Photo snagged (for illustrative purposes) from dissenttheblog, which seems to be the go-to site for old Fuentes pix.
In 1976, Tom Fuentes sat at his corner table in the Garden room of the famous Chanteclair Restaurant and had a quiet lunch with his Cardinal from the Catholic Church of Orange County. These were the Jimmy Carter years. Tom Fuentes had a quiet powerful humble presence, that belied an even deeper competitive spirit and desire for ambitious projects for the future. The power brokers of the Republican Party in Orange County were a bunch of leftovers from the reign of Richard Nixon. The short lived Jerry Ford Presidency had yielded few of the big business donors to the local OCGOP. The Republicans of Orange County were looking for a savior. They needed a volunteer that was willing to fight an uphill battle and try to bring in more folks under the Republican banner. That job seemed impossible at the time. Tom knew he needed help and found many willing; including Jo Ellen Allen and other great OC Republicans to get on board the new “Reagan Revolution” with pitchforks in hand!
Tom Fuentes was not a “Hair on Fire Conservative” like that of John Schmitz or Bob Dornan. Tom wanted a much bigger tent for the Republican Party in Orange County and with a Hispanic surname he was the perfect local key foil to make it all happen. It did not hurt that the disenfranchised Republicans that had moved into the American Independent Party no longer had a charismatic leader, after George Wallace was shot, and many were open to move back to the Elephant Party if a true Conservative Candidate could be found. The word on the street was that the actor/moderator from “Death Valley Days”, a spokesman for General Electric Company and former Governor of Californa Ronald Reagan was thinking of putting his hat into the ring again in 1980. Reagan had done so in 1976, but lost to Ford at the Republican Convention. The Reagan stirring speech however resonated deeply in the Conservative Republican Spirt and Tom Fuentes was right there to soak it all in for Orange County. The major power brokers liked how Tom Fuentes carried himself and the Conservative message.
As the wave began many years of successes for the Republican Party. Orange County California soon became “Reagan Country”, and that great wave of Conservatism even parsed into a rebuilt Orange County Airport and the naming it after so-called Conservative John Wayne! This after all was the home of the Balboa Bay Club, Senators George Murphy, S.I. Hayakawa and of course the great Conservative icon Barry Goldwater that made Orange County their virtual “home away from home!” Tom helped all of them along the way, as they made public appearances, ran powerful campaigns for State Initiatives and brought National concerns to the National Press. Orange County California was becoming a major national force and voice for Conservative thinking and action.
Tom Fuentes had his feet to the fire from the beginning. He had to deal with huge fund raising responsibilities, a rising tide of new Republicans that wanted to touch the hemn of the skirt of this powerful movement. Fuentes brought in Conservative leaders from around the country, got their support, raised more money than you could shake a stick at and made the Republican Railroad Run on Time. Tom passed away Friday from a long fight with liver cancer. Tom had earned his stripes through the years. He had his ups and he had his set backs…in fact several, but he kept rebounding with energy and direction. He kept the OC Republican ship upright. He never deserted or left that Republican ship…even though he was forced to the sidelines.
Tom Fuentes was remarkable, in that he sustained the status of the party through movements of takeover by the so-called moderate majority, by other interlopers that wanted to avail themselves of the power and status of the Orange County Republican cache. Fuentes held the reigns of power from 1976 through 2007, when he became the consulting mentor that was always part of his normal character. Ronald Reagan said: “It is amazing how much you can get done or accomplish, if you don’t care who gets the credit!” Tom Fuentes was that guy. He had a pretty strong ego that he displayed on occasion, but through most of it – he was giving the kudos to others, showing his appreciation verbally and telling others how grateful the party was “for their participation”. Tom’s One Clap introduction of local dignitaries for all meetings and gatherings was legion and legend!
It was a tough gig for Tom Fuentes. He had to walk through a wall of fire at times, he had to fight and convince others of the right position for the party to take, he had to compromise at the right times and he had stand his ground exactly at the right times – to keep the leadership intact and to make sure that the programs ahead were successful. Through all his years of service, we can justly say: Great Job Tom Fuentes! Through good times and bad…you stood tall.
