Democratic Leader Toledano Avoids Ouster

Jim Toledano, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, narrowly fought off an attempt to oust him Monday night by a faction of local party leaders angry over his handling of a $10,000 campaign contribution.

Toledano, 52, an Irvine attorney who has been party chairman for 17 months, retained his seat by only four votes. Thirty-four members of the Democratic Central Committee voted to oust him and 22 to retain him. A two-thirds vote (38) was required under party rules for his ouster.

“This was a big mess,” said committee member Jonathan Wolf-Willis, who voted against Toledano. “It shouldn’t have happened in the first place. I think Jim could have done a real class act: He could have helped us move on by tendering his resignation. . . . Nobody in this room has the right to accept [$10,000] and open up a secret bank account.”

But Toledano’s supporters argued that he had acknowledged his mistake in using the $10,000 to distribute an unauthorized, last-minute campaign mailer and that party unity was more important.

“Nobody benefits from Democrats fighting Democrats except Republicans,” Toledano said. “I would hope that when this is over we can join ranks.”

Toledano, who lives in Costa Mesa, has been under fire by many Democratic leaders since details of the campaign mailer emerged after the March 26 primary. The mailer urged voters in central Orange County to support Jim Prince, who was running for Congress, and Assembly candidate Lou Correa. Prince finished third and Correa ran unopposed.

The mailer was financed by a $10,000 check signed by Paul LaPrade of Paradise Valley, Ariz., whose wife is Prince’s sister, Debra Lee LaPrade.

The anti-Toledano camp argued that he had not received authority to accept or spend funds on the party’s behalf, a direct violation of the bylaws. The donation also might have violated campaign finance laws because the LaPrades already had reached their contribution limits on the Prince campaign. No official complaint has been filed with the Federal Election Commission, which investigates only upon complaint.

Toledano acknowledged that he accepted the check, deposited it in an Irvine bank in early March in the name of the central committee, and then spent it on the mailer without informing or consulting other party officials.

But he has maintained that he did not know LaPrade was Prince’s sister and that he saw this as a chance “to do something proactive” in the final days of the campaign.

But the circumstances surrounding the mailer touched off an uproar that divided the party into two camps, one group backing Toledano and another irate at his actions.

At an emergency meeting of the party’s executive committee on April 2, Toledano received a no-confidence vote, and David Levy, the party treasurer, resigned in protest of Toledano’s actions.

“That was the redwood that broke the camel’s back,” said R.O. Davis, 59, of Buena Park, a candidate for Congress in the 39th District who sought Toledano’s ouster. “We don’t know what the guy will do next. We need to clear the decks and get ready for the next election.”

Fredric D. Woocher, an attorney hired by the executive committee to investigate the mailer, advised the committee to officially repudiate Toledano.

Others, however, suggested he was guilty only of what other party leaders had done routinely in past elections, and that the arguing was detracting from their real mission of electing Democrats in November.

“Jim Toledano over many years has given time, energy and money in what he believed were the best interests of the party,” said four committee members in a letter distributed to the party leadership.

The letter, signed by Maureen Moore Drucker, F.J. Kapach and Chauncey and Sally Alexander, a congressional candidate, asked all the members “to put party loyalty before any subjective or personal concerns. We do not need to be our own worst enemy in the battle to reelect President Bill Clinton and other Orange County Democratic nominees.”

Toledano is a former chairman of the Democratic Associates, a party fund-raising and support group. He also has run unsuccessfully for the Assembly three times.

Toledano had been the focus of criticism from local party leaders late last year when Democrats did not field a candidate in the upcoming race for Assembly in the 72nd District in North County. Dick Ackerman (R-Fullerton), a freshman legislator, is running unopposed in November.