Pringle Denies Role in Campbell Bid, Is Confident Baugh Will Retain Post

Assembly Republican Leader Curt Pringle said Monday he had no involvement in the turmoil surrounding newly elected GOP Assemblyman Scott Baugh, who is under investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office for possible campaign wrongdoing.

Peppered with questions during an hourlong session with the Capitol press corps, the Garden Grove assemblyman said he didn’t want to “get in the middle of that debate,” but suggested Baugh’s 67th District seat is not in jeopardy.

Pringle said he has learned much of what he knows about missteps by Baugh (R-Huntington Beach)--who filled the seat vacated in the recall last month of former Speaker Doris Allen (R-Cypress)--through stories in local newspapers.

Pringle also said he had no role in the matter. Orange County Democrats are accusing unnamed Republican Party officials of attempting to dilute support for Democratic candidate Linda Moulton-Patterson by fostering the candidacy of another Democrat, Laurie Campbell. GOP officials have denied the charge.

Campbell was thrown off the ballot after a Superior Court judge determined her nominating papers were falsified.

“I know Democrats in Orange County like to draw me into just about everything,” Pringle said. But, he added: “I’m not involved.”

Baugh’s election to the seat once held by Allen, a Republican who briefly ascended to the speaker’s post through an alliance with Democrats, was seen as a major step in Pringle’s quest for a GOP majority that would give him the Assembly’s top post. Some of his aides worked in the campaigns to recall Allen and elect Baugh.

With the battle for the top post heating up, Pringle expressed confidence Monday in his chances to capture the speakership.

Pringle said he believes he will have enough support from the Republican caucus to wrest the speakership away from Fresno freshman Brian Setencich, who vaulted to the top post with the help of the Democrats during the waning days of session after Allen stepped down under pressure in September.

“I don’t believe a single person has committed to him,” Pringle said after the news conference. “He’s assuming that encouraging words are commitment. I think that’s wishful thinking.”

Pringle also defended a letter sent out by top California Republican Party officials asking Assembly Republicans to sign a pledge that they would only vote for a speaker supported by a majority of the GOP caucus. Pringle is widely regarded as the only Republican right now capable of capturing a majority of the caucus vote, while most of Setencich’s support comes from the Democrats.

By Monday evening, 25 of the 41 Republicans in the Assembly had signed the pledge. Victoria Herrington, a California Republican Party spokeswoman, said two others--Assemblymen Bernie Richter (R-Chico) and Jan Goldsmith (R-Poway)--had declared they would not sign. Others are away on business and have yet to let the party know.

Some Republican lawmakers have grumbled that the letter was a veiled threat to withhold party campaign contributions from anyone who doesn’t back Pringle. But Pringle said he “didn’t read that assumption into it.”