Longshore Appointed to Veterans Board

Anaheim real estate broker Richard E. Longshore, who fell a few votes short in a high-stakes central Orange County Assembly district race last year, has been named by Gov. George Deukmejian to the California Veterans Board.

Longshore, 59, who is planning a third attempt next year to unseat veteran Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove), will fill one of two vacancies that had existed on the board since May.

The board sets policy for the state Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs low-interest farm and home loan programs for military veterans.

Deukmejian created two vacancies on the seven-member board earlier this year by removing two members appointed by former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Some veterans groups, upset that the Brown appointees had been removed from the board before their replacements were named, had been pressuring Deukmejian to make the appointments.

Beside Longshore, Deukmejian also appointed Leo Burke, 58, a Stockton community college trustee. Like Longshore, Burke is a Republican.

Longshore, a retired Navy officer and American Legion post commander, said he had sought the appointment but does not expect it to be a major boost should he run again against Robinson next year.

“That is not what the appointment is for,” said Longshore. “I am very highly involved in veterans affairs.”

Longshore, who has run twice against the veteran Democratic legislator, lost by only 256 votes last year in one of the most expensive Assembly campaigns of the year.

The two candidates spent a combined total of $1.1 million in the race, which was so close it was not officially decided until more than a week after the election.

Longshore’s and Burke’s appointments to the board, which are subject to Senate confirmation, will run through January, 1989. Board members are paid $50 a meeting plus expenses.