Republican Party Orange County

Taking sharp aim at opponent Bill Clinton and vowing to "compete and fight for every vote in this country," Republican candidate Bob Dole kicked off the fall campaign Friday with a boisterous rally and a biting tone perhaps foreshadowing a fierce fight ahead. "I would say to our opponent, this is the kickoff," a tanned and exuberant Dole told several thousand supporters here in the heart of Republican California. "Our convention's over. Their convention's over. We're in very fertile ground here.

A crew of 50 was finishing the transformation late Thursday of the rodeo arena at the Orange County Fairgrounds, turning it from a setting for horse play into one for political showmanship. The Republican presidential ticket of Bob Dole and Jack Kemp, their wives and Gov. Pete Wilson will climb into the 8,000-seat horse ring this morningto respond to the acceptance speech President Clinton delivered last night before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

While much of the nation's attention is focused on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the residents who live in the million-dollar homes on a small, U-shaped street here are more interested in who's visiting next door. It's Republican vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, who is spending the week at his brother Tom's oceanfront home--motorcade included. "It's exciting.

In the Republican heartland which is Orange County, some folks were just praying Friday that charming former football star Jack Kemp might enliven the Republican ticket. "If you look at Clinton-Gore, there's nobody more bland than Gore and nobody more animated than Clinton," said Harold Ezell, the former western regional commissioner for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. "Now we've got that same combination in reverse."

Prosecutors on Friday named a top aide to Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in last year's Republican scheme to put a spoiler Democrat on the ballot in the 67th Assembly District election, according to papers filed Friday in Superior Court. Jeff Flint, deputy chief of staff to Pringle (R-Garden Grove), allegedly told a GOP aide that he would get the spoiler candidate to fraudulently sign nominating petitions, according to court documents filed Friday.

One wants to wave the flag for crime victims everywhere. Another will push her fight against illegal immigration. Some want to see the Republican Party jettison its platform plank opposing abortion. Others vow to keep it. Orange County's 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention, which begins Aug. 12 in San Diego and runs for four days, are ready to do a lot more than attend multiple social events and cheer on presumptive nominee Bob Dole.

A Superior Court judge Friday tentatively set a Sept. 16 trial date for Assemblyman Scott Baugh's chief of staff, who has been accused of voting fraud in her boss's election. Maureen Werft, Baugh's top aide, has pleaded not guilty to two felony charges that she lied on her ballot application and then voted in Baugh's district even though she did not live there.

For Assembly Republican Leader Curt Pringle of Garden Grove, it's bad enough that his beloved GOP was bested by the Democrats on election day. Now he has to pay for it. Pringle, who lost the speakership after the Democrats won an Assembly majority of 43 to 37, has been forced to send out an "emergency" fund-raising letter to recoup $450,000 in debt racked up by his Assembly Republican Victory Fund.

Few Californians have played a bigger role in turning the state Legislature to the right than two Orange County millionaires--conservative Christian Howard F. Ahmanson Jr. and his ally in politics, Senate Republican Leader Rob Hurtt. Democrats denounce their millions in campaign donations. Advocates of campaign spending limits decry the sway their money has on elections.

In sharp contrast to the views of most of their elected representatives and party leaders, a majority of Orange County Republicans support abortion rights, stricter gun control laws and stronger protections for the environment. They overwhelmingly agree with their elected officials on fiscal matters, immigration controls and the need to scale back, or eliminate, government programs such as affirmative action, welfare and bilingual education.