ELECTIONS ’88 : 39TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : Dannemeyer Says He’s No Extremist--Simply a Leader

Five-term Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) says he doesn’t have a serious race this year in the 39th Congressional District because his opponent follows an “extremist” philosophy that the public won’t accept.

If he intends any irony in that characterization of Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. follower Don Marquis, Dannemeyer does not let on.

In his 10 years in Congress, Dannemeyer has had the “extremist” label hung on him perhaps as much as any member of the California congressional delegation--especially on the AIDS issue, which he has made the cornerstone of his recent political career.

The No. 1 Enemy

“The lesbian and gay community as a whole views him as the No. 1 enemy in the country right now,” says Jeff LeTourneau, co-chairman of the Orange County Visibility League, a gay-rights group. “In the last couple years, he’s become far more dangerous. He finds himself in an almost totally safe, right-wing, conservative district, which allows him the position to do and say as he wishes with regard to the lesbian and gay community. He’s a very dangerous man because he has a way of manipulating facts and can appear to be rational and reasonable to an audience that is not very educated on the issues that concern AIDS, in particular.”

John Hanna, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, is equally uncharitable. “I think he’s just to the right of Attila the Hun,” Hanna said. “I say that a little tongue-in-cheek, but I think Dannemeyer is one of those people who’s a born-again right-winger. He was a Democrat (until 1967), and he has this obsession with defeating Democrats and with branding this country with his particular social policy. Even conservatives like Ronald Reagan understand that although they believe certain things, they can’t shove it down people’s throats.”

Greg Haskin, executive director of the Republican Party of Orange County, dismissed Hanna’s critique. “How can you call someone who wins by a 75% margin a right-winger? That’s not somebody who represents a far-out faction of the party. That’s someone who is very popular, that the voters are comfortable with--and someone who’s doing the right job.”

‘Earnest Effort’

Dannemeyer, Haskin said, is “making an earnest effort to combat the AIDS problem. He has a style that’s different from most of people who are very vocal on AIDS because most of the people who are very vocal also happen to be gay. And maybe there’s more than one side of the issue that needs to be represented, and if that’s the case, he represents one side very well. So well that the White House looks to him for guidance.”

Seated in his Fullerton office, Dannemeyer, 59, seems bemused by charges that he is outside the mainstream. “My approach to politics is that I think it’s appropriate for those who hold office to define the differences between the two parties and defend them. Several of my colleagues in Congress have a tendency to mill around the center of the pack and wait until it’s clear which way the herd is moving and then grab the flag and run out in front and say, ‘Follow me.’ I don’t think that’s leadership.”

Over the years, Dannemeyer has championed a number of bedrock conservative causes, such as a balanced-budget constitutional amendment, revocation of the 1977 Panama Canal treaties, oil drilling off the California coast and further deregulation of the natural-gas industry. In the last session, Dannemeyer was a major backer of a House resolution that encouraged people to ask theaters not to show the film “The Last Temptation of Christ” and to boycott Universal Studios and other businesses associated with the film. He also sponsored legislation that would outlaw abortion.

After supporting a defeated LaRouche-sponsored AIDS initiative in California in 1986, Dannemeyer this year is one of the leading backers of Proposition 102, which would require doctors to report to public health officials the name of anyone who tests positive for the AIDS virus. Currently, only the names of people with fully developed cases of AIDS are reported.

Proposition 102 also gives health officials authority to take all measures “reasonably necessary” to prevent transmission of the disease. It would eliminate the current prohibition on the use of AIDS virus tests as a test for employment and medical insurability.

Dannemeyer, a lawyer, said there’s “nothing out of the mainstream” in anything he has advocated on the AIDS issue. “The absurdity that is California law is that if a doctor finds a patient with a curable venereal disease, like syphilis or gonorrhea, he is required to report the names and address to public health officials, and contact tracing takes place. If that same doctor finds someone with a non-curable venereal disease, like the virus for AIDS, and the doctor reports that patient, the doctor commits a crime.”

Dannemeyer rejects the argument that there should be a distinction between reporting people with fully developed AIDS and those who test positive for the virus. “I’m not aware of any responsible medical authority today who contends that somebody (who tests) HIV positive won’t develop fully developed AIDS. The only factor is time.”

A spokeswoman at the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta disputed that. Gayle Lloyd, public affairs specialist, said, “No study has actually gone that far, so there is no empirical data to support the theory that everybody who tests HIV positive will get AIDS, because we haven’t had studies that have followed people that long.”

Dannemeyer said he has been portrayed as confrontational on the AIDS issue because “the politicalization of the disease is coming from the left, the ACLU and the male homosexual activists, who are kicking and screaming every step of the way . . . about controlling (AIDS) the way we control every other communicable disease.”

Dannemeyer said he would devote part of his time during his next term in “building a constituency” across the country on the AIDS issue. He conceded that both the American Medical Assn. and American Nurses’ Assn. oppose his views but said that he thinks those groups’ leadership does not reflect their constituents’ views. Dannemeyer said he would try to build a phalanx of doctors and nurses to help push his AIDS agenda.

Similarly, Dannemeyer said, he wants to build a constituency for an eventual return to the gold standard. As an interim step, he said, he would push for the issuance of gold-backed bonds in an effort to stem the ever-increasing national debt.

Dannemeyer, married and the father of three, has never been seriously threatened in the 39th District since winning the seat in 1978. His latest financial report shows that he has raised $190,000 for his reelection bid and spent about $150,000. The district includes Fullerton, Orange, Yorba Linda, Brea, La Habra, Placentia, Villa Park and most of Anaheim.

Although immensely successful in his own district, Dannemeyer has fared less well in Washington. Criticized in the past--sometimes by members of his own party--for a hard-driving legislative style that long ago earned him the nickname William “Dynamiter,” Dannemeyer was denied a spot he wanted during the last term on the House Budget Committee. Instead, seats were given to two freshman members of Congress.

Dannemeyer shrugged off the snubs, saying only: “I didn’t get on, and I’m still puzzled why I didn’t. It’s all part of the process. It’s still a goal that I have in mind.”

Asked if he thought his reputation as a combative legislator had hurt his chances of getting the budget committee assignment, Dannemeyer said: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don’t apologize to anyone for the actions I’ve taken in the House. I’m appalled at the unwillingness of the House to address the hemorrhaging that’s going on in the budget process and the tragedy we’re watching unfold before our eyes.”

Dannemeyer said he has not ruled out another try for the U.S. Senate. He aborted a run for the GOP nomination in 1986 after two months, saying he could not raise enough money for advertising.