2 Candidates Aim to Break Baugh’s Hold

In the incumbent-dominated playground that is Orange County Republican politics, the challengers to Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) are attempting the all but impossible.

Armed with tiny campaign war chests and facing a hail of mail popularizing Baugh, Cypress Councilwoman Cecilia L. Age and anti-illegal immigration activist Barbara A. Coe contend they have a chance of toppling the newly elected assemblyman for the 67th district in the March 26 primary.

Their hope reflects the optimism common to candidates. But it also is fed by speculation that Baugh, who has been under investigation by the district attorney’s office for alleged wrongdoing in last year’s election, may not come out unscathed.

A Baugh campaign worker pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor violation of election law and promised to cooperate in the investigation. He did not directly implicate Baugh, but named three GOP aides as participants in an effort to torpedo the candidacy of a Democrat in the contest that Baugh eventually won.

Age, who figures she will be lucky to have $20,000 to spend on her effort, says she “would like to raise $100,000 to be competitive with Scott. It is either that or have an indictment of Scott. I have to keep going because people are saying it is important, and I think it is important.”

Baugh, who has the backing of virtually all of the county’s Republican establishment, looks unstoppable at the moment.

His camp says that even an indictment will not keep Republican voters from returning the former railroad company lawyer to Sacramento.

“No matter what the district attorney does, Scott will win the election,” said Jim Righeimer, a Baugh advisor. “The people in the district are still going to believe in him. Our [internal campaign] polls show that.”

Baugh, 33, won the seat in November with 45% of the vote, replacing recalled Assemblywoman Doris Allen in a race that topped the state GOP’s must-do list. It was Baugh’s vote in January that brought control of the Assembly to Republicans and anointed as speaker Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove).

The self-styled “free-market conservative” makes that point on the stump and in his literature.

“I am doing exactly what I promised I would do in the first election: provide the pivotal vote to bring a speaker to the Assembly who is chosen by the GOP caucus and to move forward with our legislative agenda,” he said.

The gratitude flows down like water.

Baugh raised $40,000 last week at a dinner in Newport Beach hosted by Pringle and Senate Minority Leader Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove). The campaign says it has amassed some $80,000 in the last month and will spend $100,000, the bulk of it on absentee ballots and other mailers that target high-propensity GOP voters, as well as phone banking. The spending comes on top of $330,000 spent winning the Nov. 28 special election.

In addition, Baugh’s Assembly office has sent numerous letters to voters throughout the district, which stretches from Cypress to Huntington Beach along the San Diego Freeway and the coast.

“I think Scott will win,” said GOP campaign consultant Wayne Johnson. “There is a half-life in politics, and a glow continues for a period of time [after an election]. This is a heavily Republican area that just went out and elected Scott Baugh. He will continue to enjoy the benefit of all those people who voted for him once and want to see their vote vindicated. They have an investment in Scott. They’re emotionally on his side.”

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Coe, 62, who was one of the co-founders in 1992 of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, has built her campaign around the banner of Proposition 187, which she co-authored. The proposition limits some services to illegal immigrants. Her campaign will include few mailers and will rely on a phone network set up in individuals’ homes. She is trying to exploit the network of anti-illegal immigrant advocates to create a low-cost, high-impact campaign. She expects to spend at most $25,000.

“We are trying to walk the high propensity voter areas as much as we can,” she said. “We are reaching out to people who already support us. We are mailing to as many other areas as our wallet will allow, plus, of course, absentee voters.”

The former supervisor in the Anaheim Police Department crime laboratory has sharply conservative views. She is anti-abortion and favors vouchers for private school education. She rejects charges that her sole focus is illegal immigration.

“I have been accused of that, however, I would refute that intensely,” she said. “When we look at all the other issues that are negatively impacted by the illegal aliens, it gets well off the single focus. Obviously, welfare and medical care, crime, drugs, our tax dollars, health and jobs and unemployment and we are talking about our insurance rates. You certainly can’t call it single focus when you see all of the impacts.”

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Age, 45, made her mark in Cypress as mayor and two-term council member and links her political viability to the city’s prosperity.

“We are one of few cities in the county without a utility tax,” she said. “That’s due to good planning and a good business environment with a business park. I would like to further those accomplishments and take them on to the state level. We need to bring jobs back to California, downsize government and turn the economy around.”

Age blames county Republican leaders for cutting her off from campaign funds, saying a large number of previous donors have been advised not to contribute to this campaign.

Employed by a personnel agency doing public relations work, she seemingly pins much of her hopes on winding up in a one-on-one effort against Coe, who she describes as a one-issue candidate who “never has made a decision that has affected people’s lives.”

“If Scott is indicted, depending on what it is for, the money will pour in,” Age said. “I have been told that, told that by at least dozens of people. A great part will come from Republicans and businessmen who are afraid to go against [Speaker] Curt Pringle.”

Age is more moderate than either Baugh or Coe, favoring a woman’s right to choose and opposing education vouchers. She also opposed the recall of Allen, noting that the former Cypress assemblywoman “has been a good legislator and a good friend to Cypress” and had less than a year left on her term.

“I know the Republican agenda and support it, but at the cost of what?” she asked.

Cliff Brightman, the Democratic candidate, and Donald W. Rowe, the Reform Party candidate, are running unopposed in the primary. Baugh won the five-way recall-replacement ballot last year with 21,500 votes, about 45% of the vote cast in a low turnout election. The district has 210,000 voters, slightly more than half Republicans, and less than a third Democrats.

Because the district is so heavily Republican, victory in the GOP primary is tantamount to winning in November.

