Democratic Candidates Will Hold Fund-Raiser in San Juan

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — The Democrats are arriving in force to Republican-controlled Orange County on Saturday, but local GOP leaders say they aren’t worried about it.

Sending the message that no corner of the state will be ignored in their march toward the Nov. 8 general election, the Democratic Party’s candidates for statewide office will hold their first post-primary fund-raiser at the local ranch of former state party Chairman Richard O’Neill.

Among those scheduled to attend the “Fiesta de California” are Democratic gubernatorial nominee Kathleen Brown, lieutenant governor nominee Gray Davis, acting Secretary of State Tony Miller, Controller candidate Kathleen Connell, Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove), who is running for attorney general, and others on the state slate. The only major candidate who is not expected to attend is U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown also is expected to attend the statewide campaign kickoff.

Joel Maliniak, a spokesman for the California Democratic Party, said party leaders hope to raise $100,000 from the event, with half the amount pledged to voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts in central Orange County, where Democratic voter registration is highest.

The rest of the funds will go to the state party, which is expected to spend $6 million to $8 million for the fall campaign, an increase over the $2 million spent in 1990.

“We are bringing the statewide team right into the belly of the beast,” Maliniak said. “There’s a significant opportunity there (in Orange County), and we are trying to show a unified support for the strong Democratic team we have.”

The Democratic registration for the June 7 primary was 34.4% of all county voters--about 18 points below the Republican registration of 52.3%.

While the Democrats do not expect to become the dominant party in Orange County in one campaign season, Maliniak said party leaders hope to make enough gains to cut into the 2-to-1 vote ratio that statewide GOP candidates count on in Orange County to offset Democratic Party strongholds in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Bill Christiansen, the local GOP director, claimed the Democratic Party fund-raiser will only help the GOP cause because “it makes our volunteers that much more active.”

Christiansen said local GOP activists will be staffing tables at malls, grocery stores and swap meets this weekend to step up their own voter registration drive and “show the Republican presence” in Orange County.