Scott Baugh: GOP Peacemaker, Likely Fuentes Successor

Gazing into the crystal ball: Tom Fuentes is almost certain to survive any challenge to his chairmanship of the OC GOP’s central committee, despite the big bucks that could be thrown against him by the corporate-executive-fueled New Majority. But the Insider sees Fuentes’ retiring after this election cycle, and being replaced with someone who would be acceptable to both the Fuentes crew and the New Majority/New Directions crowd. And the Insider thinks it knows who that person will be: Scott Baugh, Assembly minority leader and Fuentes loyalist, who will be available after December, when he gets term-limited out. Indeed, the Insider has learned that Baugh has been playing a behind-the-scenes peacemaker role between the warring factions. While Baugh has publicly defended Fuentes, he also has been making overtures to the insurgents. Part of Baugh’s pitch to the New Majority is that his campaign to win state Assembly seats through “profiling”,running candidates who fit the demographics in 15 swing districts,dovetails with the New Majority’s goal of socially moderating the GOP; Baugh says several of the candidates he’s recruited are pro-choice and/or pro-gun-control, and all are pro-business. Says Baugh, “I’m hopeful that all Republicans will turn their eyes to fighting Democrats in the fall” (Editor RR editorializes, page 58) Was there any attempt to head off this GOP showdown? Sort of. Last month, weeks after the Insider broke the story of the New Majority’s formation, Fuentes and Fullerton Assemblyman Dick Ackerman sat down at Antonello Ristorante with New Majority organizers Mark Chapin Johnson and Tom Tucker. It didn’t go well. The Insider hears that Fuentes was put off that Tucker didn’t know who Ackerman was, and thought his guests were trying to intimidate him with their dollar-power. He spent much of the 90-minute meal lecturing Tucker, an accomplished investor and civic leader, on politics. The men went their separate ways, and next thing you know, Tucker’s group had raised more than half a million toward unseating Fuentes Who says Dick Sim’s past his prime? The erstwhile Villanova U sharpshooter and Irvine Co. honcho canned eight of nine free-throws in front of a halftime crowd of 3,500 to lead his squad (weighted down with 1-for-4 bricklayer Editor RR) to victory in the UCI Chief Executive Roundtable shootout. The event raised about $90,000 for athletic scholarships OC lawyer Roger Tefft’s labor of love,nature photographs from around the world, snapped at the dawn of the new millennium,are on display at www.daybreak2000.com Coming to OC: John Sculley, former Apple and Pepsi boss, March 15 as featured speaker at Chapman U’s Economic Forum. ($200 a plate for CU scholarships, call (714) 744-7886); Florida Guv Jed Bush, at Pelican Hill G.C. Feb. 4, stumping for his brother, George W.; Maureen Reagan, at the Four Seasons in Newport Beach Feb. 5, being honored at the Alzheimer’s Association’s gala (tickets are $200; call (714) 283-1111).