Scott Baugh Joins GOP Hypocrites

Steven Greenhut: Orange County Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh has gained much well-deserved publicity for his “Manifesto” declaring that the party will not support candidates who take union support. But Baugh has turned his back on his manifesto, as epitomized by his headlining role at a fund-raiser for Orange County supervisorial candidate Todd Spitzer, the former assemblyman and supervisor who is so closely aligned with the public sector unions, especially police and fire, that it’s fair to say that Spitzer represented them more so than the general public. I always referred to him as Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Unions, rather than R-Orange, as is customary.

Spitzer tripped all over himself to offer the retroactive “3 percent at 50” retirement boost for public employees, and he defended that all the way up to the point that it started to hurt his career. Now he claims to have seen the light, but as soon as the pendulum swings in the other direction, you know where the union mouthpiece Spitzer will be. I talked to Baugh, who said that Spitzer has complied fully with his manifesto by refusing to take union money. But Spitzer has built a career on union money. Baugh’s distinction is a mere technicality given that Spitzer has spent his entire career doing the bidding of the unions. To trust him now is ridiculous. It makes a mockery of everything Baugh claims to stand for. If Barack Obama distanced himself from his health-care plan during the campaign as a way to mute criticism, I assume that would be good enough for Baugh and Co. also.

No doubt, Baugh’s action is as much a slap in the face of the highly flawed candidate running against him — Deborah Pauly, who has been vocal in her criticism of Baugh. Pauly’s vile comments here are another reason one might reasonably not want to support her. And a lot of blame lies with former Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who moved to Texas in the middle of the race. He needed a job. Fine, but it is really wrong to enter a political race without seeing it through to the end given that his entry chased out other good candidates.

Pauly has little chance of winning, which no doubt explains why the entire Republican establishment is lining up behind the sure winner, Spitzer. But what does that say about principle? Spitzer stands against many things Republicans claim to stand for. He is an advocate of big government,  a friend of unions, a supporter of the most irresponsible fiscal policies and a shameless publicity hound at that. As a libertarian, I find his use of the most egregious law-and-order language to be offensive.

I guess it’s just politics as usual.

MARCH 23, 2012