Ferguson Asks State to Declare Johnson’s Assembly Seat Open

State Senate hopeful and former Assemblyman Gil Ferguson, who has accused Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-Placentia) of abandoning his district to run for the same Senate seat, on Wednesday asked the secretary of state’s office to declare Johnson’s seat vacant.

With a March 14 special election date looming, Ferguson said he sent a letter to Secretary of State Bill Jones stating that Johnson’s recent move from his 72nd Assembly District to an Irvine condominium needs immediate action because it presents an “intolerable and unconstitutional situation.”

Johnson referred to Ferguson’s demand as “a stunt,” and said it was indicative of Ferguson’s campaign, “which is falling apart.”

“And, let me make the point that Ferguson himself moved to a rented apartment once in a different district,” Johnson said. “So, when he wanted to be the state senator of a district that included Brea and Placentia in 1990, he didn’t think of it as the dark side of the moon.”

Ferguson, in a news release on Wednesday, said, “There have been other carpetbaggers, candidates moving into an area just to run for office. But they didn’t violate our state Constitution. They didn’t abandon citizens while claiming to represent them.”

Ferguson’s letter demands that Jones remove Johnson from office.

But a spokeswoman for Jones’ office said the agency lacks the power.

“It’s not within the authority of the secretary of state’s office to remove a lawfully elected and seated member of the Legislature, which Ross Johnson is,” said Beth Miller.

Ferguson, Johnson and Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) are among the candidates in a large field for the 35th state Senate District, which was held by Marian Bergeson until her election to the Board of Supervisors.

Although Ferguson contended that Johnson had set a “dangerous precedent,” a spokesman from state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren’s office said that any decision to declare Johnson’s Assembly seat vacant or remove him was up to legislators.

Ferguson said he has informed Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, and that Brown has not acted on the request.

“This is not a technical or minor issue,” Ferguson said. “The people of (Johnson’s) old district are effectively being denied a representative two months after they reelected him. He took an oath that he would faithfully serve them as the law requires.”

Johnson countered that Ferguson was getting desperate.

Ferguson’s “campaign is falling apart, and this basically is a stunt,” Johnson said. “Ferguson is clearly trying to divert attention away from the fact that he disgraced himself when he told Horcher to cast a key vote that helped Willie Brown remain in power as speaker.” (Johnson was referring to Assemblyman Paul Horcher of Diamond Bar, who was reelected a a Republican but declared his independence when the Legislature reconvened.)

There have been similar situations during reapportionment in which legislators have retained elected position while seeking election in a different race, Johnson said. He noted that he has been a “lifelong Orange County resident” and said he found it ironic that Ferguson was calling him a carpetbagger when Ferguson moved into a different district to run for a state Senate seat in 1990.

At the time, Ferguson was an assemblyman living in Newport Beach who then moved to Laguna Beach to run for the state Senate in a special election eventually won by Frank Hill (R-Whittier), who has since resigned.

Allen, who remained out of Wednesday’s fracas, said she thought both men were misguided.

“We know Gil is angry because of the Horcher thing and Willie Brown,” Allen said. “And that Ross is mad because of the carpetbagger thing. Probably both are right, but they have gone too far with their allegations.”

“Asking the secretary of state to remove Johnson is so foolhardy from the standpoint of the (Republican) Party,” she said.

The 35th Senate District stretches along the north coast of the county and includes Anaheim, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Laguna Beach, parts of Lake Forest, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin and Westminster.

Other candidates for the 35th District are Robert Rupor, a Newport Beach eye surgeon; Dan Worthington, a member of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District board of directors; Long Pham, who ran unsuccessfully last year for a seat on the Newport Beach City Council; Madelene Arakellan, a Newport Beach businesswoman and Mike Palitz, a Corona del Mar entrepreneur.