Judge Bids for Appeals Court Seat : Judiciary: Gary L. Taylor, already a candidate for a federal judgeship, now seeks appointment to state appellate post.

SANTA ANA —  With his bid for a federal judgeship stalled by a political standoff in Washington, Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary L. Taylor has entered the competition for a seat on the state appeals court.

Taylor confirmed that he is a candidate for a vacancy on the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana. Taylor, 51, is also Republican Sen. Pete Wilson’s choice to become a federal judge in Santa Ana’s U.S. District Court, but President Bush has not made a nomination for that post yet.

Taylor said he entered the state fray at the request of Gov. George Deukmejian’s judicial appointments secretary, Terrance Flanigan, who called Taylor last week and asked if he would allow his name to be submitted even though his nomination for the federal bench was pending in Washington.

“This wasn’t initiated by me at all,” Taylor said. “I just responded to a request. When the governor’s office calls, what are you going to say?”

Taylor said he would be “honored” to have either job. He said he first applied for the 4th District Court of Appeal two years ago, but that slot, a newly created fifth seat on the court, went to Henry T. Moore Jr.

The vacancy on the 4th District Court of Appeal, which becomes effective April 1, was created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Harmon G. Scoville. Susan Trowbridge, Deukmejian’s assistant press secretary, said the governor hopes to make that appointment as soon as possible. But a committee of the State Bar of California must evaluate the candidates, a process that could take up to three months.

Wilson recommended Taylor for the federal post Nov. 29, but his nomination, and action on a host of other judicial candidates, has languished amid a dispute between Bush and Senate Republicans.

The senator of the President’s party gets to recommend to the President a candidate for any federal judicial vacancy in his home state. Traditionally senators have recommended one person, but Bush is insisting that senators submit three candidates’ names for each vacancy on the federal bench. The senators have balked, offended by what they view as an intrusion into their realm of power and discretion.

Taylor said he informed Wilson that he was also being considered for the state appeals court. Wilson declined to comment on Taylor’s double candidacy. But his press secretary, Lynda Schuler, said it reflects Taylor’s outstanding qualifications.

“When someone is considered a real piece of talent, sometimes you can get the state and the federal (systems) competing for them,” she said.

Schuler said it is not unusual for the nomination and confirmation of a federal judicial candidate to take several months. But usually, she said, it is because of the Senate Judiciary Committee, not an impasse between Senate Republicans and the President.

The state appeals court post carries an annual salary of $107,964. Under a pay raise package approved by Congress last November, the federal judgeship now pays $96,600 and will jump to $120,800 in January, 1991.

The 4th District Court of Appeal post is a sought-after one and the field of applicants draws heavily on Orange County Superior Court. One judge jokingly said that “half” the judges in that court are applying for the spot. Among the applicants are Superior Court Judges William F. Rylaarsdam, David G. Sills and William F. McDonald.