Background in Military Is All Foes Share in Assembly Race : Profiles: Democrat Ramsay urges compassionate health care. Republican Conroy argues passionately for patriotism and against illegal immigrants and the idea of ‘ethnic Americans.’

A special election Sept. 17 will fill an Assembly seat vacated when John R. Lewis (R-Orange) was elected to the state Senate in May. Republican Mickey R. Conroy defeated five other candidates for his party’s nomination in a July primary. He now faces Gregory R. Ramsay, the only Democrat to run in the heavily Republican 67th District, which stretches from Yorba Linda to Tustin and from Silverado Canyon to Orange.

Gregory R. Ramsay knows the exact moment when his life changed forever. It was the evening of Sept. 22, 1979, just three weeks after he started his senior year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

A straight-A student at age 22, Ramsay was planning to follow his father’s footsteps and become a Navy pilot. But that autumn night, just as he turned out of his girlfriend’s driveway onto a country road, Ramsay’s Toyota Celica was demolished by a 19-year-old drunk driver.

Ramsay’s next memory is of a month later, when he came out of a coma. He spent another eight months in the hospital recovering from a fractured skull, a broken back, a ruptured spleen, two broken shoulders and a shattered leg.

Today, Ramsay says the experience has made him thankful to be alive and has inspired a desire to return his good fortune by public service. After leaving the hospital, Ramsay completed his courses at the Naval Academy, but left the military to pursue a new career in health care.

In launching his bid for the Assembly, the 33-year-old Democrat said he is pursuing a path that he hopes will give him a voice in creating a fair and effective national health care system.

“I look at this life as a gift--every day is one I shouldn’t have been here,” Ramsay said in a recent interview. “I just want to take advantage of my time; I think it’s a great opportunity.”

Ramsay, who has worked in the health care field for six years, is a a manager with Admar Co. in Orange. He negotiates health care contracts with hospitals around the country to benefit clients insured by Admar.

Ramsay grew up and graduated from Orange County public schools. When he became active in politics at the Naval Academy, he first registered as a Republican working on President Gerald R. Ford’s 1976 election campaign.

Ramsay remained a Republican until 1988 when, he says, he became dismayed by scandals that rocked President Reagan’s Administration, particularly the savings and loan crisis.

“It just seemed like the Republicans had too much focus on the rich getting richer,” he said. “I really do have a compassionate heart, and they left too many people unattended.”

On health care, Ramsay said his compassion has contributed to a philosophy that America’s access to doctors and hospitals should be a right, not a privilege. He said he opposes the most popular proposal being considered in Washington, one that would require employers to carry a greater burden in providing health care benefits.

Such a plan, he said, would not provide enough service to the poor and unemployed and it would create too much of a burden on businesses. He said the only fair health care system must be administered and subsidized by the government.

“I probably ran up $1 million in doctor bills and I don’t know what I would have done if somebody had not picked up the tab,” he said. “We’re a very rich country, I think an affordable level of health care ought to be available for everyone.”

Mickey R. Conroy is a blunt, no-nonsense man who has applied his love-it-or-leave-it philosophy equally to the state Capitol, ethnic Americans and illegal immigrants.

The views of the Republican favorite to win a special Assembly election next week have often involved him in controversy, but Conroy appears unconcerned.

It’s not that he’s a troublemaker, insists the 63-year-old retired fighter pilot. “I just have a bad habit of telling it like it is.”

For starters, Conroy says that most of California’s problems are caused by its inability to close the international borders.

“I hear about the overcrowding in the schools and the overcrowding in the jails, but who is doing the overcrowding?” he said in a recent interview. “I don’t know, but I look around and I am sure there are many people in those schools and those jails who are products of our open borders. The state cannot bear that burden.”

Conroy also has a message for minority groups that describe themselves as ethnic Americans.

“There are no such things as hyphenated Americans, (like) Korean-Americans or Hispanic Americans,” he says. “You want to be an American, be an American. You want to be a Mexican, go back to Mexico.”

Conroy first gained statewide attention in 1986 when he led a petition drive demanding Democrat Tom Hayden’s removal from the Assembly for his protests during the Vietnam War. The issue was eventually brought to a vote on the floor of the Assembly by Conroy’s strongest ally in Sacramento, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach).

If he is elected, Conroy promises, his fight against Hayden will not die.

“I intend to bring it up all the time,” he said. “The man gave up his right to serve in the California Assembly when he went over there and supported the enemy.”

Conroy spent much of his life in the military, starting when he quit high school to join the merchant marine in World War II. He later received high school and college credit when he passed equivalency tests after joining the Navy in 1949. He subsequently joined the Marine Corps; he retired as a major in 1970.

Conroy first served in combat in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Bronze Star as a fighter pilot.

Since leaving the military, Conroy has been active in veterans’ affairs and is currently head of at least three separate veterans’ organizations. But once again, his involvement has been the focus of controversy.

Conroy made enemies with national leaders of the Disabled American Veterans when he unsuccessfully tried to enlist the group in his anti-Hayden effort. Just this year, the DAV filed a lawsuit against Conroy demanding that he drop its name from a charity organization he runs because he had not properly filed financial reports on the group’s activities.

“Mr. Conroy has served the veterans’ community in some positions admirably, but I would say 80% of his activities have been more destructive to veterans than constructive,” said Ed Munis, a veterans’ lobbyist in Sacramento whose clients include the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “Mickey Conroy’s agenda is Mickey Conroy.”

But while Conroy’s opponents are irritated or offended by his combative personality, supporters also say that same attitude is one of his strengths.

“If you ask me to describe him I would say he’s doggedly determined,” Ferguson said. “There are those who consider him controversial, but it’s only because he’s been so outspoken and such a strong advocate.”

67th Assembly District

DEMOCRAT

Gregory Robert Ramsay

Hometown: Santa Ana

Age: 33

Occupation: Health care manager for Admar Co. in Orange

Background: Health care worker for six years, one year with Admar, which provides health care plans to employers; graduated U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. in 1981. Has never before run for elected office.

Issues: Supports legalized abortion; supports a waiting period for purchase of a gun and a ban on assault weapons; opposes sales tax increase in latest state budget, favors greater tax burden on wealthy; supports the death penalty and supports AB 101, a proposed state law to prohibit discrimination against homosexuals.

REPUBLICAN

Mickey Conroy

Hometown: Santa Ana

Age: 63

Occupation: Executive director, Veterans Charities of Orange County

Background: Former Marine, retired in 1970 as a major; regional distribution manager for copy machine manufacturer; joined veterans charities board in 1986. Gained statewide prominence in early 1980s for demanding Santa Monica Democratic Assemblyman Tom Hayden’s dismissal from Legislature. Has never before run for elected office.

Issues: Opposes legalized abortion; opposes a waiting period for purchase of a gun and the state’s ban on assault weapons; opposes tax increases in latest state budget; supports the death penalty and opposes AB 101.