CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: CONGRESS : Rohrabacher Foes to Protest His Record

A newly created political action committee said it will protest what it calls Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s “lousy record” on the environment Sunday while the Long Beach Republican participates in a surf contest here.

Jeffrey Chester, spokesman for the Southern California Coalition for Responsible Government, said this will be one of many protests the group has planned for Rohrabacher. The coalition, which represents an array of people who take issue with the congressman’s record, was formed in August in an effort to unseat Rohrabacher in the Nov. 6 general election.

Chester said the PAC has hired a small plane to display a banner with the message “Save Our Beach, Don’t Vote for Rohrabacher in November” between 10 a.m. and noon Sunday. Coalition members also will be handing out leaflets to the crowd at the event, Chester said.

“Rohrabacher does love to play in the sand and surf,” he noted. “But he doesn’t like doing the hard work in Congress to ensure that polluters are punished and that our coastline is protected forever.”

Larry Hart, communication director for Rohrabacher, said the congressman has been looking forward to the contest and intends to participate despite the planned protest. He added that Rohrabacher’s recent votes for the offshore liability bill and the double-hull bill, two pieces of legislation dealing with the transport of oil, demonstrate his support for a clean environment.

The surf contest is part of the city’s 20th annual Summer Surfing Contest this weekend. Rohrabacher and others will be surfing to raise money for the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum.

In addition to Rohrabacher, former Huntington Beach Mayor Robert Mandic and Councilman John Erskine are scheduled to surf in the contest.

Don May, one of the protest organizers and a representative of the Southern California chapter of the San Francisco-based Earth Island Institute, said Rohrabacher has the worst voting record on environmental issues in California.

“According to the League of Conservation Voters’ annual ratings, Rohrabacher had a 30% voting record,” said May, who lives in Long Beach. “In terms of the environment, he has done absolutely nothing for (his) district. He is totally out of step with his district.”

Hart disputed that assessment. “I think critics of Dana should look at the entire legislative record and not some organization that puts out a rating system,” he said. “If these people have a problem with certain votes he has made, Dana would be glad to respond to that.”

Made up of artists, environmentalists, senior citizens and women’s groups from Orange County and Long Beach, the bipartisan PAC has already staged one protest against the congressman. That demonstration, which was held in front of Rohrabacher’s Los Alamitos office, mainly centered on his efforts to prohibit certain funding for the National Endowment of the Arts.

The PAC is producing several anti-Rohrabacher TV spots that will air starting in late September.