GOP Mends Fences; Baugh Back in Post

Orange County lawmaker Scott Baugh has rejoined the Assembly GOP leadership after a 4 1/2-hour caucus session that defused a potential challenge to Republican Assembly leader Rod Pacheco.

After the lengthy meeting Tuesday, Baugh and Pacheco said differences between the two factions of the caucus have been resolved.

“We’re unified, and that’s the story,” Pacheco said.

Baugh resigned Friday as an assistant Assembly minority leader and said he was involved in an attempt to oust Pacheco on Monday, just two months into the current legislative session.

Pacheco was chosen caucus leader in November when Assemblyman Bill Leonard of San Bernardino resigned after the poor GOP showing in Assembly election races.

Party insiders said the caucus conflict centered on Pacheco’s rough-edged leadership style and his perceived lack of teamwork on fund-raising issues. They said Baugh and others were pushing Assemblyman Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) for the job.

Ashburn would not say whether he had sought to replace Pacheco.

After Tuesday’s meeting, Baugh said the problems had been aired and he was back on the leadership team.

Although no vote of confidence on Pacheco was taken, sources said the caucus was almost evenly divided on whether he should remain as minority leader.

During the session and afterward to reporters, Pacheco apologized for calling fellow GOP Assembly members “the Three Stooges” in an interview with the New York Times published Monday.

The quote referred to three Assembly members who staged a rally for Texas Gov. George W. Bush at the state GOP convention in Sacramento over the weekend.

“I shouldn’t have made that comment,’ Pacheco said. “It was wrong.”