that the claim was erroneously filed. The doctor’s office also stated in the letter that the medical treatment related to an injury to Reinecke’s knee.

“I have the medical records, and Tom is the first person I know that has an abortion on his knee,” Conroy said. “Why would you stoop to the level . . . of party politics in a seat that’s basically ours for the asking?”

Reinecke, who also attended the news conference, said the accusations are “false and untrue.”

“They manufacture something of me going to an orthopedic surgeon for a basketball injury into something that’s just disgusting,” he said. “I was offended by it, and I think it should stop. . . .”