A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County’s political life : Special Ballot Question: Who’s Paying the Bills for All the Investigating?

Some are wondering who is paying the growing number of attorneys involved in the investigations of Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) and Democrat Laurie Campbell, who was thrown off the ballot before the Nov. 28 election to replace Assemblywoman Doris Allen.

Others are concerned how legislative staffers caught up in the investigation are going to cover their legal bills.

The Fair Political Practices Commission last week offered some hope for the curious, saying Campbell, even though she was removed from the ballot, is required to report on all expenditures and contributions of more than $1,000. That would include her legal bills.

Campbell originally reported on Oct. 3 that she did not intend to spend more than $1,000 in her campaign and so has filed no campaign financial reports. Acknowledging that “this is a unique situation” because the candidate was yanked from the ballot by court order, FPPC spokesman Gary Huckaby said Campbell might have to revise that report.

Campbell currently has three lawyers: two who worked on civil litigation filed in Sacramento by the Democratic Party, and a criminal lawyer, who is representing her in Orange County.

Michael Rothschild, who represented Campbell in Sacramento, dismissed the notion that FPPC reporting applies to Campbell.

“The lady has been determined by a Sacramento Superior Court to not be a candidate,” he said. “This certainly sounds to me like more hot political rhetoric.”

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Ambassador Morrissey: Assemblyman Jim Morrissey (R-Santa Ana) took on a new diplomatic role this week when he traveled to Vietnam to intercede on behalf of the families of U.S. citizens held in prison there.

Morrissey will return today from the 10-day tour, during which he tried to learn more about the Americans’ fates. At one point, Morrissey hoped to visit in prison with Jimmy Tran and Tran Nguyen Binh, both of San Jose, or even negotiate for their freedom, said aide David Stefanides.

Binh is a businesswoman who was arrested during a trip and detained for two years, then convicted in June and sentenced to four years in prison, Stefanides said. “The details of her alleged crime remain unknown,” he said.

Tran is in the fourth year of a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to blow up a statue of Ho Chi Minh, Stefanides said.

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Cash for the county: Democratic Foundation Chairman Wylie A. Aitken has written a letter to Assembly Republican Leader Curt Pringle, calling on the Garden Grove legislator to reimburse the county $50,000 for its costs in reprinting election material in the 67th Assembly District election that Baugh won last month.

Aitken made the demand last week, noting Pringle’s acknowledgment that at least one of his aides helped Campbell circulate nomination papers in September. The documents were declared falsified because Campbell swore she circulated them herself.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge in late October removed Campbell from the Nov. 28 ballot amid allegations that she was a “stealth candidate” recruited by GOP leaders seeking to siphon votes from Baugh’s chief Democratic opponent, Linda Moulton-Patterson.

Aitken wrote that Pringle staffer Mark Denny “no doubt was acting in the scope of his employment to further your own personal political agenda.”

Pringle declined to comment.

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Santa Cox: A bill that authorizes defense spending for the next year--including a military pay raise--was sent to the White House on Friday for President Clinton’s signature. Accompanying the bill was a huge Christmas card for the troops in Bosnia that was distributed by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) and others, and signed by 161 Democrats and Republicans.

“There’s a big signature line right in the middle for the commander in chief,” Cox said. Most expect Clinton to sign the bill and perhaps the card too. The message in the card refers to the pay raise as “our way of thanking the troops.”

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Wooing Feinstein: Hoping to block a bill authored by Cox tightening the rules on securities fraud lawsuits, California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer read on the Senate floor a long list of states, counties, cities, newspapers and consumer groups opposed to the bill.

Among those listed were officials from the Orange County Employees Retirement System and the cities of Huntington Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach, Oceanside and Santa Ana.

Boxer, hoping to persuade her fellow California Democratic senator, Dianne Feinstein, to oppose the bill, also listed dozens of California county treasurers who feared the bill would place a hardship on investors wanting to file securities fraud lawsuits.

Not mentioned, however, was Orange County Treasurer John M.W. Moorlach, who was appointed as part of the county’s post-bankruptcy reforms. Cox had been Moorlach’s campaign manager in 1994 and Moorlach supported Cox’s bill.

Boxer was unsuccessful at wooing her California colleague. And the House and Senate last week voted to override Clinton’s veto of the bill.

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Laguna letters: The Energizer Bunny of controversies in Laguna Niguel--the allegedly racist letter on the O.J. Simpson verdict sent to newspapers by Councilman Eddie Rose--just keeps going and going.

After rancorous public meetings that have spawned recall drives against Rose and his main critic, Councilman Mark Goodman, the latest debate is over 20 minutes of a recent City Council meeting on the Rose letter that was apparently wiped out when the meeting was broadcast on cable television.

Rose supporter Donald Gouldsmith says the missing segment contained heavy criticism of the city and speculated that it was intentionally erased by city staff. City officials say the problem was probably a technical error by the cable company.

City Clerk Juanita Zarilla is just tired of the whole thing. “It’s very sad that the mistrust is out there,” she said. “Unfortunately, that’s the way it is.”

Compiled by Times political writer Peter M. Warren, with contributions from Times staff writer Gebe Martinez and correspondent Frank Messina.

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