South County Ready to Take a Seat in Capitol

South County would seem to have it all, from pristine beaches to booming housing tracts and blossoming industry. But it lacks one accouterment of the upwardly mobile: a home-grown representative in the Statehouse, let alone Congress.

To the consternation of some prideful residents, the high-rolling region has been served in Sacramento and Washington for years by lawmakers from adjacent San Diego County. That’s most glaring in the coastal 73rd Assembly District, where nearly two-thirds of the voters reside in southern Orange County and only a third live in northern San Diego County.

But with Bill Morrow, the current Oceanside assemblyman representing the district now running for state Senate, a fleet of Republican candidates hailing from South County are steaming toward a showdown in the 73rd. Though the general election is still more than a year away, there seems a good chance that South County might elect a representative from among its own.

“It’s important to have somebody with local experience up there in Sacramento,” said Susan Withrow, a Mission Viejo councilwoman who lives just outside the 73rd District. “South County is growing in population, it’s very educated and fairly affluent. That creates political activism. And the lack of representation in Sacramento and Washington is clearly on people’s minds.”

Laguna Niguel Mayor Patricia C. Bates is the early favorite, with her deep roots, establishment credentials and dogged service in the ongoing El Toro airport wars. But she could face a tough battle.

Jim Lacy, a Dana Point attorney who served in the Reagan and Bush administrations and is counting on support from national conservative icons such as Iran-contra figure Oliver North, could prove formidable. He’s already been littering Bates’ home turf in Laguna Niguel with campaign signs and attacking her for being too cozy with Democrats.

Meanwhile, moderate Republican Steve Apodoca, a San Clemente councilman, is pushing for the middle ground, saying he can provide nonpartisan representation focused on problem solving instead of politics.

The only potential candidate so far from San Diego County, Oceanside Councilwoman Carol McCauley, could prove a spoiler. If the South County candidates split the vote, a strong campaign by McCauley might continue the long run of success for San Diego County candidates in the 73rd District.

South County has never fared well in legislative races. In decades past, it lacked both the votes and politically powerful candidates to capture a seat.

The 1990 reapportionment appeared to have changed that. Redrawn district boundaries gave fast-growing South County the lion’s share of the votes in the Assembly district. And with the incorporation of Mission Viejo and Laguna Niguel in the late 1980s, the region was maturing and developing strong candidates.

As now drafted, the district is something of an anomaly, stretching across two counties with the major population areas separated by the sprawling Camp Pendleton Marine base. In Orange County, the district includes a portion of Mission Viejo as well as Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point and San Clemente. To the south, it is dominated by Oceanside and the northern half of fast-growing Carlsbad.

But the first test of the new boundaries proved more of the same. In 1992, Bates finished a close second to current Assemblyman Morrow, a conservative Republican. Bates actually won the vote in the Orange County portion of the district, but fared so poorly in the San Diego section--finishing fourth--that Morrow was able to prevail.

By many accounts, Morrow has served South County well. He put his main office in San Juan Capistrano and has spent much of his time there. Morrow has been able to deliver on several issues, ranging from getting extra law enforcement funding for Laguna Niguel and other cities to winning approval for a school bus safety bill spurred by the death of a South County boy hit by a pickup at a bus stop.

“I feel like I’m from south Orange County,” Morrow said. “The issues aren’t a whole heck of a lot different. My message is the same on both sides of Camp Pendleton. I feel the same on both sides.”

But he understands the South County conundrum. “I do know there was a frustration in Orange County whenever they had to dial a 619 area code to reach their representative,” Morrow said. “That’s one of the reasons I established two offices.”

Call it bragging rights or call it fair representation, some voters north of Camp Pendleton suggest it’s simply time for South County to have its turn in Sacramento.

