Legislators Orange County

Orange County's two new Democratic legislators said Tuesday that they favor state oversight of amusement parks, but other local lawmakers say regulation is unneeded and would not prevent deaths. Concern about California's lack of regulation over permanent amusement attractions has been heightened since a Christmas Eve accident at Disneyland killed one person and severely injured two others.

Orange County's Republican congressional leaders have sent the Board of Supervisors a letter urging them to rescind a labor pact that makes it mandatory for the county to use unions on big public projects. The letter, dated June 8 and signed by the area's five congressmen, asked that supervisors drop the agreement because the legislators claim the pact is restricting bidders on county projects and raising costs to taxpayers. "We strongly urge you to revoke the project labor agreement . . .

Despite the fact that some of them represent large non-English-speaking populations, Orange County's six congressmen voted unanimously Thursday to support GOP legislation that would make English the official language of the federal government. The Orange County lawmakers said they believed that if the federal government uses solely English in most official business, all citizens would be "encouraged" to master the language.

Nine members of Congress, including the entire Orange County delegation, have thrown their political muscle behind Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa's battle to keep a radio transmitter atop Santiago Peak in the Cleveland National Forest. U.S. Forest Service officials are studying whether commercial broadcasting should be permitted on Santiago Peak, the highest point in Orange County.

Steve Stevens knows a thing or two about what's happening on Capitol Hill. After all, like many Americans, Stevens has bounced a few checks--six, to be exact. Total value: roughly $500. So on Saturday morning, Stevens was stuck in a bad-check diversion class run by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, listening to lectures on ethics, learning the rudiments of budgeting and balancing a checkbook--and wondering what his elected leaders in Washington were doing.

After nurturing their image as tax-fighting, anti-spending conservative Republicans, state legislators from Orange County have muddled their message with a decidedly mixed reaction to a state commission's ruling to boost their pay by 37%. And the reluctance of some local legislators to reject the pay raise has been taken up as an issue by other Republicans seeking election to open Assembly seats.

In the packed committee chambers, lawmakers stared in disbelief at Rep. William E. Dannemeyer, the Orange County Republican with the jutting jaw and ramrod posture, whose views on the decline of morality in the late 20th Century have become legend on Capitol Hill. The House Energy and Commerce Committee had just announced a hard-won compromise on landmark clean air legislation. Dannemeyer, one of the most conservative members of Congress, was the first to offer an amendment.

Sometimes you've got to do what you don't want to do. Duty calls. So, with their hands jammed into their coat pockets and polite smiles on their faces, three of Orange County's Republican congressmen Monday watched a Democratic president take the oath of office for a second term. On the west steps of the Capitol, Reps. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar), and Ron Packard (R-Oceanside) witnessed the inauguration of Clinton, the nation's 42nd president.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) called on the Commerce Department on Thursday to make public any sales by U.S. companies to Iraq and other "lethal enemies" in the last five years. During a hearing convened by the House Government Operations subcommittee on commerce, consumer and monetary affairs to look into such sales, Cox asked Commerce Department officials to justify why the identities of sellers are kept private.

A group of Orange County conservatives has rallied around the Boy Scouts of America by seeking a boycott of two companies that stopped contributing to the organization because it does not admit gays or atheists. The move has prompted an Anaheim Hills lawyer, whose 10-year-old atheist sons were kicked out of Scouting, to accuse local Republican elected officials of trying to make Boy Scouts a pawn on their traditional-values stage.

An Orange County-led push to loosen the Republican Party's ideological moorings was met with suspicion and dismay at this weekend's state convention, chiefly by activists worried about hurting the GOP's chances in the November elections. Much of the anger was focused on a group of wealthy Orange County Republicans called the New Majority Committee, which has pledged to raise $500,000 to back Republicans who are "open-minded" on such issues as abortion rights and gun control.

Orange County's two new Democratic legislators said Tuesday that they favor state oversight of amusement parks, but other local lawmakers say regulation is unneeded and would not prevent deaths. Concern about California's lack of regulation over permanent amusement attractions has been heightened since a Christmas Eve accident at Disneyland killed one person and severely injured two others.

Where is Jay C. Kim? The lame-duck Republican lawmaker, who lost his House reelection bid in June after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations, has closed his congressional offices in Southern California and Washington a month before his term ends, leaving constituents scrambling to get help. Phone calls to Kim's district offices in Yorba Linda and Ontario and his Washington office went unanswered this week, with no answering machine or forwarding number to assist callers.

Where is Jay Kim? The outgoing Republican congressman, who lost his reelection bid in June after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations, has closed his congressional offices in Southern California and Washington a month before his term ends, leaving constituents scrambling to get help. Phone calls to Kim's offices in Yorba Linda, Ontario and Washington went unanswered this week, with no answering machine or forwarding number to assist callers.

Two Democrats from conservative Orange County who will be sworn in Monday to seats in the state Legislature symbolize the party's revival in the county and its dominance statewide. State Sen.-elect Joe Dunn of Garden Grove and Assemblyman-elect Lou Correa of Santa Ana stood united with other Democrats in the fall elections, while Republicans, for the first time in nearly two decades, remained a minority in both state houses and lost the governor's office.

Rep. Ron Packard, the lawmaker who crafted an unusual provision that would limit environmental review of the controversial Foothill South toll road, has accepted $7,000 in campaign donations from the toll road's Washington lobbyist, records show. Attorney James F.

House Republicans held some of their fire Friday on a bill to prohibit President Clinton from sending U.S. troops to Bosnia-Herzegovina without Congress' approval, after top Administration officials warned that the measure might sabotage the peace talks in Dayton, Ohio.

As the House raucously debated a repeal of the assault weapons ban Friday, a group of local doctors, police officers and gun control advocates assembled on the steps of UC Irvine Medical Center to criticize the local congressmen who voted to allow the sale of the guns. The legislators were accused of selling out the safety of the public to satisfy campaign promises to the National Rifle Assn., which has lobbied to repeal the ban.

California's Youth Baseball All-Stars will make it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., after all, thanks to members of the state Legislature. A week ago, the situation looked bleak. The company holding fund-raising proceeds from 33 competing state teams had folded without paying $165,000 in tournament fees. To the California team's rescue came Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) and 33 other legislators.

His electronic ankle bracelet off and the worst of his sentence behind him, Rep. Jay Kim (R-Diamond Bar) planned to return to his district today for the first time since a judge placed him under home detention two months ago. Denied by voters the GOP nomination in the 41st Congressional District this month, Kim flies home a lame duck as his historic political congressional career winds to an inauspicious close.