O.C. GOP Delays Ethics Action

A proposal to revamp the Orange County Republican Party’s ethics committee following the scandal surrounding Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) was shelved Monday night by the county GOP Central Committee.

David Leland and June Cerruto, both Central Committee members from San Clemente, had written a resolution proposing that party officials bar government employees or political professionals from membership on the committee from now on. Several have been charged or convicted in connection with the GOP campaign to capture an Assembly seat in a special election last year.

Among other things, the resolution called for all current ethics committee members to resign so a fresh panel could be seated.

On Monday night, the Central Committee heard a report by its resolutions committee, which had voted against the proposal on procedural grounds.

“They sent it to the wrong committee,” said Jo Ellen Allen, a member of the resolutions committee. Because such changes would require a revision of the party’s bylaws, Allen said, the matter should have gone to the bylaws committee. Also, she said, some of the proposed changes already are part of the bylaws.

“To ask for laws to be made that are already laws is moot,” she said, referring to portions of a proposed prohibition of the use of state-owned equipment in political campaigns. She emphasized that the resolutions committee had not considered the merits of the proposal.

The Central Committee took no action. Allen said she has invited the authors to resubmit the proposal.

Cerruto said Monday that she would not give up the fight, but would take the recommendations of the committee as friendly criticism, she said.

“We are not lawyers or professional resolution writers. We just wanted to bring attention to a problem.”

Cerruto said that she would confer with Leland to decide how to get the matter before the full Central Committee.

“We don’t have any pride of authorship,” she said. “Any good organization should revisit its policies from time to time. Our goal is what’s best for the party.”

Cerruto and Leland said the Baugh scandal has tarnished the party’s image.

Baugh has been indicted on four felony counts and 18 misdemeanor counts for alleged election law violations during the Nov. 28 special election campaign to replace Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) in the 67th District. Maureen Werft, his chief of staff, faces two felony charges for allegedly voting illegally in that election.

Rhonda J. Carmony, campaign manager for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), faces three felony charges for allegedly orchestrating a GOP plan to place a decoy Democrat on the ballot for that election in an effort to siphon votes from the other Democrat on the ballot.

Three young GOP political workers have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of fraudulently circulating nomination petitions for that candidate, Laurie Campbell, a longtime friend of Baugh’s.

The resolution also calls for broadening the scope of the ethics committee’s mission to “include proactive support and training to all Republican campaigns regarding compliance with election laws.”