“Bill has worked hard and this is no knock against him, but in my view whoever wins in the 73rd should come from Orange County,” said Larry Gilbert, a Mission Viejo resident and president of the conservative Saddleback Republican Assembly. “I don’t think we get the kind of representation we deserve considering how much this area has developed. It’s not the net worth, it’s just the number of people living here now.”

State Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange), who has not endorsed anyone in the race, predicts next year’s election is a lock for one of the South County candidates. He tabs Bates and Lacy as the front-runners. “They’ll divvy up the lion’s share of the vote,” Lewis said. “I’m not worried about someone from San Diego County winning that election.”

Lacy is going aggressive early. He has rounded up a solid list of endorsements from the Christian right, among them state Sen. Raymond N. Haynes (R-Riverside) and Assemblymen Steve Baldwin (R-El Cajon) and Howard Kaloogian (R-Carlsbad). Earlier this year, former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed attended a reception for him.

He also boasts a stout conservative resume. A national chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom for five years in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, Lacy also was in on the ground floor of the tax revolt led by the late Howard Jarvis.

Lacy served as general counsel for the U.S. Consumer Products Administration during the Reagan and Bush years. In 1992, he ran third in the race for Congress won by Rep. Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar). Lacy moved afterward to Dana Point and has been active in the local California Republican Assembly chapter.

He hasn’t been shy about criticizing the other candidates, particularly Bates. He suggests “she can’t be trusted to be a conservative,” noting that in running for reelection to the Laguna Niguel council in 1994 she took a $350 contribution from Orange County Democrat leader Howard Adler. He also smacks her for serving as an honorary host for a dinner held by an Orange County gay and lesbian group that often gives money to Democrats.

“From my standpoint, taking money from the leader of the Democrats is a signal that the candidate is compromised on fundamental conservative issues,” Lacy said. “And it’s just as bad to fund raise for a gay and lesbian political action committee that is little more than a front for the Democratic Party.”

It may take more than critical words to knock off Bates.

A self-described “founding mother” of the city of Laguna Niguel, she has served on its council since incorporation in December 1989 and developed strong ties throughout South County. Bates is recognized as one of the leading critics of plans for a commercial airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, a stance that resonates throughout Orange County’s southern neighborhoods.

She has won endorsements from conservative state Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine), Assemblywoman Marilyn C. Brewer (R-Newport Beach) and former state senator and Orange County supervisor Marian C. Bergeson, currently Gov. Pete Wilson’s top education advisor. Bates also enjoys support from a variety of South County lawmakers, among them Mission Viejo’s Withrow.

“Pat Bates can probably swim circles around Jim Lacy,” Withrow said. “He’s been missing in action. He doesn’t have the hands-on experience with local governance and the concern for South County residents.”

Bates, meanwhile, suggests Lacy’s critique of her conservative credentials is nonsense. “I’m accepted as a conservative Republican,” she said. “My record in government proves it.” Bates said Adler contributed to her because she is pro-business. And while she didn’t attend the gay and lesbian dinner, Bates said she lent her name to the event to honor three friends with AIDS.

She doesn’t see a repeat of the 1992 race, when eight candidates in the Republican primary split the vote and allowed Morrow to eke out a victory.

“South County wants to be a political force,” she said. “I think there will be more a focus this time on having someone who has lived here and been mentored here represent the area in Sacramento.”

But she may take an interesting route to give the region its first representative in the Capitol: She’ll spend lots of timing trying to build a base of support in the southern part of the 73rd District. “For the next year,” Bates said only partially in jest, “I’m going to live in San Diego County.”

Apodoca, meanwhile, wants to bring “some common-sense decision making” to Sacramento.

He considers himself “philosophically worlds apart” from Lacy. Apodoca predicts the race will come down to him and Bates, two local politicians with records as problem solvers.

“My intention is to go to Sacramento and be a strong voice for local government,” Apodoca said. “I think South County’s time has arrived. We recognize the importance not just of sending the right representatives to city councils and the county Board of Supervisors, but also to the Legislature.”