Fuller’s Ties to County Firms Seem Unlikely to Be Renewed

Now that former Orange County business executive Craig L. Fuller has been passed over for the job of White House chief of staff, there’s speculation that he may be lured back to one of the Orange County-based corporations with whom he has strong ties, such as Pacific Mutual or the Irvine Co.

Irvine Co. officials confirmed last week that corporate vice president Jack Flannigan, a close friend of Fuller’s, has talked with him, and indications were that Fuller, who already has spent 8 years in Washington, would remain in the nation’s capital after he leaves President-elect George Bush’s transition team in January.

No jobs in Orange County were even discussed, sources said.

Irvine Co. officials and former Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande, who also talked to Fuller, said that before Thursday’s announcement that Fuller was returning to the private sector, Fuller was considering other administration posts, such as anti-drug czar or secretary of transportation.

Fuller, who has been Bush’s chief of staff since 1985, was public affairs manager for the Newport Beach-based Pacific Mutual Insurance Co. from 1974 to 1977.

Irvine Co. Vice President Larry Thomas--Bush’s one-time press secretary--said it is unlikely that Fuller would take a corporate staff job here when he can stay in Washington and be at the center of things.

“I think it’s sad,” Nestande said of Fuller’s departure from Bush’s staff. “I’ve known Craig for 16 years, and he’s simply the best there is.”

swash.buck.ler (-bukler) n. a blustering, swaggering fighting man.

--Webster’s New World Dictionary

Swashbuckler is a word sometimes used to describe Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), who makes a habit of visiting foreign hot spots and pledging support for various causes there. He has flown to Syria in a bid to free U.S. hostages, to Hanoi to try to U.S. servicemen missing in action, and to battlefields in Central America.

But does Dornan face a new rival from within his own county’s delegation?

Congressman-elect Dana Rohrabacher, who will replace Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Long Beach) in January, popped into the news last week when he illegally entered Burma to lend support to students seeking democratic reforms there.

Dornan could not be reached for comment, but Brian Bennett, Dornan’s chief of staff, said that Rohrabacher’s failure to “check in” with the U.S. State Department before crossing the Thai border shows Rohrabacher’s inexperience. “You’re not required to consult the State Department on these trips, but it’s a good idea to do so. He (Rohrabacher) isn’t even sworn in yet as a congressman.”

Although Dornan handily won reelection, he was the only Orange County congressman to pull less than 60% of the vote on Nov. 8. He took 59.6% of the vote against Democrat Jerry Yudelson, a result that Dornan aide Bennett attributes to the district’s higher proportion of Democrats.

But get this: Dornan scored higher in the even more heavily Democratic Los Angeles County portion of the 38th Congressional District (63.2%) than he did in Orange County (59%).

There was less media coverage there of the pre-election flap involving Dornan’s wife Sallie, gay activists and Douglas Richard Hansen of San Diego, one of Sallie’s brothers. Hansen contradicted Sallie Dornan’s statements that he is gay and responded to her statement that he had AIDS by taking a medical test to prove he didn’t.

Bennett, Dornan’s chief of staff, said Dornan’s success in the Los Angeles County portion of the district was because Yudelson simply spent too little time there.

Meanwhile, the results of the Nov. 8 ballotting once again demonstrated Orange County’s conservative bent.

Proposition 98, a school funding measure, passed with 50.8% of the statewide vote but lost in Orange County with 43.9%.

Proposition 85, library construction bonds, passed 52.6% to 47.4% statewide, but took 45% of the local vote.

Proposition 97, which restores Cal-OSHA, passed 53.7% to 46.3% statewide but was rejected here, 57.6% to 42.4%.

And yet Orange County’s support for Proposition 103, the most radical of the insurance reform initiatives, passed here with 51.7%, contrasted with 51.1% statewide.

Also, Orange County gave a higher percentage vote to Proposition 99, the cigarette tax. The measure received 58.2% of the vote here and 57.2% statewide.

Tax may be a dirty word in Orange County, but it doesn’t always spell d-o-o-m at the polls.