<i> A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County’s political life</i> : 187’s Prince a Pauper? Campaign Loan Stuck in Credit-Credibility Gap

The Perils of Prince: As the relatively unknown co-chairman for Proposition 187, the immigration initiative, Tustin accountant Ron S. Prince claimed in an interview in early August that he lent the campaign $20,000 because he believed in the cause.

Now, caught in a legal fight with his former attorney who is seeking payment for a $9,600 legal bill, Prince is claiming he didn’t make the loan.

The issue came up last week in an Orange County courtroom, where Prince’s former attorney, William Baker of Santa Ana, challenged Prince’s assertion that he has no assets. Baker argued that if Prince could lend $20,000 to the Proposition 187 campaign, then he should be able to pay his outstanding legal bill.

But Prince told the judge that the cashier’s check for the loan came from his father, Downey businessman Leland Prince, and that the campaign treasurer had incorrectly listed him as the lender. The judge ordered Prince to produce a copy of the cashier’s check.

Campaign treasurer Betty Presley said she was unaware of the error until Prince made his admission in court. The day after the hearing, Presley filed a campaign finance amendment listing Leland Prince as the lender, but she said she’s also waiting for Ron Prince’s copy of the check.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission says the law requires that both the lender and the intermediary, in this case Ron Prince, must be listed on the campaign reports and that “failure to do so could amount to the campaign laundering money.”

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High Cost of Votes: A recent memo from Democratic Assembly kingpin Willie Brown laid out the cost of registering new voters in tightly contested races. Among the most expensive was Orange County’s 69th Assembly District.

Brown’s memo said Democrats spent more than $85,000 to sign up 9,582 new voters, which translates to $9.12 a voter. The only district in the state where voter registration cost more per person was San Diego’s 80th Assembly District at $9.29. Statewide, the average was $5.95 a voter. The Democrats’ effort in the 69th should pay dividends for standard-bearer Mike Metzler, who is in a tough battle with Republican Jim Morrissey. The seat is the only state or federal office the Democrats have held in Orange County in recent memory, and the departure of Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove) to run for attorney general has left the party in a testy position.

As pricey as the registration effort was, it did increase the Democrats’ voter advantage by 4.5%, the biggest percentage jump anywhere in the state. Democrats now hold a 56.1% to 34.3% edge over Republicans.

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To Endorse or Not Endorse: After 14 years on the Capistrano Unified School District Board of Trustees, Annette B. Gude has made a lot of friends. Steeling herself for the upcoming election battle against challenger Dorsey Brause, a conservative Christian who heads the South County chapter of the California Republican Assembly, Gude collected a string of endorsements from state lawmakers she has worked with.

But last week, Gil Ferguson took back his vote of confidence.

Ferguson has known Gude for a decade and gave her his stamp of approval early in the campaign. But the Newport Beach assemblyman--who plans to run next year for the state Senate--unendorsed her after Gude issued a recent press release warning that the “religious right” was trying to take over the Capistrano district.

“I just don’t feel I should be endorsing someone who is going to rail against somebody because of their religion,” said Ferguson, whose office was flooded with complaints from Brause supporters after word of the Gude press release spread. “A person I was endorsing was doing something I thought was wrong.”

Outraged, Gude responded with another fiery press release, saying she was “disappointed” in Ferguson and repeating her concerns about the religious right’s intent “to take over (Capistrano Unified) and indeed every school board in the nation.”

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Quote of the Week: “If Mrs. Huffington were to join a nudist camp, that’s nobody’s business. You don’t punch me and you don’t punch Mrs. Huffington, not anymore.” --Sallie Dornan, wife of Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), complaining about how political wives are increasingly becoming targets of their husbands’ opponents.

Campaign Spending

Orange County’s incumbent Republican congressmen all have huge leads over their Democratic challengers in campaign finances. Money raised and spent between

Jan. 1 and Oct. 15, with cash left on hand:

Candidate Money raised Money spent Cash on hand 39th District R: Ed Royce ** $61,198 $28,201 $66,915 D: R.O. (Bob) Davis 489 108 220 41st District R: Jay C. Kim ** 125,751 119,916 37,290 D: Ed Tessier 13,066 12,796 932 45th District R: Dana Rohrabacher ** 26,644 23,621 68,494 D: Brett Williamson 16,188 25,099 1,183 46th District R: Robert K. Dornan ** 490,771 491,752 176,797 D: Mike Farber 36,214 29,416 6,882 47th District R: Christopher Cox ** 90,611 40,631 323,542 D: Gary Kingsbury 43,772 47,146 1,136 48th District R: Ron Packard ** 35,552 32,844 154,833 D: Andrei Leschick * n/a n/a n/a

* Less than $5,000

** Incumbent

Source: Federal Election Commission reports

Compiled by Times staff writer Eric Bailey, with contributions from staff writers Faye Fiore, Gebe Martinez and Jodi Wilgoren.

Politics ’94 appears every Sunday.