Taking Stock

In the last two weeks, the two major political parties named their Orange County chairmen as each seeks to move forward from the busy political year 1996. While local party chairmen vary in influence and leadership style, each ultimately represents the face the party presents to the electorate. The county will be well served by a vigorous and imaginative presentation of ideas and by renewed efforts by party organizations to increase voter interest and participation.

The “new” chairmen are no newcomers at all. Thomas A. Fuentes was elected to an unprecedented seventh consecutive term as chairman of the county Republican Party. Jeanne Costales of the Democrats is a veteran in her own right, having been a party vice chairwoman.

The Republican organization retains a vast registration advantage and has remained dominant in elective office locally. However, the new participation of Latino voters evident in the Sanchez race suggests that there is a battleground ahead as the parties vie for the hearts and minds of voters.

Recent election cycles have brought some political surprises locally, such as the defection of some Republicans in 1992 to Bill Clinton and the defeat last November of longtime incumbent Republican Robert K. Dornan in the 46th Congressional District by newcomer Loretta Sanchez, a Democrat. Local Republicans gave the state, briefly, a young Assembly speaker, Curt Pringle of Garden Grove.

While the stakes on the larger stage are high, party infighting has distracted both organizations recently. The Democrats battled over former Chairman Jim Toledano’s handling of a campaign contribution, a fight in which Costales was involved. Fuentes’ skirmishes with former Assemblyman Gil Ferguson and William A. Dougherty of Villa Park, a former Marine colonel, received attention.

The parties will be conducting their business in a new national atmosphere of minimal government initiatives. Important decisions such as welfare policy are shifting to the state arenas, closer to the provinces of the local parties. In the quiet after the storm of a major election year, the selection of the local chairmen is an occasion for the parties to take stock of how well they are serving the voters.