Novice’s Wealth Scares Away Rivals for State Senate Seat

GARDEN GROVE —  In the early 1980s, Rob Hurtt was a typical Orange County industrialist, nose to the business grindstone. Then he got the bug--a bug of the political variety.

It began with him contributing to candidates--a few hundred dollars here, a few hundred there. In 1987, Hurtt helped found an institute in Sacramento to lobby for the family values he holds dear. The political fever rose last year, when Hurtt gave more than $500,000 to a broad slate of conservative Republican candidates, most of them sharing his strong Christian beliefs.

Now, Hurtt figures, it’s his turn. With a hefty personal bankroll and the support of Orange County’s Republican hierarchy, Hurtt appears poised to waltz into the state Senate seat at stake in a March special election.

The wealthy businessman is the only Republican in the race to succeed new U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) in the 32nd Senate District, which includes Fullerton, Garden Grove and Santa Ana. The half-dozen Democratic and third-party challengers are political paupers in comparison.

Supporters say that the 48-year-old owner of Container Supply Co. in Garden Grove is a pragmatic, hard-working businessman who wants to tackle the bureaucratic and regulatory excesses of Sacramento, the sort of citizen-politician envisioned when voters approved the state’s term-limits law.

“His interest in politics stems from his frustration with over-regulation and workers’ compensation problems that are being visited on California businessmen,” said Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange), who has endorsed Hurtt. “We need more people up in Sacramento who know what it means to run a business.”

“He’s as nice a guy as you’d ever want to meet and tough as nails when it comes to the business side of things,” said John Stoos, executive director of Gunowners of California, a 50,000-member gun rights group that works on conservative causes. “He’s frustrated that Sacramento just is not listening to businessmen.”

But opponents contend that Hurtt is deeply devoted to the religious right and intends to push a Bible-based platform of anti-abortion, anti-gay rights and anti-pornography beliefs.

“He’s trying to hide it from voters--that he’s a far-right fundamentalist candidate,” said George Urch, chief of staff for Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove). “I think Hurtt is a true believer. He comes from the Christian right. He’s part of their team. And they’re anti anything that’s different than them.”

For his part, Hurtt appears to be weary of the hubbub over his moral and political beliefs. The father of four, he is certainly concerned about the direction society has taken, but says he does not see his role as that of a political evangelist.

“I don’t think (Christianity) is the answer for everyone. I know it isn’t,” Hurtt said. “There’s this fear among certain groups that Christians want to be in office so they can push their beliefs on others. That’s totally wrong. What I’m interested in is re-establishing some moral values, and those aren’t exclusive to Christianity by a long shot.”

A native Southern Californian, Hurtt is heir to an industrial success story. His grandfather worked for years as a sales manager for American Can Co. in Los Angeles, then in 1954 helped Hurtt’s father set up an offshoot with some used equipment destined for the scrap pile.

Hurtt worked his way up the ranks--packing, loading trucks, working on the assembly line and typing invoices. By the early 1980s, he took over. The firm generates annual revenues of $23 million. Its specialty is large, industrial-size cans for restaurant food, although the firm’s most visible product is the stylish pink containers used for Almond Roca candy.

Until recently, Hurtt was so busy running the business that he did not have time to ponder the way of the world around him. “I was ignorant,” Hurtt said. “As a typical middle-class businessman, you work and play and you don’t really realize the significance of a lot of things.”

But as his children entered high school, he became increasingly disturbed by the problems they faced--gangs, drugs, schoolyard shootings. He was also growing angry with what he saw as regulatory mistreatment of business.

He started taking his family to a local Presbyterian Church every Sunday. Formerly in favor of abortion rights, Hurtt began studying the issues and eventually adopted more conservative Christian beliefs.

He also began dabbling in politics. Hurtt supported conservative Republican candidates and helped form Capitol Resource Institute, a registered lobbying organization in Sacramento dedicated to supporting “those values of the Judeo-Christian ethic” that improve the welfare of families. Hurtt has been donating about $100,000 annually to the cause.

Some critics predict that if Hurtt wins the race he could be an exceptionally influential freshman as a result of his contributions to successful legislative races.

“I think he will indeed be able to call in some political favors,” said Jerry Sloan, a gay activist in Sacramento who monitors the activities of the religious right. “They certainly owe Hurtt and the others a great deal.”

Hurtt ruffled a few Republican feathers when he decided to enter the race for the 32nd Senate District seat.

Many local Republicans had settled on Brian Bennett, Rep. Robert K. Dornan’s former chief of staff, as their candidate.

But two weeks after Hurtt declared his candidacy in late December, Bennett dropped out, saying there was no way he could outspend a millionaire.

“I think Rob Hurtt showed political savvy being able to clear the field like that and virtually assure a win,” said Stoos of Gunowners of California. “Writing a big check keeps people out.”

Although his opponents from other parties lack as much financial clout, they are expected to batter Hurtt for his ties to the Christian right.

Hurtt said he would favor repeal of gay rights legislation signed last year by Gov. Pete Wilson, but mostly because it gives “the fringe weirdo another avenue to attack business and cause a lot of litigation.”

Unabashedly anti-abortion, Hurtt would like to see the state adopt a law requiring parental consent before a teen-ager could seek an abortion.

He favors adopting a system of school vouchers, government tax rebates that parents could use to send their children to private schools.

Hurtt also said he wishes that biblical creationism was taught alongside evolutionary theory in schools.

But Hurtt said he wants to focus his energies almost exclusively on righting the wrongs he feels Sacramento has done to business. Most notably, he wants to see the elimination of workers’ compensation stress claims and limits on the vast powers of Southern California’s air quality regulators.

“Hopefully, I can bring a true businessman’s perspective,” Hurtt said. “When I talk about workers’ compensation types of situations and over-regulation and the AQMD, it’s things that have happened to my firm. Hopefully I can bring some validity to it.”