3 Candidates Shape O.C. Senate Race

With a trio of seasoned Republican lawmakers facing off, a tough battle is being waged to fill Orange County’s 35th Senate District seat in a March 14 special election.

And with good reason--the race could have implications for the continuing power struggle between Republicans and Democrats for control of the California Assembly.

Opponents have labeled Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-Placentia) an opportunist who has brushed aside the law and continued to represent his inland district after moving last month into the coastal 35th Senate District to run for that seat.

Meanwhile, Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) is being sniped at by foes who fear a rerun of her 1992 triumph over two male Assembly colleagues after she received hefty campaign help from powerful Sacramento special interests normally associated with Democrats.

But the hardest punches are being aimed at former Assemblyman Gil Ferguson, a Newport Beach Republican who took the politically unusual step last year of retiring after a decade in the Assembly so he could run for the 35th Senate District seat.

The three veteran legislators are not the only ones in the race to fill the Senate seat vacated by Marian Bergeson, now an Orange County supervisor. The others are: Democrats Madelene Arakellan, a Newport Beach businesswoman; and Mike Palitz, a Corona del Mar entrepreneur; and Republicans Robert Ruper, a Newport Beach eye surgeon; Dan Worthington, a member of the Costa Mesa Sanitary Board, and Long Pham, an unsuccessful candidate last year for Newport Beach City Council.

But it is the three-way brawl among Johnson, Allen and Ferguson that is commanding the most attention.

While Ferguson, a Marine Corps veteran, sees himself as commanding the moral high ground in the race, he has been pummeled by charges that he advised Republican maverick Paul Horcher to cast the key vote that kept Assembly Speaker Willie Brown in control. Ferguson has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying he told Horcher, in the presence of Gov. Pete Wilson, to get the best deal he could from Republican Leader Jim Brulte.

None of that has kept Johnson--who enjoys the backing of a many Republican lawmakers and a huge reservoir of campaign cash--from flooding the district with mailers spotlighting the Horcher controversy.

A former Ferguson legislative aide most recently has stepped forward with several provocative allegations.

Joy Anthony, a Ferguson press aide for two years before resigning in December, contends that the former lawmaker got special budgetary help from Brown. She also says Ferguson advised his Assembly staffers to collect unemployment payments while they volunteered for his Senate campaign. Ferguson denies those allegations, saying Anthony badly misconstrued events.

Anthony maintains that Ferguson’s staff got a call last fall from Patty Jo Rutland, deputy administrative officer of the Assembly Rules Committee, which controls operations in the lower house, ordering that Ferguson’s office be shut down because he had run out of money. Anthony alleges that Ferguson’s budget was depleted by a districtwide survey he sent to 120,000 households, as well as a flurry of other mailings designed to touch base with voters before the coming special election for the Senate seat.

Rutland would not comment, referring calls to Bob Connelly, Rules Committee chief executive officer. Connelly would not return repeated phone calls.

But in an Oct. 11, 1994, letter, Brown ordered Ferguson appointed vice chairman of the Banking and Finance Committee, a post that carries with it the privileges of extra staff and budget money. The appointment was unusual, given that the legislative year was over, and Ferguson was set to retire less than two months later.

Ferguson acknowledged in an interview that he did mail the survey, “because all members of the Republican caucus had mailed one.” He said that a snafu by the Legislature’s mailing house resulted in dramatic overcharges that threatened his budget, but that the Rules Committee eventually accepted responsibility for the mistake and agreed to pay the extra costs.

“There’s no conservative Scotchman who is going to spend more than his budget,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said he has no idea why Brown gave him a vice chairmanship, but suggested he might have gotten the nod because the Banking and Finance Committee had recently been split off from another Assembly panel on which Ferguson had a long tenure. He also insisted there was absolutely no connection between the vice chairmanship and any sort of deal with Brown.

“It is outrageous to assume I would make any kind of deal with Willie,” Ferguson said. “To imagine that I would sell my integrity to Willie Brown for a stupid vice chairmanship is ridiculous.”

Anthony also contends that Ferguson told his Assembly staffers they would have no chance of joining his Senate team if they didn’t volunteer for the campaign. In the meantime, he suggested they collect unemployment insurance, Anthony said.

“He acted as if he expected everyone to go on unemployment,” Anthony said. “It seemed hypocritical coming from someone who has preached conservatism.”

Ferguson countered that the unemployment issue came up during a staff meeting as a question from one of his employees worried about how to make ends meet.

“I wasn’t sure they could collect unemployment,” Ferguson said. “I asked them to call the Capitol and find out. I didn’t encourage them to do it, I didn’t tell them to do it. They discussed it.”

He said two former Assembly staffers are now collecting unemployment and are serving as volunteers for his campaign, but are also looking for jobs.

“I think it’s terribly unfair and unjust to criticize my employees, whose jobs were terminated after I left office,” Ferguson said. “They have to have an income in order to survive. All they’re doing is what any other person would do in applying for unemployment insurance. They have families to take care of. And the fact that while they look for work they’re also volunteering to help my campaign is, for me, very humbling.”

