ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Questions Linger After Baugh’s Victory

Newly elected Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) had little time to savor victory after winning Orange County’s 67th Assembly District seat as a political newcomer. As he looks ahead to serving out former Speaker Doris Allen’s term, he faces a challenge from two competitors in a March primary fight. And there is also a serious question about his campaign in the Allen recall--specifically, whether he had any role in the short-lived campaign of Democrat Laurie Campbell.

Baugh is supposed to talk to prosecutors this week. To date there have been no convincing answers. Doubts about exactly what happened were fueled even before the voting by Baugh’s status as the only one of four candidates seeking to replace Allen who put off investigators’ questions until after the election.

On Election Day last week, the Orange County district attorney’s office disclosed that it was indeed “investigating Baugh’s ties to former candidate Laurie Campbell” as well as looking into the Baugh campaign’s finance reports. Baugh’s response at the time didn’t resolve anything. He said: “I think it’s going to be a dead issue.”

Democratic leaders had said in letters to federal, state and local law enforcement officials that Campbell’s candidacy was engineered to dilute the vote for Democrat Linda Moulton-Patterson, who finished second to Baugh in a crowded field in last week’s voting. Republican leaders and Baugh denied any involvement in Campbell’s candidacy. She was ordered off the ballot by a Sacramento County Superior Court judge who ruled that her nominating papers had been falsified. Falsification of such documents is a felony.

In campaign finance reports filed shortly before the polls closed, Baugh acknowledged receiving a $1,000 contribution from Campbell’s husband, the first direct link between the Baugh campaign and the Campbells. Baugh said he received the money but returned it several weeks later, on the day Campbell filed for the 67th Assembly District race. Because of its timing, the disclosure was of little use to any voter who wanted to know more about such a connection.

The contribution went unreported on three previous state-required state campaign finance reports filed between the time Baugh received the money and his report last week. This mysterious omission casts doubt over just how forthcoming Baugh has been. Initially, when questions arose about Campbell’s candidacy, he denied knowing her, and then acknowledged that they had attended the same church and had met.

Whatever the facts may be, the public deserves to have a fuller accounting than has been offered to date.