Judge Ousts Democrat From Race : Politics: Ruling leaves Linda Moulton-Patterson facing four Republicans in contest to replace former Assembly Speaker Allen if she is recalled. GOP fears split in conservative vote.

Wading into the Orange County recall election of Assemblywoman Doris Allen, a Superior Court judge Thursday removed from the ballot a Democratic candidate accused by her own party of being a Republican plant in the race to succeed Allen if she is recalled.

Judge James T. Ford declared that Democrat Laurie Campbell was no longer a candidate, forcing Orange County election officials to reprint thousands of ballots and throwing the battle to replace Allen into disarray.

“The integrity of the election process has to be paramount,” Ford declared in handing down his decision. “I guess no one ever argued that democracy is cheap. . . . I’m going to take her off the ballot.”

Democrats pushed to get Campbell disqualified largely in hopes of helping the candidacy of Linda Moulton-Patterson, a former Huntington Beach councilwoman who now is the lone Democrat in a crowded field of Republicans.

The judge’s decision was based on a technicality in the state Elections Code. Ford ruled that Campbell’s nomination papers were improper because she had signed them claiming she gathered the more than 40 signatures she needed to qualify. In fact, they had been collected by someone else, a point Campbell’s own attorney conceded.

“The Republicans tried a scam, and the judge ended it,” said Bob Mulholland, California Democratic Party campaign adviser.

Campbell has described herself as a conservative and said in an interview that she was running to keep a liberal from winning, but has not commented on the charge that her candidacy is being fostered by the Republican Party. She was at the funeral of her mother-in-law in Salem, Ore., on Thursday and did not attend the hearing.

Ford’s decision turns the election calculus upside down in the race to succeed Allen, who came under fire from GOP colleagues after she struck a deal with Democrats to become Assembly Speaker in June. Allen resigned her post in September, but the recall has gone forward and even some of her close supporters suggest that the embattled lawmaker’s chances of survival appear slim.

Officials in the Allen camp, however, insisted that the ruling only underlines the need to turn back the recall.

“If something isn’t done to stop the recall of Doris Allen, a Democrat--Linda Moulton-Patterson--will be the representative from this Republican district,” said Gil Ferguson, a former assemblyman who is helping Allen fight the ouster attempt.

Ford’s decision pares the field of candidates who would succeed Allen to four Republicans and Democrat Moulton-Patterson. Assembly Democrats have eyed Moulton-Patterson’s candidacy, but so far have not publicly committed to offering the sort of hefty financial support she would need to overcome a big GOP registration advantage in the district.

“We haven’t made that decision yet,” said Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar). “I still think [Moulton-Patterson] is a long shot. But it’s certainly better now that the Republican Party doesn’t have a spoiler it can hide behind. They have to come out of the shadows.”

Moulton-Patterson called Campbell “a Republican shill” who sought “to confuse voters and drain votes away from a united Democratic stand in the district.”

Republican leaders, meanwhile, began focusing on rallying behind a single Republican. They are concerned that the four-person GOP field could split the vote and allow a victory by Moulton-Patterson, who ran unsuccessfully for supervisor last year.

*

The Republican candidates are: attorney Scott Baugh; nurse and school trustee Shirley Carey; former Huntington Beach Mayor Don MacAllister and businesswoman Haydee Tillotson.

Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer (R-Newport Beach) said Campbell’s disqualification “certainly complicates things” for the Republicans.

Brewer was among a dozen party leaders--including most of the county’s legislative delegation--who met last week to analyze polling data, using it to assess the recall and the likelihood of a GOP win in the replacement ballot contest. But no decision was made.

“I am getting anxious about moving forward with this thing,” said Doy Henley, president of the Lincoln Club, whose members attended the session last week. “I want to get behind a candidate.”

The reprinting of all the election material will cause a delay in the labeling and mailing of absentee ballots, which were due in the mail this coming Monday, 30 days before the election. Absentee ballots will be available at the registrar’s office, but “my guess is they would go out in the mail no later than next Friday,” said Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever. “We are still working out the logistics.”

She estimated the cost to the county to reprint the election materials--including sample ballot pamphlets as well as absentee and Election Day ballots--at about $40,000. About 15,000 absentee ballots have already been requested.

* Bailey reported from Sacramento and Warren from Orange County.