Ground Control to Major Tom…….we will miss you sir!
*In one of the last actions by Tom Fuentes….he encouraged his son T.J. to run for the Republican Central Committee in the coming June 5th, 2012 Election:
Thomas A. Fuentes “T.J.” Jr. Republican Central Committee
**Good Luck Junior – your Dad would be proud and you have our vote!
May Tom Fuentes rot in hell. The man hid molestors from justice and tried to blame it on liberals. He suffered long from cancer because God knew he deserved to suffer. Now he is suffering as the devils bitch.
I see that this is not going to be a de nisi bonum mortem kind of day.
What’s that they say about the boldest comedians …. they say what’s on everybody’s mind but we’re too polite to utter it or something?
That didn’t sound like a joke!
Thanks for the history, Winships. You were there! Good story.
Dissent the Blog is the blog of OJ friend, Irvine College philosophy professor Roy Bauer, who worked under and fought with Tom for years … I bet he has something good to balance this off… something critical, respectful, and utterly ambivalent… let’s see…
hmmm… It’s a slide show, with no commentary! “Remembering Tom Fuentes.”
http://dissenttheblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/remembering-tom-fuentes-photo-tom.html
That’s kind of cool. Roy’s already written all there is to write about him anyway
*Now you see….if you do “anything” in life there is every good chance that you may either get “Athletes Foot” or wind up ready to “Gore Someone’s Ox”…..without even thinking about it. That of course does include Running a Marathon or Running with the Bulls at Pamplona!
um …. yeah.
Come on, Vern — you didn’t understand that? It was perfectly efofgfttrdddsfephdww.
Dr. Vern, that Dissent web site is awesome.
http://dissenttheblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/remembering-tom-fuentes-photo-tom.html
Enjoyed it greatly…
I knew Tom slighly in the early 70’s. About 30 years later I happend to run into him and we made a bit of small talk. While I read of his political career and thus knew he seemed to eat and sleep his brand of Republican politics, I was shocked at how much he talked like and had the mannerisms of Richard Nixon. it left me shaking my head about the extent to which people can transform. To each his own. RIP
The man was vindictive and mean; he hated public service and all the good that a humane governmental philosphy entails. This editorial is a big old smooch fest for a person who stained the planet.
I can hear the smooching miles away!!! When he left this planet he should have left an open book of every ill deed he’s ever done & secret he’s ever kept.
Well, the Winships are damn Republicans from the 70s, and old friends of Fuentes, so what else can you expect? I appreciated getting the history and context.
I think it’s good that they have a space here to say what they want. You don’t have to read it — or appreciate it — or believe it. It’s not a mosh pit if everyone’s pushing in the same direction!
I will say that the Winships seem to have moderated some of their views in the wake of the disaster know as the Bush years. But the way they unobjectively fawn over those they’ve met in positions of power, it’s rather unbecoming.
Bingo. They’ve got crushes on everyone from Obama to Deborah Pauly.
*The reality is folks…..as General Patton said: “Find me someone else other than ex-Nazi’s that can run the railroads and bring water to residences and hotels and I will employ them!”
The truth be known….that people like Jesse Unruh, Willie Brown, Governor Brown the First, Chief Justice Earl Warren and others were far worse than any of you could imagine! They twisted the system, killed people metaphorically and otherwise, made the current society we live in (one by the way – that we had not chosen)…and find the multitudes of bureaucratic vipers and political vampires that continue their legacies. Which bad guy is worse Al Capone or Machine Gun Kelly? It really just boils down to whether you liked the Irish or the Italians better. They all are dirty…..but you have your choices.
In the great sphere of things…Tom Fuentes was no better …and certainly no worse than those that preceeded him and have so far followed him. But that is just our opinion. You are certainly entitled to your opinions on any of the players that have brought their concepts and ideas forward to the multitudes.
“Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it.” (Macbeth, Act I, Scene IV)
Bonghit For The Win.
