Baugh Appears to Weather Challenge

In one of the most closely watched legislative races in the state, Orange County Assemblyman Scott Baugh captured much of the early vote--including a majority of absentee ballots, cast for the most part before his indictment last week on felony charges.

Despite the torrent of publicity since then, Baugh, surrounded by family and friends Tuesday evening, was optimistic he would still take the Republican primary.

“I feel confident I can win this,” he said, accepting encouragement from well-wishers at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach).

One of Baugh’s challengers, Cypress Councilwoman Cecilia L. Age, said the absentee vote gave the incumbent an almost insurmountable edge. “That’s a pretty high jump to catch up on,” said Age, who early Tuesday evening also trailed the other Republican challenger, Barbara A. Coe, an activist for the passage of Proposition 187.

For more than a decade, the 67th Assembly District, a predominantly white, affluent and solidly Republican area covering the north coastal portion of Orange County (including the cities of Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Los Alamitos), was home to a sleepy legislative seat.

That changed last June when Republican Doris Allen (R-Cypress), the district’s incumbent for 13 years, ignited a firestorm after former Speaker Willie Brown arranged for the Assembly’s 39 Democrats to support Allen as Brown’s successor, thus denying the GOP control of the lower house.

Outraged Republicans immediately launched a recall campaign. Allen was ousted last Nov. 28, and replaced by Baugh, a 33-year-old railroad lawyer. In the winner-take-all special election, Baugh, the handpicked choice of Rohrabacher easily defeated Democrat Linda Moulton-Patterson, the former mayor of Huntington Beach.

But a controversy over that special election was touched off when The Times reported that Laurie Campbell, a Democrat with ties to Baugh, had been put on the ballot to dilute support for Moulton-Patterson.

Orange County Democratic Chairman Jim Toledano complained to the Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi that the election had been tainted. A lawsuit was filed in Sacramento and a judge there ordered Campbell stricken from the ballot.

Investigators later discovered that Republican aides for Rohrabacher and Pringle had hurriedly arranged for Campbell, a legal secretary who once worked with Baugh at a Sacramento law firm, to file nomination papers.

Three of the aides involved recently pleaded guilty to election fraud.

Last Thursday, Baugh, Carmony and Baugh’s chief of staff were indicted by the Orange County Grand Jury. Baugh was charged with four felonies for allegedly filing false campaign reports and convincing his former treasurer to commit perjury. He also was charged with 18 misdemeanors for concealing the source of campaign funds. He faces up to seven years in state prison if convicted.

After appearing in court, Baugh slammed Capizzi, fuming, “This is obviously a witch hunt [that’s] politically motivated.”

Another key legislative race in Orange County, the state Senate’s 35th District, was also touched by the Willie Brown-Doris Allen episode.

Incumbent Ross Johnson (R-Irvine), who filled the seat after Marian Bergeson was elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, was challenged again by fellow Republican Gil Ferguson, a former assemblyman for 10 years from Balboa Island. The two waged a nasty battle by mail in the March 1995 primary.

In this year’s race, Ferguson, a friend and staunch ally of Allen’s, was accused by Johnson of being part of a cabal to prevent Republicans from controlling the speakership.

Ferguson vehemently denied Johnson’s assertion, but even more troubling to him was that Gov. Pete Wilson signed his name to the mailer.

After early returns showed Johnson leading by a substantial margin, Ferguson conceded defeat and said he will not run for office again. “It doesn’t make any difference what message you have if you don’t have the money to deliver the message,” he said.

“I said in the past I took Gil very seriously, and I did,” Johnson said.

Term limits led to a five-way Republican scramble in the 71st Assembly District, for the seat being vacated by Mickey Conroy, the flamboyant lawmaker who tried unsuccessfully to legalize the paddling of youths caught defacing property with graffiti.

Conroy, who is stepping down because of term limits, is seeking to become the member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors from the 3rd District.

In early returns in the Assembly’s 70th District, incumbent Marilyn C. Brewer (R-Newport Beach) was significantly ahead of Jacob F. “Jim” Rems, of Irvine, a land surveyor and member of the Lincoln Club.

Finally, in the 73rd Assembly District, an area split almost evenly between south Orange County and northern San Diego County, incumbent Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside), led early against Bart Garry, a 28-year-old Dana Point attorney.