Assembly Adopts Ban on Federal Jobs for Toshiba
By a vote of 63 to 0, the Assembly adopted a resolution Thursday calling for a congressional ban on federal contracts with Japan’s Toshiba Corp., which has a plant in Irvine, because of the giant conglomerate’s sale of sensitive defense industry technology to the Soviet Union.
The sale involved eight metal-working machines and specialized computers enabling the Soviet Union to make quiet submarine propellers that make detection with undersea listening devices more difficult.
“Toshiba ought to pay a price for this treachery,” said Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra), the resolution’s author.
Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach), whose district includes a Toshiba electronics plant in Irvine, earlier criticized the resolution as ineffective and unnecessary. But Frizzelle, who was present, did not vote or speak against the measure.
Also among the 17 Assembly members not voting were Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), Doris Allen (R-Cypress), and Robert C. Frazee (R-Carlsbad).
Resolution supporters included Assembly members Dennis Brown (R-Signal Hill), Richard Longshore (R-Santa Ana), and John Lewis (R-Orange).
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