Republicans look toward party’s future

Alicia Robinson

Whether they loved him or hated him, most Newport-Mesa Republicans

seemed to welcome an announcement this week from Orange County

Republican Party Chairman Tom Fuentes that he will retire next month

after 20 years at the party’s helm.

“I think it’s good,” said county Treasurer and Tax Collector John

Moorlach, whom Fuentes helped run for office in 1994. “You don’t want

to be in there forever. That isn’t healthy for an organization.”

Fuentes said as party chairman, he encouraged people to join the

party regardless of economic or social status, and not everyone liked

that. Others found him too conservative, he said.

Despite some controversy, he said, “we were very successful in

achieving the election of our Republican nominees, and that’s why we

call ourselves America’s most Republican county.”

Compared to the average tenure for a county Republican Party

chairman in California of two and a half years, Fuentes certainly had

stamina. He said he’d wanted to retire for several years, and now

that he had recruited Scott Baugh as a successor, he was ready.

Baugh, an attorney and a former 67th District assemblyman, has

served on the party’s central committee since January. Committee

members are expected to vote on a new chairman next month, and Baugh

is widely seen as Fuentes’ heir apparent.

Supporters said Fuentes, who announced his departure on Monday

night, had been an effective leader, helping to increase party

membership and devoting himself tirelessly to the party.

“People think that this county is dominated by Republicans just by

accident,” said 70th District Assemblyman John Campbell, who won the

GOP primary this month to replace state Sen. Ross Johnson. “A lot of

what Tom Fuentes did over the last 20 years, he deserves a lot of

credit for that.”

But his leadership didn’t suit some Republicans, who said Fuentes

exerted too much control over who ran for office and disenfranchised

some elements of the party.

“I think the Republican Party itself is broader than Tom’s

ideological comfort zone was,” said Tracy Price, president of the

Lincoln Club, a Republican activist group.

Gil Ferguson, who was 70th District assemblyman from 1984 to 1994,

said that for years, Fuentes and his supporters basically chose who

would run for office and discouraged other people from seeking

election.

“It’s not a place for people who really want to work for the party

or direct the party as long as people like Fuentes run it,” he said.

If Baugh is chosen as Fuentes’ successor, he’ll be in a good

position to do the fence-mending necessary to reunite various

elements of the party, said Republican Assembly candidate Chuck

DeVore, who will seek Campbell’s seat in November. Moorlach said he

expects Fuentes to remain a guiding influence for the party even

after he no longer leads it.

Ferguson said Fuentes’ departure wouldn’t make a significant

change in the party because he had handpicked a successor. However,

Ferguson said, the New Majority, a more moderate organization, would

hold more sway with Fuentes gone.

Some voters want the party to change with the times and become

more socially liberal, Newport Beach Republican Dick Spurzem said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a better example of where Orange County

Republicans stand today, he said.

“I’m glad [Fuentes is] out,” Spurzem said. “The Republican Party,

in my opinion, in Orange County has got to get more in the middle of

the road on social issues or else they’re never going to win.”