Odd Public Alliances on the Political Front

Democratic attorney Wylie A. Aitken and Republican Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Rackauckas Jr. wouldn’t appear to be natural allies.

An activist Democrat, Aitken is one of the architects of the stunning election defeat last year of longtime GOP Rep. Robert K. Dornan. Rackauckas took a leave of absence from the district attorney’s office in 1986 to work toward recalling then-Chief Justice Elizabeth “Rose” Bird, a Democratic appointee ultimately removed from office.

Now it’s Rackauckas running for office, the nonpartisan post of district attorney, boosted by an early endorsement from California Republican Party Chairman Michael Schroeder. Newly prominent on his endorsement list: Aitken.

Political alliances among Republicans and Democrats to back GOP candidates for nonpartisan offices have happened before in Orange County. What’s new in the emerging campaigns of Rackauckas and sheriff candidate Michael S. Carona is how public the bedfellows have become in this heavily Republican county.

The galvanizing theme appears to be dissatisfaction with the status quo, represented by 24-year Sheriff Brad Gates and Assistant Dist. Atty. Brent Romney, a longtime prosecutor expected to assume the office mantle from Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi, a candidate for attorney general.

Both Gates and Capizzi have taken hits from Democrats who believe they have become too entrenched in the job. In the past year, Republican conservatives joined in, angry with Gates for backing a failed bankruptcy bailout sales tax hike and with Capizzi for indicting a GOP assemblyman and two campaign aides for election-law violations.

While their challengers’ support groups don’t necessarily overlap, the issues do.

“The issues voters tend to look for in races like D.A. and sheriff tend not to be ideological and lend themselves to bipartisan appeal,” said Schroeder, who foresees an admittedly uphill campaign for Carona to dislodge Gates. “It’s magnified this time by a widespread perception of the politicization of particularly the D.A.’s office.”

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Republican candidates for nonpartisan offices in Orange County haven’t often needed backing from both parties. The races traditionally have been safe affairs, with successors chosen by midterm appointments who then run as incumbents in a cleared field. Open seats, like in the D.A.’s race, are rare; rarer still are well-stocked challengers able to muster the money and endorsements to take on entrenched incumbents.

With open seats or close races, bipartisanship becomes essential, such as when Democrats weighed in last year for the election of Supervisor Todd Spitzer, a Republican, over Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) and when Republican women helped make a difference in helping Democrat Loretta Sanchez beat Dornan.

“If the Republican establishment closes ranks behind someone, they don’t need Democrats,” conceded George Urch, county election strategist to former Assemblyman Tom Umberg. “If they’re split, they look to the middle of the Democratic Party. What Republicans don’t like to admit is that they can get beat in close races without Democratic votes.”

Besides Aitken, who represented former County Supervisor Roger R. Stanton against misconduct charges brought by Capizzi that were later dismissed, Rackauckas has picked up support from Democrats such as attorney Allan H. Stokke, who is defending Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) against indictments stemming from Baugh’s 1995 election. Umberg, though he’s not endorsing, nonetheless has high praise for Rackauckas’ “intelligence and independence.”

Carona has the tougher job of the two in his expected battle against Gates, who hasn’t said officially if he’ll run for reelection. One of the state’s highest-profile law enforcement officials, Gates has powerful allies in Gov. Pete Wilson and the Irvine Co., plus support from Democratic leaders like former party Chairman Howard Adler and Aitken.

Running Carona’s campaign is state Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange), a longtime influential GOP strategist. Lewis chose the campaign as his first paid assignment toward an intended career of becoming a full-time political consultant after 2000.

Joining conservatives on Carona’s endorsement list like Dale Dykema, chairman of the GOP Lincoln Club of Orange County, and most of the county’s legislative delegation, is Amin David, a Democrat and Latino activist who heads Los Amigos de Orange County.

David, who has never backed a Republican in a partisan race, said the overriding factor was Carona’s “outstanding qualifications” for the job.

“It had to be something for me to get on board with John Lewis,” he said with a laugh.

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The Sanchez win seems to have bolstered Democrats, who have rarely tasted victory in GOP-rich Orange County, said John J. Pitney, government professor at Claremont McKenna College.

“Now they have a notch on their revolver [with Sanchez’s election] and they’re looking forward to additional victories, so they don’t have to worry about morale,” Pitney said. “Being high profile also deprives Republicans of exclusive bragging rights in nonpartisan victories.”

The county’s homogenous power structure often makes cooperation easier, particularly when the desires of business-minded Republicans and Democrats converge, UC Irvine political science professor Mark P. Petracca said. Gates is a classic example--a Republican who supports asking voters to invest in public infrastructure that benefits county businesses, he said.

“You could argue that there isn’t much difference between the Republican Party and some of our more notable Democrats,” said Petracca, a liberal Democrat often at odds with party leadership. “It’s kind of a faux coalition, rather than ideologues putting down their differences for the common good.”

Adler said bipartisan cooperation still has its limits in Orange County.

“Conservative Democrats just cannot get support over a moderate Republican [from GOP voters],” he said. “Conservative Republicans will never support a Democratic candidate, no matter how conservative they are. It’s not a quid pro quo yet. It’s only a quid.”