Irvine Co. Exec to Join Wilson’s Reelection Team : Politics: Larry Thomas, an old friend, will be the senior counselor and ‘help refine’ the campaign message. Two other key aides added.

Gov. Pete Wilson shored up his campaign team Tuesday by appointing an old friend, Irvine Co. Senior Vice President Larry Thomas, as senior counselor to his reelection committee.

Thomas’ appointment was part of a campaign restructuring announced by Wilson campaign manager George Gorton that includes two other past and present Wilson staffers.

Others named as senior staffers to the governor’s reelection effort were Kathleen Shanahan, the deputy secretary for economic development of the California Trade and Commerce Agency; and Marty Wilson, a senior vice president and managing director of the Sacramento office of Burson-Marsteller public relations.

Shanahan will become the deputy campaign manager overseeing day-to-day operations, and Wilson will serve as a senior counselor focusing on campaign fund-raising.

Thomas, who first worked for Gov. Wilson as his press secretary when Wilson was elected San Diego mayor in 1971, said he would be leaving the county’s largest land owner and development firm to “help refine the message and the message delivery” for the Wilson campaign.

“In doing so, I will be offering a hand to an old friend who I admire greatly,” Thomas said in a letter announcing his decision to rejoin Wilson. He said in an interview that he had no plans to return to the Irvine Co. after the Nov. 8 general election.

Gorton said in a prepared statement, “As we prepare for the general election campaign, I am extremely pleased that we have been able to augment our team with three such outstanding individuals.”

Local Republicans saw Thomas’ move as being driven more by his personal relationship with Wilson and less by the governor’s need to symbolically reach out to Orange County, which is counted on by statewide Republican candidates to give them 2-to-1 vote ratios needed to offset Democratic strongholds in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Wilson has had a topsy-turvy relationship with Orange County’s conservative Republicans, who registered a protest vote against the governor in the June 7 primary by giving his virtually unknown opponent, businessman Ron Unz, almost 43% of the vote.

While Republicans said they expect Wilson to win back the disaffected voters in November, Thomas’ addition to the campaign team “doesn’t hurt.”

“(Thomas) has been here, he’s active in the county,” said William Buck Johns, a Newport Beach developer and Wilson backer, who added that Thomas can provide overall support to the campaign. “Wilson needs all the good guys. You cannot have too many good guys, and I think Larry is one of the best.”

Political research consultant Gary C. Lawrence said Thomas knows Wilson well enough to help explain the governor’s “vision” to the voters.

“Once Wilson explains to the electorate what makes him tick, I think the conservatives are going to find a lot that they like,” Lawrence said.

After serving as Wilson’s press secretary in San Diego, Thomas worked for Wilson’s ill-fated 1978 gubernatorial campaign, and then left politics after that election to join the Bechtel Corp. in San Francisco. In 1982, then-Gov. George Deukmejian appointed him as his press secretary. He ran Deukmejian’s successful reelection campaign in 1986. Thomas later became press secretary for Vice President George Bush, a job he held for three months before joining the Irvine Co. in 1987.

The development firm itself has close ties to Wilson. In addition to past ties between corporate officers and Wilson, company owner Donald L. Bren is a longtime Wilson backer. The Irvine Co. and Bren together have donated $100,000 this year to Wilson’s reelection campaign.

Gary H. Hunt, a senior vice president for the Irvine Co., said Thomas’ decision was personal and had nothing to do with Bren’s support for Wilson.

“Larry has been a tremendous resource for the company in the community and he’s going to be sorely missed,” Hunt said.

Times staff writers Eric Bailey and John O’Dell contributed to this report.