OC Republican Party names new leader

Alicia Robinson

The torch was officially passed to a new chairman of the Orange

County Republican Party Monday.

After a reception to honor outgoing Orange County GOP Chairman Tom

Fuentes, the county Republican Central Committee elected attorney and

former Assemblyman Scott Baugh as the new party chairman.

Baugh, 41, served in the Assembly from 1995 to 2000 and has been

in the county party’s central committee since January.

“I love politics through and through and it’s an opportunity to

engage in a challenge that I thoroughly enjoy,” Baugh said.

After heading the Orange County GOP for 20 years, Fuentes

announced last month that he would yield the chairman’s seat. A

sometimes controversial figure, Fuentes is considered a tireless

promoter of the party and a strong leader by his supporters, while

critics see him as a Republican kingmaker whose far-right

conservatism excluded some party members.

Baugh will actively take the party’s reins later this week.

“This Thursday I’ll announce a transition committee of folks that

are going to bring forward every idea under the sun for integration

into our political plan,” Baugh said.

The committee should help him adjust to his new role, and his

biggest job will be to revitalize Republican voter registration and

turnout in time for the November election, Baugh said.

Party membership peaked in the 1980s when it surpassed 50% of the

county’s registered voters, but it has since dropped to 48.6%, he

said.

“Our goal is to move it back over 50% again,” he said.

The party under Baugh is expected to be more welcoming to all

points in the Republican spectrum. Observers on Monday night agreed

that Baugh will be a unifying force in Orange County Republican

politics.

“Scott Baugh is a very dynamic, all-inclusive and forward-thinking

party leader who will take advantage of all the assets that the party

membership has to offer,” said Van Tran, the Republican candidate for

the 68th Assembly District seat that Ken Maddox will leave at the end

of the year because of term limits.

Orange County will be instrumental in getting out the Republican

vote to try to win California for President Bush, and Baugh’s

leadership will help with that, said Lee Frodsham of Lake Forest.

“I think that it’s very positive that we will possibly be able to

have a better coalition between the various parts of the Republican

Party in Orange County,” she said.

Baugh said the November election will be the first benchmark to

measure how he’s doing, but to some extent it will depend on what

happens at the national level.

“It’s going to be close and a lot of it is out of party politics’

hands, and that’s the economy and the war,” said Michael Simons,

president of the Huntington Beach Union High School District.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.