A Mayor Keeps It Clean After Rival’s Indicted

Some who run for public office prefer an idealistic approach: Talk about the issues and hope whomever you’re running against does the same. May the better high-road candidate win.

Not me. I’d want my opponent caught in the sack with the town’s most famous stripper. Or arrested for stealing at the mall. Or filing for bankruptcy.

I’d want a slam-dunk where I barely had to campaign at all. Then I could enjoy the political camaraderie at one of the hotel gatherings on election night without sweating out results.

Which brings me to Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr. Publicly, he’s saying all the right things about the legal troubles of his November challenger, Councilman Ted R. Moreno. Moreno faces a 24-count federal indictment, accused of a variety of political misdeeds. Let’s not judge him before his trial, Pulido wisely cautions.

But privately, Pulido has got to be dancing in the aisles. Who better to have kicked around by the FBI than the political campaign opponent bent on calling you nasty names?

Hey, the mayor never liked Moreno anyway. Moreno, 31, is seen by the council majority as a young upstart who loves to bicker with others. He’s the only council candidate I’ve seen accused of “hockey checking” a fellow council member during a meeting break. City Clerk Janice C. Guy earlier this year said Moreno’s behavior worried her so she wanted a police escort to her car. About the only person who has consistently voted with Moreno on the seven-member body has been Councilman Tony Espinoza. And he got indicted too.

You won’t get Mayor Pulido to confess any private glee over Moreno’s legal troubles, however. He’s read the entirety of the indictments, handed down last week.

“If it turns out that it’s all true, it’s a very sad thing for our city,” Pulido said.

Moreno is accused of trying to extort money from two businessmen with issues before the council, laundering campaign funds and filing false campaign statements. Moreno’s efforts, prosecutors say, were part of a failed attempt to gain control of the council with his own slate of candidates in 1996. (Two others on his slate besides Espinoza have also been indicted.) Moreno and Espinoza have pleaded not guilty.

Actually, Pulido hasn’t had much time to revel in his opponent’s turmoil. A piece of city business worth $400,000 was about to get zapped last week by a legislative committee in Sacramento. It was much-needed funding for the city’s new joint venture with UC Irvine, an art and visual education program to be placed at the old YMCA. It took a week of efforts by the mayor, the city administration, and the city’s lobbyist to get the $400,000 reinstated.

“The business of the city goes on,” Pulido said. “Frankly, we don’t have time for distractions like this [the Moreno-Espinoza indictments].”

Speaking of city business, the Santa Ana City Council goes into session at 6 p.m. Tuesday for the first time since the indictments.

Now, won’t that be an interesting gathering?

It’s standard for each council member to take a turn saying what he or she has been up to since the last meeting. You have to wonder what remarks Moreno and Espinoza have prepared. It brings to mind Pee-wee Herman showing up at the MTV Awards once, after his own arrest, and asking the crowd, “Heard any good jokes lately?”

For his part, Mayor Pulido says he does not intend to say a word at the council meeting about the indictments.

“In fact, I think we’ll work extra hard to try to stick to the regular agenda,” he said. “We don’t want to see the meeting get too far off track.”

He has in mind the public participation portion of the meeting. Numerous Moreno supporters are likely to show up, and we can expect to hear from some of them.

Moreno himself has declined to talk with me about either his legal troubles or his campaign for mayor. His attorney, Edward Munoz, has hinted that Moreno may actually drop out of the race so he can concentrate on the federal charges against him.

Technically, Moreno can’t drop out. The county registrar’s office says his name will be on the ballot as Pulido’s opponent no matter what happens. All he can do is become a passive candidate.

But if Moreno remains serious about the mayor’s race, it might be a mistake for him to think the average voter is going to overlook that he’s under indictment. History says otherwise.

During my first Orange County political season in 1980, Supervisor Phil Anthony had been charged with campaign violations and eventually pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count after the November election. Anthony didn’t appear worried that voters would hold the pending charges against him. He was running against a Cal State Long Beach professor who had little name recognition and hardly any campaign money. And none of the political pundits were giving Anthony’s challenger any chance of unseating him.

That little-known college professor was Roger R. Stanton, who whipped Anthony pretty good--and ended the supervisor’s political career. Stanton didn’t do it by the high road either. He howled at every public appearance about Anthony’s legal problems.

Mayor Pulido says he has no plans to run that kind of campaign. But Moreno has to know it’s there, if Pulido ever needs it.

“Let’s just let this thing play its course,” Pulido said.

That’s the high road the mayor expects to travel right into Tuesday’s council meeting. But if Pulido slips in a smile or two during the session, Moreno had better know those smiles are directed at him. Their hidden message: “So, Ted, how’s the campaign going?”

Guilty or innocent, Moreno had better figure this just isn’t his year for political success.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com