A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County’s...

A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County’s political life

Candidates Urge ‘Adventurous’ to ‘Experience Inner City Culture’

A group of Santa Ana Unified School District candidates calling themselves conservative Christians have issued a guide for precinct walkers in the heavily Latino central city area. It recommends that youths and “adventurous missionary types” try their hand at campaigning through the area to “experience the culture of the inner city.”

That culture, said slate member and incumbent Rosemarie Avila, includes the Spanish language, boomboxes and food such as mangoes.

Avila said she had “no qualms” about distributing the flier, and emphasized that the area “is different.”

The scheduled walk for Oct. 26 and 27 never happened because not enough fliers were distributed. Said Avila, “It fizzled.”

Outta my way! Ray Mills, the Reform Party’s Orange County chairman, got a lesson in how not to pep up a political pep rally the other day.

Mills was at the party’s Santa Ana headquarters to introduce Pat Choate, vice presidential running mate of Ross Perot. Fifty or so supporters were assembled in their seats when Mills stepped to the podium for a brief announcement.

“Before I bring Pat Choate up I want to say that whoever is parked in the front lot, they are towing, so you need to park in this back lot,” Mills said.

Nearly everyone assembled jumped up and ran out the door to move their cars, clearing the room. Mills recovered nicely, later commenting wryly: “I guess that’s not the best way to begin a political program.”

No endorsement: Apparent misstatements in her campaign literature once again are catching up with Irvine mayoral candidate Sally Anne Sheridan, who said she had a nursing degree from Harvard when she did not during the same race in 1990.

In her campaign ad in Thursday’s edition of the Irvine World News, Sheridan says she is endorsed by state Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine), but Johnson says no.

“I have not endorsed any candidate for the position of mayor of Irvine,” Johnson wrote Thursday in a letter to Councilwoman Christina Shea, who also is vying for the city’s top seat. Replied Sheridan: “It was an inadvertent mistake. Ross first said he would endorse me but later said he couldn’t endorse either of us because Christina and I are both Republicans. I gave the whole list [to be printed] without taking his name out.”

Irvine resident Diane I. Kent said her name erroneously was put on Sheridan’s endorsement list too.

“It was a big surprise to me,” said Kent, who served on the Irvine Community Services Commission from 1975 to 1990. “I told her at the beginning of her campaign that she could not use my name on anything.”

Cop cash: You’ve heard of a 21-gun salute, but how about a $21,000 salute?

That’s what the Santa Ana Police Officers Assn. has spent on behalf of political newcomer and City Council candidate Brett Franklin, according to the most recent campaign finance reports. The expenditure--$21,446 to be exact--is the largest amount the police association has spent on a single candidate in recent memory, said President Don Blankenship.

Franklin is the only candidate endorsed by the police union, and Blankenship said the expenditure was meant to send a message to sitting council members that the police officers were displeased with recent contract negotiations that lasted some 15 months.

Baugh humbug: Blessed with a loyal Republican district, Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) has more worries about his upcoming day in court on campaign wrongdoing charges than he does about election day. Even so, Baugh has another challenger, and it’s a fellow Republican.

Wayne Dapser, an attorney from Huntington Beach, is waging a write-in campaign against Baugh, joining a Democrat and Reform Party candidate already on the ballot. Dapser is a former president of the Italian-American Lawyers of Los Angeles and an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

Dapser’s motivation: to give voters another Republican choice “at a time when a new approach to state government is very much needed.”

International guy: An inveterate foreign policy wonk, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has won campaign support from individuals associated with U.S. Muslim groups.

The Huntington Beach Republican has received $4,000 from Muslims who like a number of foreign policy stands Rohrabacher has taken while serving on the House International Relations Committee.

Rohrabacher’s favored positions include early opposition to a U.S. arms embargo in Bosnia, efforts to help resolve civil conflict in Afghanistan and his criticism of India’s treatment toward Muslims in Kashmir.

Rohrabacher has also received $1,000 from the Council of Cooperation for Afghan National Organizations based in Laguna Hills. Rohrabacher has met four times with the Afghani king, Zahir Shah, and supports efforts in returning the king to power as part of stabilizing Afghanistan.

Party Strongholds

Orange County is California’s most Republican county, with 51.5% registered GOP. But Democrats have a bigger voter registration total in several other counties:

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County % Democratic 1. San Francisco 61.0 2. Alameda 59.2 3. Santa Cruz 55.2 4. Yolo 54.1 5. Los Angeles 54.1 6. Imperial 53.5 7. Sonoma 53.0 8. Solano 52.7 9. San Mateo 51.9 10. Merced 51.6

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Source: California secretary of state

Top cop out: The fierce campaign waged by Huntington Beach’s police union against three incumbent councilmen has spawned yet another controversy.

Last week, Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg protested the use of his photo on campaign mailers distributed by police union-endorsed candidate Pam Julien. The mailer has an asterisk following the chief’s name, which refers to a line at the bottom of the page: “This does not imply an endorsement of Pam Julien.” But that didn’t mollify Lowenberg, who asked Julien to stop distributing the mailer.

Julien complied, but said the only reason the chief objected was “he’s being pressured” by the city’s incumbent mayor, Dave Sullivan.

No PAC man: Laguna Niguel City Council candidate Melvin Thomas doesn’t like special interest groups. So after getting a handful of questionnaires from political action committees, he thought turnabout would be fair play.

Thomas responded by sending the special interests his own snide list of questions, such as “Do you think PACs have outlived their usefulness?”

“If they have the gall to send me an asinine questionnaire insulting my intelligence, I thought they should be able to answer some of my questions,” Thomas said. “They haven’t bothered to respond at all, but I didn’t think they would.”

Where they’ll be on election night:

* Republican Party: Westin South Coast Plaza hotel, 686 Anton Blvd. in Costa Mesa. Information: 714-556-8555

* Democratic Party: Disneyland Hotel, 1150 W. Cerritos Ave. in Anaheim. Information: 714-544-7794

* Libertarian Party: The Players Club, Town and Country Plaza, 777 S. Main St. in Orange Information: 714-540-5053

* Reform Party: Orange County Headquarters, 1950 17th St., Santa Ana Information: 714-558-7846

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.