A colorful candidate for governor

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- The campaign signs have been cropping up along Newport

Boulevard and in other locations around town. They urge voters to “Stop

Agenda 21.”

Turns out the cryptic message comes from Nick Jesson, a Huntington

Beach businessman running for governor.

The obscure reference is to the Earth Summit, a U.N.-sponsored

conference in 1992. Out of that conference came Agenda 21, an 800-page

treaty to combat global warming.

Jesson said the treaty is a conspiracy to strip private citizens of

their weapons.

“What they’re going to try to do is force the people from the rural

areas so they can control people,” Jesson said. “They can disarm us. We

have foreigners on our land with no business here.”

That viewpoint, and others, have relegated Jesson to the status of

fringe candidate, said Mark Petracca, the chairman of UC Irvine’s

Political Science Department.

The Republican Party has shut Jesson out of several publicly televised

debates and refused him time at the party’s Feb. 9 convention.

“In order to have a manageable, reasonable debate, we have limited it

to candidates who are polling at 5% or better,” said Rob Stutzman, the

spokesman for the California Republican Party. “What we are trying to do

is showcase the top three Republican candidates. The nominee is likely to

be one of those three gentlemen.”

However, Jesson, who manufactures electronic components, is prepared

to spend $9 million, if that’s what it takes, to get himself elected as

governor.

Jesson is part of a crowded field of Republican challengers to

Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.

He’ll knock heads with six other Republicans hoping to win the party’s

nomination at the convention in early February.

“I’ll spend what it will take to win,” the 51-year-old Jesson said.

Big spending isn’t foreign to the race for the state’s highest office.

In the 1998 primary, Davis spent $8.4 million to defeat Jane Harman, who

raised $16.2 million, and Al Checchi, who raised $40.8 million.

And don’t expect the checkbooks to stay closed among Jesson’s trio of

formidable opponents -- former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan,

Secretary of State Bill Jones and businessman Bill Simon.

The pledge to spend a portion of his personal fortune does give Jesson

more credibility than the handful of other Republican candidates,

including Newport Beach resident Edie Bukewihge, who are expected to

raise little or no money, Petracca said.

However, Jesson will have to reach a large audience.

“You can’t do it at the local level,” Petracca said. “Bringing $9

million to the table is nice, but putting up signs in Newport Beach and

Irvine isn’t going to win you the governor.”

So far, Jesson is billing himself as “the true conservative” in the

race -- pro-life, supportive of 2nd Amendment gun rights and opposed to

government taxation.

Jesson wants to abolish the California Franchise Tax Board. He also

has criticized Davis’ management of the budget, saying the governor is

ignoring $424 million in reserve funds when he talks about the looming

shortfall.

In his 2002-03 fiscal year budget, Davis said the state would face a

$12 billion deficit because of a slumping economy, the energy crisis and

other factors.

“The governor has been very forward and honest about our budget,” said

Roger Salazar, a Davis spokesman. “We’re going to have to make some tough

cuts and do some borrowing to make it through this year.”

Jesson’s colorful viewpoints on issues mirrors his colorful past. Born

in Wichita, Kan., he said he ran away from an abusive home when he was

15. He took a job at a truck stop and lived in the bushes.

From 1969 to 1971, Jesson served in the Army in the Vietnam War. When

he returned, he spent time in San Diego living out of a van, briefly

returning to Kansas when his mother died of cancer.

“Until you walk a mile in a person’s shoes, you have no right to

criticize them,” Jesson said. “I know what it’s like not to have a job,

to wonder where the next meal is coming from and if you can feed your

children.”