Anaheim : Two Democrats Chide Dornan on Roads’ Vote

Two Democratic leaders chided U.S. Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) Monday for citing his role in winning federal support for an Anaheim traffic project but then voting against funds for the plan last week.

After President Reagan appealed to GOP lawmakers last week to support his veto of the $87.9-billion highway-and-roads bill, Dornan sided with the President. Some other Republicans joined with Democrats to override the veto 350 to 73 in the House and 67 to 33 in the Senate.

In meeting with House Republicans before the vote, Reagan cited a letter written by Dornan two years ago and signed by 147 other Republicans pledging to support the President if he vetoed bills he considered to be over the budget.

Orange County Democratic Chairman John Hanna and county Democratic Foundation Chairman Michael Ray announced Dornan as the winner of their “Golden Turkey” award, given three times since its recent establishment and, so far, always to Republicans.

“By putting partisan political considerations ahead of Orange County, he has bargained away his independence and his ability to fight for the district,” Hanna said at a news conference Monday in Santa Ana.

Dornan spokesman Brian O’Leary Bennett said the congressman voted to uphold the veto because “you have to stand with the President on the larger issue, which is deficit reduction.”

A $720,000-Anaheim project to use computers for traffic control in the Disneyland area was included in the highway bill last year by Dornan, who mentioned the action several times in his successful re-election campaign.