Ferguson also tried to turn the tables on Allen and Johnson, suggesting that, while he felt it was “morally wrong” to retain an Assembly seat and also run for the Senate, his opponents have tapped into Capitol special interests and used their Assembly staffs for campaign purposes.

Ferguson also charged that Johnson had “struck a deal” with Brown.

Johnson moved out of his Assembly district and purchased an Irvine condominium in the 35th Senate District late last month. Ferguson contends that Johnson “abandoned his voters” and that Brown and the Democrats could throw him out of the Assembly if they wished. Instead, Ferguson speculates, Brown has promised to keep his hands off, in exchange for Johnson pushing Republicans to accept a Democrat-proposed bipartisan power-sharing plan.

Ferguson theorizes that it behooves Brown to have Johnson or Allen win the race--it would open up a Republican seat and increase the odds that the Speaker could retain power in the evenly divided Assembly through the end of the year.

Brown did not respond to queries, but Johnson called the notion of a deal with the Democratic leader “outrageous,” adding that “anyone who has been around the California Legislature for the past two months knows Ross Johnson is leading the charge against Willie Brown.”

As for the residency question, Johnson argues that district lines blur in conservative Orange County and aren’t as important as “the quality of one’s representation.”

“I grew up in Orange County,” he noted. “I attended grade school, high school, law school. I am a product of Orange County and I think reflective of the Orange County community. Whether it’s Placentia or Newport Beach, we’re all in the same boat.”

Some Orange County voters aren’t buying Johnson’s argument, though. A group of North County residents in Johnson’s district have launched a recall effort, even though they acknowledge that the lawmaker likely will have moved on to the Senate or back to his Assembly district by the time the 18,000 signatures are collected to qualify the recall for the ballot.

“We’re trying to drive the point home,” said Michael Withrow, a recall proponent. “Ross is playing fast and loose, and we’re calling him on it.”

Johnson, who said he believes the recall is a stunt fomented by Ferguson, may have legal precedent on his side. Shirley Washington, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, said candidates are required to live in the districts they seek to represent when they apply to run, but not once they take office.

While Johnson and Ferguson lob grenades back and forth, Allen has managed to dodge most of the shrapnel. But it may only be a matter of time.

Johnson and Ferguson both suspect that Allen, a former school board member, may once again receive last-minute help from the powerful California Teachers Assn., which dumped more than $100,000 into her 1992 campaign against former Assemblymen Tom Mays and Nolan Frizzelle. All the signs seem to indicate a repeat performance. Most notably, the CTA sponsored a recent poll that rates Allen’s prospects as excellent in the three-way battle.

Could money from political groups that have traditionally been allied with the Democrats doom her candidacy? Allen thinks not.

“My record is my record. I’m a conservative,” she said. “Trying to make something out of the teachers giving me money isn’t going to wash in this district.”

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Sizing Up the 35th

Although eight names are on the ballot, the real battle for the 35th Senate District has come down to a fight between three savvy Assembly GOP veterans.

Doris Allen

Born: May 26, 1936

Education: Long Beach City College, Golden West College

Family: Two grown children

Job: Assemblywoman

Political History: Elected in 1982 to 67th Assembly District (Cypress, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach); now chairs Health Committee.

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Gil Ferguson

Born: April 22, 1923

Education: USC

Family: Wife, Anita, four grown children

Job: Developer, retired assemblyman

Political History: Elected in 1984 to 70th Assembly District (Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Laguna Beach and Tustin); retired last year to run for Senate; Marine veteran.

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Ross Johnson

Born: Sept. 28, 1939

Education: Cal State Fullerton, Western State Law

Family: Wife, Diane, two grown daughters

Job: Assemblyman

Political History: Elected in 1978 to 72nd Assembly District (Brea, Fullerton, La Habra, Placentia, Yorba Linda); served stint as Republican leader until 1991; now Rules Committee vice chairman.

***

LEGISLATIVE RANKINGS

Legislative rankings are on a scale of 100% to 0% or grade of A to F, unless otherwise noted:

Category/group Allen Ferguson California Chamber of Commerce 100% 100% National Tax-Limitation Committee 70% 100% California Labor Federation 15% 6% California League of Conservation Voters 5% 5% California NOW (National Organization for Women) C C- Planned Parenthood 25% 13% California Abortion Rights Action League U* U* Voters Alliance for Children 22% 5% Housing California D- F California Journal (of 80 Assembly members) 69th 77th

Category/group Johnson California Chamber of Commerce 100% National Tax-Limitation Committee 90% California Labor Federation 10% California League of Conservation Voters 15% California NOW (National Organization for Women) C- Planned Parenthood 13% California Abortion Rights Action League U* Voters Alliance for Children 0% Housing California F California Journal (of 80 Assembly members) 29th

* Unacceptable

Sources: California Assembly, Times reports

Researched by ERIC BAILEY / Los Angeles Times