Seymour Pushes Fight Against Canyon Jail by Hosting Fund-Raiser

State Sen. John Seymour maintained his high profile in the battle against the county’s proposed Gypsum Canyon jail Saturday, holding a fund-raiser for 100 opponents of the project at his Anaheim Hills home just a few miles from the site.

Barely a week ago, Seymour was in a bitter fight on the floor of the Senate in an unsuccessful attempt to block a bill that seeks to finance the jail with a half-cent increase in Orange County’s sales tax.

Seymour (R-Anaheim) is a candidate for lieutenant governor, and the jail has recently been the hottest issue between him and his only rival in the Republican primary--state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), author of the sales tax bill.

Describes Issue as Local

Seymour said Saturday that his prominent role in the battle against the jail should not affect his statewide race because it is such a local issue that it won’t be noticed.

“Maybe it will draw a line in Orange County,” he said. “There are people . . . who may not vote for me because of this.”

But the issue does help Seymour rally the core supporters in his district for his statewide campaign. Seymour received a hearty cheer from the audience gathered around his swimming pool when he was introduced as California’s next lieutenant governor.

Seymour held the fund-raiser on behalf of a citizen’s group--Taxpayers for a Centralized Jail--that was formed in 1986 after the Board of Supervisors’ decision to build a 6,000-bed jail in Gypsum Canyon, next to Anaheim Hills and the city of Yorba Linda.

Since it was formed, the taxpayers organization has qualified an initiative for the June, 1990, ballot that would require all future jails to be built in Santa Ana. Now the group is gearing up for a threefold campaign: to support its June initiative, to attack the sales tax increase expected to be on the same ballot, and to help in a legal attack against the county’s plan.

Rick Violett, chairman of the organization, declined to say how much money the group has raised. He said about 150 people paid for tickets to the fund-raiser Saturday at $25 each.

The citizen’s group has the backing of a growing coalition of prominent North County politicians. Those attending the fund-raiser included elected officials from four cities and the mayors of Anaheim, Yorba Linda and Placentia.

Yorba Linda voted recently to join Anaheim in any legal effort to combat the environmental impact report on the jail site approved by the supervisors last month.