Lou Correa

About 75 people gathered outside Assemblyman Lou Correa's Santa Ana office Monday to urge him to vote against several gay-rights bills pending in the Assembly. The demonstrators, carrying signs reading "Don't Brainwash Our Children" and "Protect Family Values," marched at midday beside Broadway, then gathered in front of the Democrat's office for speeches and to meet members of his staff.

Lashing out in the final days of his campaign to unseat Assemblyman Jim Morrissey, Democratic challenger Lou Correa on Wednesday filed a lawsuit saying a campaign mailer sent by the incumbent violates state campaign law. Gale Kaufman, Correa's campaign manager, said the use of a photograph of a police officer in uniform in one of Morrissey's mailers violates a section of the government code that prohibits police from engaging in political activity while on duty.

Longtime Republican activist Virgel L. Nickell was removed from his seat on the Orange County GOP central committee Monday for endorsing Democratic Assembly candidate Lou Correa in the November election. Correa defeated Republican incumbent Jim Morrissey. The action made Nickell the second member of the GOP committee, the local party's governing board, to be ousted in recent years for backing a Democrat. William A.

Democratic state Senate candidate Lou Correa cut Republican Lynn Daucher's lead to 147 votes as counting continued Wednesday to determine the winner of the central Orange County seat. A Republican spoiler candidate funded by Democrats could end up making the difference in the race. Otto Bade, a Santa Ana businessman who launched a write-in campaign in the last days of the election as a conservative alternative to the moderate Daucher, has received 886 votes.

JIM MORRISSEY After near defeat in 1996, Morrissey softened his conservative voting record to fit the district. * Party: Republican * Age: 68 * Residence: Anaheim * Education: High school graduate * Career highlights: Worked his way up at tool-and-die firm to become majority owner and chief executive. Elected to Assembly in 1994. Beat Correa in tight 1996 reelection. * Priorities: Wants tax cuts. Supports class-size reduction. Supports private school vouchers. Wants less regulation on business.

An Anaheim assemblyman introduced legislation Wednesday aimed at helping ease the county's nursing shortage, estimated at 900 vacancies. "We need this program," said Jon Gilwee, spokesman for Healthcare Assn. of Southern California, a hospital trade group in Orange County. "On any given day, hospitals with a 15% to 18% nurse vacancy rate is not unusual."

Linda Sanchez, the younger sister of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), said Tuesday she is giving serious consideration to running for the Santa Ana Assembly seat held by Republican Jim Morrissey. The 69th Assembly District is contained within Loretta Sanchez's congressional district and the sisters believe that if they run together, it might benefit both of their campaigns. In order to face Morrissey, however, Linda Sanchez, would have to defeat Lou Correa in the Democratic primary.

About 70 people protested outside Assemblyman Lou Correa's Santa Ana office Friday morning, then marched into the building to urge him to vote against a bill relating to same-sex domestic partners' rights in California. Correa (D-Santa Ana) was not in at the time, so the protesters signed in at the front office, then left.

Assemblyman Lou Correa has set up a meeting Saturday to help victims of a telephone scam. Thousands of Southern California residents say they have been left with steep telephone bills after accepting collect calls from people claiming to be relatives. Once the recipients realize they don't know the caller, they hang up--but later find they've been billed large sums anyway for the calls.

Ending more than two weeks of suspense, final vote tallies on Friday gave Assemblyman Jim Morrissey (R-Santa Ana) a 93-vote edge over Democratic challenger Lou Correa. The news dashed Democrats' hopes that newcomer Correa would succeed in an election upset like that of Loretta Sanchez, who defeated veteran Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) by 984 votes in the 46th Congressional District.