Corrupt Leaders Damage Their Own Party
Staff editorial

Orange County Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh hosted several get-togethers during the summer, and lots of people came. He invited political clubs and volunteers throughout the county to a series of parties in his Huntington Beach home. Following his barbeques and soirees, all was quiet. Almost no one signed up to help the county effort after Baugh had graciously allowed the masses to traipse through his house.

The organization Baugh chairs has lost its way. Instead of building the party, Baugh has surrounded himself with lobbyists and others on the take. He’s used the office to enrich and empower his cohorts – developers, contractors and quite a few wayward politicians.

The Sept. 12 OC Register documented the Republican Party’s five-year decline in Orange County. The party’s true believers are slipping away, and Baugh is a key factor. As an example in Mission Viejo, Baugh in 2004 dumped dedicated volunteers to anoint his buddy, Frank Ury, as the city chair. Ury used the position to divert unsuspecting workers into his personal campaign after they called the county office to volunteer. A few gullible residents walked their neighborhoods for Ury, carrying an illegal flyer he created for himself in his council campaign. The flyer had no ID number and no information to indicate he paid for it, as required by the Fair Political Practices Commission. Complaints to the county office – reporting Ury to Ury’s backers – went unanswered. Ury has been unable to recruit volunteers on his own, and he’s a roadblock to those wanting to help their party. Many local workers quit volunteering after being siphoned into Ury’s council campaign instead of the Republican Party.

Baugh’s loyalists on the Central Committee have a history of endorsing corrupt incumbents and unworthy newcomers. In 2006, Baugh made a big deal of announcing he’d found his own candidate, Justin McCusker, “to make sure a Republican was in the Mission Viejo council race.” McCusker joined nine other Mission Viejo Republicans running for council, and he took eighth place on Election Day. McCusker, a carpetbagger who lived in Mission Viejo for a short time, moved elsewhere after he lost. This year, Ury finagled the endorsement for another Mission Viejo council challenger, Richard Atkinson, who is unknown to residents. Atkinson was quickly caught in lies, including how long he’s lived here and his alleged claim that he’s endorsed by the California Republican Assembly. He has no such endorsement from the CRA or its local unit, Saddleback Republican Assembly, which on Sept. 18 endorsed Cathy Schlicht and Neil Lonsinger.

In order to give Atkinson the county endorsement on Sept. 15, Baugh jettisoned another city candidate, Cathy Schlicht, who appeared to have the required number of votes at the Central Committee’s endorsing meeting. Some of those doing the counting said she made it, but Baugh decreed she didn’t. He refused to allow a recount. If needed, those controlling the county endorsements create rules on the spot to disqualify any candidate they don’t wish to support.

As in 2006, Mission Viejo voters can reject the county’s meddling by sending Baugh a similar message: “NO” on Ury and “NO” on Atkinson.