Orange County Elections : Dornan’s War Record Is Under Fire, but Not From His Election Foe

After a summer lull, the name-calling began in earnest Monday in Democratic Assemblyman Richard Robinson’s campaign to unseat conservative U.S. Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

The first shot, however, was fired neither by Dornan nor Robinson but by Rep. Tony Coelho (D-Merced), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman. At a press conference in Santa Ana, called to announce that the Robinson-Dornan race in the 38th Congressional District is one of 35 top-priority congressional races nationally that the committee intends to finance, Coelho opened the attack.

He claimed that Dornan “had a chance to serve his country in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, but decided not to and ran away.”

Dornan, responding angrily by telephone from his Richmond, Va., home, called Coelho’s charges “tacky.” Dornan said he joined the Air Force as a teen-ager in 1952, dropping out of his college ROTC class to do so.

“I got my wings a year and a half ahead of the college class,” he said. “That’s hardly avoiding going to serve.”

He said he served on active duty until 1958 and then served 18 years in the reserves. After he left active duty, Dornan said, he accompanied eight combat missions in Vietnam as a newsman for RKO television.

Dornan added: “I flew hot missions; they were firing away with their hot guns, and I was firing away with my Nikons.”

Earlier Monday, Dornan’s chief of staff, Brian O’Leary Bennett, had called Coelho’s charges “made up” and said of Coelho: “I think somebody who got a 4F (deferment) because of epilepsy should be very careful about impugning another man’s record of service to his country when he didn’t have any at all.”

Dornan later disavowed some aspects of Bennett’s attack, saying: “Brian shouldn’t have mentioned why he got the 4F.”

Responding to Bennett, Coelho said he did have epilepsy and had suffered greatly from his disability by being barred from military service, from obtaining a driver’s license and from obtaining life insurance.

But he argued that Dornan had “lied” by reporting to a political almanac that he had served in Vietnam when he hadn’t. “He’s a hawk out there advocating that we engage young men in combat, and he won’t do it,” Coelho said.

Bennett and Dornan conceded that there have been “some misprints” in condensed biographies of Dornan that showed he had served in Southeast Asia, but they called those a publisher’s error.

Dornan’s military background became an issue in March, 1985, when he called Rep. Thomas J. Downey “a draft-dodging wimp” and scuffled with the New York Democrat on the House floor. After that incident, some House Democrats circulated a copy of the R.R. Bowker Co.’s. “Who’s Who in American Politics 1983-84” which reported, erroneously, that Dornan had served in the Air Force “in Southeast Asia.”

Mark Johnson, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman, said politicians are invited to submit their own biographical material to the political “Who’s Who.”

Dornan said a full, two-page official biography had been submitted to “Who’s Who,” but the publishers “synthesized it to seven lines. One of them said I served in Southeast Asia as a correspondent and made eight trips. They dropped the eight trips and they dropped the correspondent.”

Bennett on Monday called the question of Dornan’s combat service one of many “lies that the Democrats helped perpetuate.” The mistake in the political annual had long since been corrected, Bennett said, adding: “It’s such cheap politics to be accused of not serving your country when he has served his country. This from a liberal’s liberal. Some people go over the line.”

Robinson served as a non-commissioned officer in the Marine Corps from July, 1961, to August, 1966, his campaign staff said. Robinson volunteered for special service to Guantanamo Bay during the Cuban missile crisis and was among the first 500 U.S. troops in Vietnam, where he served as a radar intercept officer. He was decorated for service under fire during an extended tour of duty in Vietnam, a campaign aide said.

The announcement that Robinson’s race is a Congressional Campaign Committee target means that he is eligible to receive up to $50,000 from Coelho’s committee.

Another Democratic candidate, Bruce W. Sumner--who is hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach)--has received $5,000 from Coelho personally and another $5,000 from his committee. But his race has not made the priority list as a key, winnable race. Coelho said a decision on whether to target the 40th Congressional District will be made on Oct. 1.