Gil Ferguson

State Atty. Gen. Daniel E. Lungren has rejected a lawmaker's request for a legal opinion on the fate of Newport Coast Drive, a portion of which will be converted into a toll road. Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) fired off an angry response to Lungren on Friday, complaining that the attorney general failed to address his bid for a full-scale investigation into possible malfeasance, not just a legal opinion on the fate of the disputed road.

Saying he would ask the state attorney general to investigate, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) said Wednesday that he is not convinced it is legal to incorporate a stretch of Newport Coast Drive into the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor. Ferguson acknowledged that he has no assurance that the attorney general will honor his request for an investigation into what amounts to "taking a public road and putting a toll on it."

Taking a page from Charles Kuralt, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) and his staff will hit the road in a rented motor home today, visiting constituents at shopping centers in Irvine and Costa Mesa. The "Mobile District Office" is designed to give the public a convenient way to meet Ferguson and get questions about state government answered, said Pete Calagna, field representative for Ferguson. "This is the first time we've done it," Calagna said.

On Saturday, Gil Ferguson of Newport Beach, 70, will stand on the white sands of the tiny island of Tarawa, a dot just off the Equator, barely inhabited and blanketed with relentless heat. He will walk the tranquil shoreline, and remember. It was Nov. 20, 1943--50 years ago to the day, and also a Saturday--that Ferguson, facing a hail of Japanese gunfire, landed upon that shore with the first wave of invading U.S. Marines.

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) has agreed to pay a $6,000 fine to settle a case with the state Fair Political Practices Commission, which accused him of failing to promptly and clearly disclose $22,000 in personal loans he and his wife made to his failed state Senate campaign in 1990. The FPPC contended that Ferguson violated state election laws by failing to disclose the loans within 24 hours as required.

Often regarded as one of the most archaic of Orange County's conservative "cavemen," Newport Beach Assemblyman Gil Ferguson is stepping forward with a new message for his followers in the right wing--one that is more pragmatic than dogmatic. Ferguson warns that the Republican Party is being splintered and weakened by its internal battles over a few red-hot social issues such as abortion and gay rights.

Often regarded as one of the most archaic of Orange County's conservative "cavemen," Newport Beach Assemblyman Gil Ferguson is now stepping forward with a new message for his followers in the right wing--one that is more pragmatic than dogmatic. Ferguson warns that the Republican Party is being splintered and weakened by its internal battles over a few red-hot social issues such as abortion and gay rights.

While we Republicans in Orange County would expect The Times' editorialists to take a dim view of our party's conservative U.S. Senate nominee, Bruce Herschensohn, we have every right to expect your news reporting to be fair and balanced. Your article (Sept. 16) fails that test. Herschensohn's ultra-liberal Democrat opponent, Barbara Boxer, chose Newport Beach for a "rally" because she could find a handful of pro-abortion activists to be portrayed by a willing press as her "Republicans for Boxer" contingent.

Gil Ferguson should be ashamed of himself. The behavior that he and his cronies exhibited at what was scheduled to be a Barbara Boxer news conference was reprehensible, incorrigible, and absolutely unacceptable ("Boxer O.C. Rally Overpowered by Political Foes," Sept. 16). Do not get me wrong. I firmly believe that an individual should have the right to exercise his or her First Amendment rights. Ferguson, however, completely overstepped these bounds. What happened out there on the steps of the Newport Beach City Hall was in plain and simple terms harassment and intimidation.

Chanting, sign- waving supporters of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn disrupted a news conference and rally for Democratic opponent Barbara Boxer Tuesday, preventing her from speaking and leaving her supporters shaken.