Ralph Reed to Enter O.C.’s GOP Circle

Ralph Reed, the man who spent eight years fashioning the Christian Coalition into a potent political force, will inaugurate his role as a Republican political consultant with the 1998 bid by Anaheim City Councilman Bob Zemel to unseat Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

Reed’s involvement in the race is proof of the national interest in the central congressional Orange County seat, which Sanchez won in a stunning upset last year from entrenched conservative Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

It is one of eight races across the country that Reed intends to personally manage through Century Strategies, the political consulting business he’ll open next week in Atlanta.

The 46th District’s high profile in California, a critical state for Republican political hopes, plus Zemel’s conservatism and opposition to abortion, made the decision to get involved easy, Reed said during an interview last week from Virginia.

“This is a bellwether district,” he said. “If Republicans are going to make gains in ‘98, as they obviously should, they’re going to have to win back districts like the 46th. We never should have lost the seat to begin with. [And] California politically is the most important state in the country.”

Zemel, who beat out Sanchez and several other hopefuls when he was first elected to the Anaheim City Council in 1994, is the second Republican to announce interest in the seat. He joins attorney and certified public accountant Lisa Hughes, who hired New York City consultant John McLaughlin and has state Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange) as her campaign chairman.

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Superior Court Judge James P. Gray, best known for suggesting the legalization of drugs as a way to battle the nation’s drug epidemic, said he also is eyeing the GOP congressional primary.

Besides the Sanchez seat in California, the governorship is up for grabs, and Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren will be relying on a strong showing from GOP-rich Orange County to counter Democratic majorities elsewhere. Political balances in the Assembly and House delegation also will be key as attention shifts to the presidential race in 2000 and the post-2000 realignment of California’s 52 congressional, 80 Assembly and 40 state Senate districts.

Reed said he agreed to manage Zemel’s exploratory campaign pending a review by the House of Representatives of Sanchez’s election over Dornan by 984 votes. Dornan is contesting the election, contending his seat was stolen by voters who registered to vote before they legally became citizens.

Reed said he spoke recently with Dornan--a staunch House opponent of abortion and “obviously a personal friend”--about the race. If the House calls for a special election and Dornan runs, Reed said he’d reassess his involvement with Zemel.

Zemel said last week that he’d back off his race if a special election were called and Dornan ran. But as the primary election inches closer, Zemel said he wanted to establish himself in Dornan’s absence as the conservative in the race.

“I wanted to send a clear message that I’m the conservative candidate, and Ralph helps me do that,” Zemel said. “He brings quality leadership and no one knows the issues better and can put me in touch with Washington, D.C., better than he can.”

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The campaign to unseat Sanchez is expected to be one of the most contentious battles for the 106th Congress. The Republican nominee will be chosen from the state’s first-ever open-primary ballot, which will list all candidates, regardless of party.

John Shallman, Sanchez’s campaign manager in 1996, said Reed shouldn’t assume that because Dornan was elected to six terms in office from central Orange County that the district is as Republican or conservative as he thinks.

“It’s a very different animal from when Dornan was elected,” Shallman said. “Central Orange County has become a very different place.”

Sanchez’s chief of staff, Steve Jost, said Sanchez was unaware of Reed’s involvement.

“We’re ready for all comers,” he said.

Other Democrats were gleeful at news of the involvement of Reed, targeted by social liberals as a symbol of intolerant conservatism.

“The guy is a hard-core extremist,” said George Urch, a Garden Grove resident and former Assemblyman Tom Umberg’s chief of staff. “This will be a great boon for Loretta between now and June. She ought to put his name on the first line of every fund-raising letter she sends.”

Reed, 36, who stepped down as executive director of the Christian Coalition in April, brings unparalleled organizing savvy to his new job. During his tenure, the Christian Coalition’s budget grew from $200,000 in 1989 to $27 million in 1996. The group claims 1.9 million members in 2,000 local chapters; it passed out an estimated 45 million voter guides through 125,000 churches in the 1996 election season.

The segue to consulting is a natural shift for Reed, who first walked precincts for GOP candidates when he was 14. Last year, he began broadening the coalition’s message and mission beyond the hot-button issues of abortion, school prayer and gay rights. He urged the coalition--created out of televangelist Pat Robertson’s failed 1988 presidential bid--to build bridges with minority groups on compatible issues.

Some critics feared Reed was allowing compromise to creep into a political movement built on absolutes. Others acknowledged Reed’s attempt to enlarge the pro-family movement’s appeal beyond interests that struck nerves in only the most fervent voters.

The clash culminated last year when Reed was criticized for joining with GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole in a search for language on abortion less strident than the absolute ban contained in the national party platform.

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Reed said Orange County’s core represents a perfect political petri dish for his mission to push pro-family, pro-business themes to a conservative audience while reaching out to minorities, who voted heavily Democratic in 1996. The district includes 45% Democrats and 39% Republicans, with 11% declining to state a party preference. It is 50% Latino.

“I would anticipate a campaign aggressively reaching out to the broad Reagan coalition,” said Reed, who said he plans to be in Orange County once or twice a month. “This is not going to be a campaign that builds its strategy around a single organization.”

Consultant Frank Caterinicchio of Newport Beach, who initiated Zemel’s introduction to Reed, said Zemel, an employee of CKE Inc., the parent company of Carl’s Jr. chain, has strong business backing as well as support from critical grass-roots activists. Reed said he’ll tap his contacts on Zemel’s behalf, an important consideration given Hughes’ commitment to largely self-fund what will be a million-dollar race.

Orange County Democratic Party Chairwoman Jeanne Costales agreed that the 46th District, while Democratic, is conservative, but she questioned whether Reed’s brand of religious conservatism will sell well.

“I remember him being on the cover of a news magazine standing with a steeple in the background and a cell phone in his hand, like he had a direct line to God,” Costales said of Reed. “We’ll see how that plays in Orange County.”

Reed said it would be a mistake for whoever runs against Zemel to make him the issue.

“If someone makes the mistake of running against me, when I’m not the candidate, a lot of voters are going to be shaking their heads,” he said.

If Reed is made an issue, it won’t be by Hughes, she said.

“Our job is to see that we get the candidate who best represents Republican principles,” Hughes said. “That’s the real fight, and I believe I’m that person. It’s a free country. Ralph Reed can represent anyone he wants.”