Baugh Jumps Ahead With Mail-In Vote Despite Indictment

Orange County Assemblyman Scott Baugh, indicted only days ago on charges of alleged misconduct in last year’s special election, appeared well on his way to surviving a challenge from two Republican opponents in Tuesday’s primary, according to early returns.

With turnout at low levels in Orange County and across the state for California’s first March primary, Baugh, the freshman assemblyman from the 67th District, was leading his nearest GOP challenger by a comfortable margin.

In a presidential preference vote devoid of much drama, here and elsewhere in California, Kansas Republican Sen. Bob Dole was headed toward a lopsided victory over conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan. On the Democratic side, President Clinton easily overwhelmed his sole opponent, Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr.

Buchanan, who spoke to hundreds of boisterous well-wishers at a Costa Mesa hotel Tuesday, conceded that Dole has enough delegates to win the GOP nomination. But he vowed to carry his campaign forward to the party’s summer convention in San Diego.

“We have suffered some defeats and disappointments,” Buchanan told the crowd at the Red Lion Inn. “But this cause is going to go on. This battle is going to go on.”

Meanwhile, Measure S, the hotly debated county ballot initiative that sought to derail plans for a commercial airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, appeared headed toward defeat. Two other countywide initiatives, Measures T and U, which both involve enactment of a county charter, were also trailing at the polls.

Voters were also setting the stage for twin runoff elections to replace two longtime members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors whose political careers were upended by the county’s bankruptcy.

In other races, incumbent U.S. Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) was trouncing two Republican opponents in his 46th Congressional District. On the Democratic side of the same contest, businessman Michael P. Farber was ahead of three rivals.

County Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever said voting proceeded without a hitch throughout the day at the county’s 1,613 polling places, although turnout here--and throughout the state--was relatively light.

“It’s been very quiet out there,” Lever said. “No problems at all.”

Santa Ana resident Neal Sprouse was among those casting a ballot Tuesday. Sprouse, 55, said he feels strongly about the importance of voting, and has made a point of going to the polls in every election in recent years.

“It doesn’t always do a lot of good, but at least you have put forth an effort,” Sprouse said as he left his neighbor’s orderly garage on Carriage Drive, which doubled as a polling place. “Besides, if you don’t vote, you can’t gripe.”

Primaries traditionally draw far fewer voters than general elections, even in presidential election years. But in the days leading up to Tuesday’s primary, political analysts predicted that voter interest this time around was likely to be especially low.

California voters, for one thing, are accustomed to their primary being held in June, not March. The primary was moved up 10 weeks this year in an attempt--unsuccessful this time--to give the state more clout in the presidential race.

With the major parties’ presidential nominees--the critical top of the ticket spots--determined long before Tuesday, and local issues and races failing to generate much interest, the final days of campaigning were relatively quiet throughout much of the county.

Two exceptions were the spirited debate over Measure S, which recent polls show has bitterly divided the county between north and south, and Baugh’s battle for political survival in the 67th Assembly District.

Baugh, a political newcomer who was elected to the Assembly four months ago, was indicted last week on four felony charges and 18 misdemeanors in connection with alleged misconduct during last fall’s special election, which he won. Baugh has denied wrongdoing.

Baugh and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), his mentor in the local Republican leadership, have said the indictments were politically motivated and timed to appear just before the primary, when Baugh would have little time to respond. Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi has denied that politics played any role in the indictments of Baugh, his chief of staff and Rohrabacher’s campaign manager.

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Baugh has been enmeshed in the controversy since The Times reported a GOP attempt to place a decoy Democrat on the special-election ballot in the hope of siphoning votes away from a more established Democratic candidate. The decoy candidate, Laurie Campbell, a longtime friend of Baugh’s, was thrown off the ballot and three GOP political workers have pleaded guilty to election fraud in connection with the scheme.

Tuesday’s results showed no signs of mending the rift that has developed in the county’s GOP over the Baugh affair.

At the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel, where Republicans gathered to await and celebrate the results, the crowd began booing when Rohrabacher mentioned Capizzi’s name. The congressman described the district attorney as a threat to freedom, saying he was as dangerous as Soviet communism.

“We have a threat that is just as bad,” said Rohrabacher. “We have a district attorney who is committed to bringing down Republicans.”

Rohrabacher called Capizzi’s recent actions an “underhanded attempt to defeat an elected official.”

“Shame on you, Mr. Capizzi!” Rohrabacher said. “Shame on you!”

Capizzi, who heard Rohrabacher’s remarks, countered that most of Orange County backs his investigation.

“I think the overwhelming feeling among Republicans is that they do not condone that type of conduct from Baugh,” Capizzi said.

The election also seemed unlikely to end the debate among North and South County voters over the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, the issue at the heart of Measure S.

The military is expected to vacate the sprawling, 4,700-acre base by 1999. South County voters generally have opposed the county’s plans to develop a commercial airport at the base, concerned that it would create excessive noise and drive down property values for neighboring communities. Many North County residents, in turn, say an airport could create jobs and boost the county’s economy, and support the plans.

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With the primary behind them, county Republican leaders may need to turn their attention quickly to the general election and an intensive effort to shore up the chances of the party’s presidential nominee against President Clinton.

A Times Orange County Poll in early March indicated that the county’s normally reliable Republican voters might be feeling a bit fickle this year, with a less than wholehearted show of support for Dole in a proposed head-to-head race with Clinton. In the poll, conducted March 1-4, before Dole had locked up the GOP nomination, Clinton led the Kansas senator by a 46%-44% margin here.

California is key to the aspirations of any presidential candidate, with Orange County of particular importance to Republicans. To capture California in November, a Republican generally must win by a 2-1 ratio in Orange County to balance the Democratic turnout elsewhere in the state.