Orange County Elections 1995

SCOTT BAUGH Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) was indicted Friday by the Orange County Grand Jury on four felony counts of perjury, and for 18 misdemeanor violations of the Political Reform Act during his election campaign. One of the perjury charges involves Baugh's getting his former campaign treasurer, Dan Traxler, to lie about the source of a $1,000 cash donation.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday authorized the county to sue former Democratic candidate Laurie Campbell to recover the cost of reprinting election material after she was thrown off the ballot in an Assembly race last fall. A Sacramento Superior Court judge last October ousted Campbell, a spoiler candidate in the 67th District Assembly race, finding she had filed falsified nomination papers.

A judge on Thursday set a Dec. 16 trial date for two GOP political aides accused of campaign wrongdoing stemming from last year's 67th Assembly District special election. Rhonda Carmony is charged with three felonies for allegedly helping orchestrate the illegal circulation of petitions on behalf of a decoy Democratic candidate in the election. Maureen Werft faces two felonies for her alleged role in the November 1995 election.

In designing Orange County's recovery plan, the finance team selected Measure R as the centerpiece because it is the simplest, most straightforward and most comprehensive way to fill the $1.7-billion crater left by former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron's sour investments. But during months of brainstorming, county leaders and consultants also considered a variety of other financing alternatives.

The defeat of Measure R is imminent. Thus, the spin doctors are in a rush to explain to themselves--and their constituencies--how this happened. The line that is emerging seems to be: "The electorate is so angry that we couldn't reason with them. The electorate wants blood and resignations, and nothing short of a purge will satisfy them." This explanation is both false and profoundly elitist. The voters are very smart.

Orange County voters must decide June 27 whether they are willing to pay another half-cent on each dollar rung up on local cash registers, in order to escape the largest municipal bankruptcy in U. S. history. In deciding the fate of a ballot initiative dubbed Measure R, which would boost the current sales tax from 7.75% to 8.25% to raise about $130 million annually for the next 10 years, voters will effectively choose whether their county will repay its debts in full, and as quickly as possible.

Orange County Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, the only board member who has yet to announce his position on Measure R, is being criticized for not taking a stand on the issue by proponents and opponents of the proposed half-cent sales tax. Less than three weeks before the June 27 election, Stanton is considering drafting a Plan B--an alternative to the sales tax, according to other board members.

Scaling a wall of voter anger and mistrust, the Yes on Measure R campaign has spent lavishly and flooded Orange County with mail in the past month, only to keep its campaign barely competitive.

Orange County's top executive Tuesday offered his gloomiest assessment yet of the prospects for Measure R, saying he fears support for the half-cent sales tax increase is eroding even as supporters try to overcome voter outrage about the county's bankruptcy. County Chief Executive Officer William J.

A group that opposes Measure R said Wednesday that it has come up with a plan that would generate so much money it would save Orange County from bankruptcy and then have millions of dollars left over. Citizens Against the Tax Increase urged voters at a news conference to reject the half-cent sales tax increase on Tuesday's ballot and suggested alternatives that included selling assets, cutting costs and passing some city and school district taxes.