Argyros Still in Airport Fight; New Majority Unbowed

Answering the big questions in the wake of the primaries: Will George Argyros continue the fight for an El Toro airport given the overwhelming passage of the anti-airport Measure F? The Insider is assured, yes Who was the biggest winner in the local elections? Tom Shepard of Stoorza, Ziegaus & Metzger’s Campaign Strategies. He brilliantly spent the millions he was given by the anti-airport cities and their allies, and he managed Wal-Mart’s successful campaign for voter approval of an Argyros-developed store in Huntington Beach. So Shepard beat George on one issue, won for him on another Having soundly whipped the insurgents, will county GOP chairman Tom Fuentes follow through on a rumored retirement after the general election? Fuentes isn’t saying, nor is he expected to until his critics finish twisting in the wind from now until the fall Is Fuentes’ battle with the executive-led New Majority over? Doesn’t look that way at the moment. You might think the NM would be humiliated, having spent unprecedented amounts on central committee races, only to lose ground. Their ally New Directions group entered the fray against Fuentes with 11 of 42 seats, and finished with three fewer. Even lame duck Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer, an NM favorite, lost her bid for a seat. The Fuentes and neutral camps are scratching their heads over the NM’s flashy TV commercials that only briefly flashed central committee candidates’ names, and over colorful yard signs that referenced new leadership but not the names of candidates at all. “They looked like McCain signs,” says one sniper. By contrast, Fuentes’ lower-funded Unity 2000 distributed targeted mailers with punch-out voter guides. NM’s Tom Tucker is unfazed and unapologetic. He says his group had only 90 days to organize and learn the ropes, and gained visibility; the NM staff remains at work. He asserts NM could have bought its way to victory this time by spending $2 million, but that would have left the party no more diverse than it is now. “We would have blown out the Far Right, and that would make us no better than we think they are.” But now, “We’re gonna turn up the heat.” Tucker says $10,000 annual memberships are at 90, headed for 100. Two years from now, he says, “We’ll show up with probably $3 million.” Tucker says NM will support upset primary winners Lynn Daucher and Tom Harman in their fall Assembly races, but doesn’t know if the group will back any other local GOP candidates. A Fuentes loyalist says NM’s support for the labor-backed Harman shows the group isn’t serious about electing pro-business candidates, just social moderates: “If Gary Hunt wants to take credit for an environmental wacko like Tom Harman, let him. See if the Irvine Co. ever builds another project on the coast.” Tucker fumes over anyone questioning NM’s pro-business sentiments or party loyalty: “Our members have given over $400,000 to George Bush. We spent one hell of lot more on George Bush than on the central committee” Killer pita bread: Baked fresh, at Orchid restaurant, on Bristol Street in Costa Mesa.