County Congressmen Pressured : Sit-Ins Protest Vote on Nicaraguan Rebel Aid

Protesting a House vote on aid to Nicaraguan rebels, about 30 people held peaceful sit-ins Wednesday at the district offices of three Orange County congressmen.

“The plan was to put pressure on Washington” to vote against the aid package, said Marion Pack, director of Alliance for Survival, one of nine county peace groups that organized the sit-ins to protest a House of Representatives vote on $100 million in military aid to the contras. The vote is scheduled for today.

Groups of from two to 20 protesters visited local congressional offices throughout the day Wednesday, drinking their coffee, sometimes sitting silently in their waiting rooms and sometimes engaging congressional aides in debate on contra aid.

But Wednesday’s protests did not affect the pro- contra views of local congressmen, their staff members said. Office business continued as usual. And Reps. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) and Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach) were still strong proponents of President Reagan’s military aid package for the contras, their aides said.

Two other county congressmen who also planned to vote for the aid package--Rep. Daniel Lungren (R-Long Beach) and Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad)--were not visited by protesters Wednesday.

About 10 protesters stopped by Badham’s office Wednesday. Also Wednesday, Badham’s offices in Newport Beach and Washington received about 600 letters and calls about aiding the contras.

“It was about 60% pro-aid and 40% negative,” Badham administrative assistant Bill Schreiber said. The last issue to arouse so much interest was offshore oil drilling last year, Schreiber said.

Several protesters had threatened to try to stay the night and risk arrest, but at 5 p.m. when the office closed, they left peacefully, Schreiber said.

Dannemeyer aide Duane Crum said he received a delegation of about 20 protesters Wednesday morning. They stayed about 45 minutes, “said their piece and left,” he said.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Pack said she and three other women would risk arrest by trying to spend the night at Dornan’s office in Garden Grove. To risk arrest “shows an extra amount of commitment to this issue. Only through people such as those who are going to sit in an office can (we) prevent a war like the war in Vietnam,” Pack said.

But late Wednesday, Dornan told the women that he would include peace groups in a town hall meeting on contra aid. Then, after a lengthy telephone conversation with Dornan’s chief of staff, Brian O’Leary Bennett, the women agreed to leave, Dornan said.

The sit-in will continue today, Pack said, when the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the President’s aid package for the contras. The floor debate on the issue was held Wednesday.