Argyros to Lead GOP Fund-Raising Effort

The California Republican Party, seeking to climb out of debt, has appointed multimillionaire Orange County businessman George L. Argyros to oversee a special fund-raising effort to get out the GOP vote next year.

Argyros will be chairman of Victory 2000, dedicated to registering Republicans and ensuring they vote, party officials said Wednesday.

In last year’s election, Republican turnout slumped to 57.6%, the lowest rate for a gubernatorial contest in at least 84 years.

Argyros, who parlayed the millions he earned as a real estate developer into millions more as an investor and businessman, has strong ties to Republican political donors. He has hosted fund-raisers for candidates including one for Rep. Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs) last year.

He is chairman of Chapman University in Orange and of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation in Yorba Linda. He also was part owner of the AirCal airline company and owned the Seattle Mariners baseball team, selling them both in the 1980s.

More recently, he was chairman of Apria Healthcare in Costa Mesa and is the major private donor supporting plans for a commercial airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The Republican Party also hopes that a fund-raiser this month by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush will raise more than $1 million and help pull the party out of the red.

The party listed $414,818 in debt as of June 30, according to an Associated Press review of reports the parties must file with the secretary of state’s office and the Federal Election Commission for the first half of 1999.

That was far more than the $262,137 the state GOP had in the bank. The party also borrowed $300,000 to pay bills left over from the 1998 elections.

Stuart DeVeaux, a party spokesman, said the state GOP plans to raise $18 million in the 2000 election cycle.