However, looming over the primary contest is a grand jury inquiry into wrongdoing in last year’s race. Baugh is being investigated for alleged campaign finance irregularities and possible links to a GOP plan to recruit a Democrat into the winner-take-all race.

Democrat Laurie Campbell, a longtime friend of Baugh’s, was supposed to siphon votes from another Democrat, but Campbell was removed from the ballot by a Superior Court judge. The judge ruled she had filed falsified nominating petitions.

Baugh declined to discuss the case last week. He has previously conceded his campaign reports contain noncriminal errors and has denied connection to the Campbell candidacy.

Political consultant Dan Wooldridge figures Baugh is a sure winner once again.

“He already has invested more than a quarter of a million dollars in positive name identification in the district,” Wooldridge said. “He has been endorsed by a veritable who’s who of the Republican Party in California. Scott will win in March. Whether he is seated to this new term in December remains, because of his legal problems, the $64,000 question.”

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67th Assembly District Candidates

Here are the candidates in the Republican primary in the 67th Assembly District, which was the center of last year’s recall of Assemblywoman Doris Allen. It stretches from Cypress to Huntington Beach along the San Diego Freeway and the coast.

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Cecilia L. Age

Age: 45

Residence: Cypress

Family: Divorced, two children

Occupation: Public relations officer for personnel agency; former vice president for community relations with Security Pacific Bank

Government positions: Cypress City Council 7 1/2 years, mayor twice; chairwoman of John Wayne Airport Commission

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Cal State Fullerton

Funds raised as of Feb. 10: $3,337

Endorsements: Cypress Mayor Walter K. Bowman, California Congress of Republicans, Women in Leadership, California Caucus of Politics

ON THE ISSUES

Gun control, including licensing people to carry concealed weapons: “I am a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, but there has to be a balance.” Opposed Assembly measure that would allow law-abiding citizens to obtain a concealed-weapons permit because it didn’t restrict places one could carry a weapon. Favors restricting sale of assault weapons.

Abortion, including government funding of abortions: “I think the abortion issue is a big-government issue that has divided the Republican Party. Even though I am a Catholic, I don’t believe government has the right to tell a woman what to do. I would much rather concentrate on reforming the welfare system, because that is an extension of the teen-pregnancy problem.”

School vouchers: Opposes. “It is the choice of the parent to send their kid to a private school for the education if they want. But my opposition goes beyond that. Do you want the state to tell a private school what it does as far as prayer and attending church? Vouchers would give the state an entry into private schools,” including bringing in children whose parents do not pay, and in the end “the private school education system would be hurt.”

Should AQMD be put under legislative control: Yes. I think it is one of the big reasons that businesses have picked up and left the state.

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Barbara A. Coe

Age: 62

Residence: Huntington Beach

Family: Divorced; three children, three grandchildren

Occupation: Retired from crime lab in Anaheim Police Department

Government positions: None

Education: AA degree, Rapid City (S.D.) School of Business

Funds raised as of Feb. 10: $12,377

Endorsements: California Coalition for Immigration Reform; Citizens for Law and Order

ON THE ISSUES

Gun control, including licensing people to carry concealed weapons: “I am a firm supporter of the 2nd Amendment” and oppose all gun-control legislation. “I definitely support” the recent legislation approved by the Assembly to issue a concealed weapons permit “under the stringent guidelines that a person has no criminal or psychological problems.”

Abortion, including government funding of abortions: “I am pro-life with the exception of permitting it in the case of incest, rape or if the life of the mother [is endangered]. Other than those situations, I don’t support taxpayer dollars paying for abortion.”

School vouchers: “I am very supportive because parental control over schools should be reinstated more than it is right now. Vouchers give a parent a choice of where they want their children to attend school. I am very much opposed to government control over our children.”

Should AQMD be put under legislative control: “Absolutely. I understand they are virtually not accountable to anyone. They are penalizing businesses to a degree that it is causing businesses to flee California. Obviously, our environment needs to be protected and I am very supportive of that, but we cannot penalize businesses while trying to protect our clean air and clean water.”

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Scott Baugh

Age: 33

Residence: Huntington Beach

Occupation: Assemblyman

Family: Single

Government positions: Assemblyman

Education: BS, Liberty University (Va.), law degree, McGeorge School of Law (Sacramento)

Funds raised as of Feb. 10: $12,745

Endorsements: Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove); Assemblymen Richard Ackerman (R-Fullerton), Jim Morrissey (R-Santa Ana), Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside); Senate Minority Leader Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove); Sens. John R. Lewis (R-Orange) and Ross Johnson (R-Irvine); Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach)

ON THE ISSUES

Gun control, including licensing people to carry concealed weapons: Voted for legislation to authorize concealed weapons permits. “It is a constitutional right to bear arms.” With regard to waiting periods, Baugh is opposed in general. “I have introduced a bill that would waive the 15-day waiting period for victims of domestic violence. That is certainly a case even the liberals would have a hard time arguing with.”

Abortion, including government funding of abortions: “I am pro-life and I don’t believe the government should be funding abortions.”

School vouchers: “Yes. It is extremely important that we give parents a choice in education. There are numerous problems with the public education system that must be addressed through reform, which includes a voucher system that gives parents a choice as to where and how to educate their children.”

Should AQMD be put under legislative control: “Absolutely. I would take it one step further and abolish it, that is ultimate legislative control. There are plenty of agencies between the federal, state, and local governments that can affect air quality policy. The AQMD has overstepped its bounds and has run business out of California.”

Source: Candidates and Times political reporter Peter M. Warren

Los Angeles Times