*And the hits just keep coming…….
I thought the Winships were rational folks, until I read their second paragraph above.
Pat Brown–who made the vaunted UC system what it was–an evil murderer? Really? Easrl Warren–who made Brown v. Board of Education the semianl case in civil rights? Jesse Unruh–a public servant in the true egalitarian manner? Even Willie Brown was good at accomplishing things for the betterment of the public good.
Now they Winships appear to be in Beckland–loonies and crazies. Sad to see it.
I just decided to pretend that they didn’t say that.
They are like our goofy grandparents, who sometimes make no sense, but will sometimes surprise us with a fascinating bit of history.
*What do they say? You don’t remember the history…you are bound to repeat it.
Those wonders of Social Egalitarianism that you highlight included Senator Tunney,
Alan Cranston, Gray Davis as Jerry Browns first Lt. Governor., Wilson Riles and of
course you failed to jump on board the Jess Unruh bandwagon of hits. Willie Brown
was a power broker of the first order that used every dirty trick in the book to force members of his own party to sell out and members of the opposite party to disappear
when contenscious issues raised their ugly heads. Gun Control was one of Willie’s
Biggies and me made grown men cry…..by intimidation, exhortion, threats and real time withdrawal of even office space. No vision of sweetness there. The list of Socialist Commies was huge during the Pat Brown years. No so much Pat, but those he had around him.
Don’t forget that the John Birch Society said that Eisenhower was a willing dupe of the Communist when he appointed Earl Warren to the Supreme Court. Argue what you will, today’s values……but then……very red…..very.
Meanwhile, Wilson Riles ousted our bud Max Rafferty and toasted California Education by selling out to the Teacher Unions…..way early.
In any event, you do really need to take a peek at the Cabinet of Edmund G. “Pat” Brown. His pro union stances for bureaucrats drove more jobs out of California through intensely elevated regulations in every regard. We can’t argue that Brown
did some things that were beneficial. A good example was offering kids that were 3rd Generation Californians either free or reduced State College and University fees. He also offered that process to Service members that had seen combat. Again, it was Jess Unruh and Power Brokers behind the scenes that were nasty.
When the old “communist” ad hominem is thrown out, you’ve just blown your argument. Under Pat Brown and these so-called comunists the state functioned beautifully, roads were wonderful, education was available for all, and you may recall that there was an explosion of people coming to California, the “golden state.”
Now, not so much, due mainly to the idiotic ideologues who hate having to pay for anything.
Gun control? A good thing. Unions? Absolutely, as they are all that stands for the regular wagearner, unlike the derivative traders who make obscene profits and do absolutely nothing for the community at large.
*Rapscallion: You sound like the “good old days”…really were the “good old days”. Not so actually. Ticky-Tacky houses that fell apart, Encyclopedia Salesmen, The Hoover Vaccum Salesman, Milkmen that delivered to the home, Doctors that made House Calls, Tasty Freeze, Vinyl Records, Abused Wives and Children that never got reported, Hostess Twinkees, Chocolate Hostess Cupcakes that lastest a 1000 years.
Oh, the Korean War, Joe McCarthy, Harry Truman, Dropping the Bomb on the Japs!
Putting our Japanese Gardners in California Prison Camps, Electing a State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 3 to 10 cent stamps, Muscle Cars, Leslie Gore, Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, the Beach Boys, Surf Music, NO American Idol, NO Dancing with the Stars…..NO the Voice…..hey…maybe you had a point afterall……especially when it came to 35 cent a gallon gasoline. But then, the minimum wage was $1.25 an hour. These were the days when Richard Nixon was accusing Helen Gahagen Douglas of being a Communist. (2 m’s in Commie – RapSon!)
Is there a point to be made on all of that twaddle? (And if you wish to take on typos and grammar matters, you may wish to reconsider.)
*The right to keep and arm bears ……shall not be infringed! We were not invited to the memorial ceremony yesterday…..but missed seeing some of our old friends ..darn it. That’s the point.
Um, ok. (??)