A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County’s political life : Lewis’ Endorsement of Measure S Could Be Standby Bid for Cox Seat

State Sen. John R. Lewis’ endorsement last week of Measure S, the initiative to repeal a proposal for an airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, startled a lot of politically savvy people.

They had expected Lewis (R-Orange) would be true to his voting record as a pro-growth, pro-development politician. That pro-business stance, and his expertise as an election strategist, is the bedrock of Lewis’ political reputation.

The endorsement, however, has fueled chatter that Lewis, who is running for his last term in the state Senate, has his eye on Rep. Christopher Cox’s congressional seat.

Cox (R-Newport Beach) has developed a national audience as one of Speaker Newt Gingrich’s lieutenants and gets frequent mention as a future Senate candidate or possible vice presidential nominee.

Should Cox move on, Lewis would be a logical choice, several GOP insiders said. “I don’t know anyone on the horizon who is in the same league with him,” said Buck Johns, a prominent GOP activist and fund-raiser.

Lewis is virtually assured of reelection this year and wouldn’t ordinarily be wooing South County voters, who constitute a small portion of his district. Cox’s district, however, contains the Marine base, and officials who support locating an airport there draw a lot of heat from voters.

“There is no question in my mind that Lewis checked over the constituency in that Cox seat,” Johns said. “I think he is positioning there.” Johns was not alone in that assessment, but others chose not to speculate publicly.

An aide to Lewis, however, downplayed the idea. Jon Fleischman said the senator endorsed Measure S because he is genuinely interested in a better planning process for the El Toro land.

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Paddling epilogue: In the end, one reason Assemblyman Mickey Conroy’s two paddling measures failed was because the Republican leadership didn’t strong-arm moderates in the GOP caucus who voted against the bills or didn’t vote at all. One of the bills allowed paddling for graffiti vandals; the other was targeted at public school students.

While a host of measures deemed part of the “Republican revolution” in the Assembly were squeaking out with a bare 41 votes, the Orange Republican’s bills went begging.

Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) voted for both bills, but he and his lieutenants took the laissez faire attitude because the highly controversial paddling proposals, which drew fire from all quarters, were deemed too juicy a target for Democratic Party attacks in this election year.

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Too busy: Conroy and fellow Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) both passed last week when KOCE Channel 50 taped candidate debates to be televised later this month and in March as part of its election coverage.

Conroy was in Sacramento working on legislation Monday when the station held a debate for candidates for the 3rd District county supervisorial seat, which Conroy is seeking. Hoping to snare Baugh for the 67th District forum, KOCE purposely scheduled it for a Friday when he would be in the district, said Jim Cooper, KOCE executive producer.

Baugh couldn’t make it, though, his office said. As a member of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, he was at “a brainstorming session” in South County with committee Chairman Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside) and a group of Orange County Superior Court judges discussing bankruptcy-related funding for trial courts.

That didn’t stop the four other candidates from agreeing that Baugh has become an issue in the campaign because of allegations he helped recruit a Democratic candidate in the fall election and for months did not report a contribution to his own campaign from her husband.

“We are going to find out more about Scott’s involvement. Hopefully we will know before March 26 what his role was,” Republican Cecilia L. Age said.

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Publicity by any name is sweet: All the controversy generated by Laguna Niguel City Councilman Eddie Rose’s letter about the O.J. Simpson verdict probably won’t hurt his run for a seat on the Republican Central Committee, he believes.

“I certainly have more name recognition, but whether it’ll have any bearing on the election, who knows?” Rose said recently. “It certainly won’t hurt.”

Rose was accused of using racist language in a letter he sent to newspapers decrying the Simpson verdict. A recall campaign against him has been launched.

Rose said he decided to run for a 73rd Assembly District Central Committee seat because “this is a presidential year and we need good conservatives on the committee.”

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Staffing up: Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) is fleshing out his staff as he tackles the added responsibilities of leader of the Assembly. The public relations office was beefed up last week as the speaker named Gary Foster his press secretary.

Foster previously worked for Gov. Pete Wilson’s short-lived presidential campaign and was a deputy press secretary for President George Bush. Foster will be Pringle’s chief spokesman.

Wendy Weber, director of communications for Pringle, is Foster’s boss. She was appointed early this month and previously worked in the White House as a spokeswoman for First Lady Nancy Reagan, then moved on to the Department of Education.

Most recently, she was in charge of public relations at Golden West College in Orange County. Weber will run the public relations operation and write speeches for Pringle, she said.

UPCOMING EVENTS

* Wednesday: Fund-raiser for Susan Withrow, candidate for county supervisor, at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Symphony Center, 115 E. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana. Call (714) 973-9204.

* Wednesday: Fund-raiser for Assembly candidate Richard T. Dixon at Aldo’s Restaurant in Lake Forest. Call (714) 380-7196.

* Thursday: Fund-raiser for Bill McNames, candidate for Superior Court judge, at 6:30 p.m. at the El Adobe restaurant, 31891 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Call (714) 831-3157.

* Saturday: Candidates forum held by the county Rush Limbaugh Fan Club. All invited at 9 a.m. at the Rib Trader Restaurant, 2710 E. Chapman Ave., Orange. Admission fee for breakfast. Call (714) 633-2239.

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

Politics ’96 appears every Sunday. Items can be mailed to Politics ‘96, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or faxed to (714) 966-7711.