Countywide : Congressman Offers Kuwait Political Aid

Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) has offered to help build political parties in Kuwait and to work to broaden voting rights there.

Lagomarsino and two other members of the National Republican Institute for International Affairs want to help establish a democracy in the country whose autonomy has been at the crux of the Persian Gulf War. Since the 1700s, Kuwait has been ruled by a royal family.

Lagomarsino heads the institute, a branch of the Republican Party that promotes international democracy. He and his colleagues did not offer more details of their plans after meeting with the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States on Thursday.

“There’s no trip planned,” Lagomarsino spokesman Matt Reynolds said Friday. “We don’t want to shove anything down their throat.”

But Reynolds added, “The Kuwaitis are certainly receptive to us. . . . The institute is prepared and ready, willing and anxious to help out in the process of furthering political development and reform in Kuwait.”