Countering Rohrabacher

* Regarding “Baugh Prosecution Was a Persecution,” Orange County Voices, July 26:

We now know Rep. Dana Rohrabacher embraces the sanctity of justice when it is politically expedient. Recently in The Times, Rohrabacher unleashed a blistering attack on Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael Capizzi for prosecuting Rohrabacher’s protege Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach), stemming from alleged violations of state election laws.

That Rohrabacher would engage in such a tantrum even as he assaults Democratic partisans for their wholesale assassination of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr is patently hypocritical.

Be that as it may, Rohrabacher’s scorching of Capizzi and myself was festooned with name-calling and nearly void of fact. Let’s examine the record.

Rohrabacher wishes to use Judge Francisco P. Briseno’s ruling that Baugh has been the target of unfair prosecution to imply that the charges against his protege are illegitimate. Were that the case, one would think Briseno would have dismissed the 10 felony and misdemeanor counts against Baugh. He did not.

And, it is curious Rohrabacher berated The Times for implying Baugh committed a crime by recruiting Laurie Campbell to run as a Democrat for the 67th Assembly seat. No law prohibiting that act exists. (Ethical and moral law, yes.) So Rohrabacher’s point is irrelevant save for the fact that his wife, Rhonda Carmony, and others pleaded guilty to falsifying Ms. Campbell’s campaign documents.

Nevertheless, if Rohrabacher believes the recruitment of opposing party candidates is palatable, why did Baugh deny ever knowing Ms. Campbell? At the time, his friendship with her spanned 10 years. Moreover, why did he fail to report a $1,000 contribution from Campbell’s husband? Might the electorate have smelled a rat if he had?

Baugh, a skilled attorney, has himself to blame for his legal scrape. Moreover, he was not well served by the king-making shenanigans of his mentor Rohrabacher and other political cronies who were not paying attention or looked the other way.

Mike Capizzi had a legal responsibility to pursue these charges. To do otherwise would amount to the abrogation of his duty to protect the laws of the land. Rohrabacher knows this.

Finally, Rohrabacher believes my supporters and I should be shamed for “grotesque and personal attacks on Scott.” It is not my practice to entertain shame for exposing hypocrisy and dishonesty. And to disavow knowing Laurie Campbell was dishonest. Voters had the right to know the truth before voting.

Rohrabacher and I share one common belief in all of this. There needs to be an apology. I doubt Mike Capizzi will hold his breath waiting. I know I won’t.

HAYDEE V. TILLOTSON

Huntington Beach