Partying Aside, Some Say Navy Shouldn’t Jettison Tailhook

As a retired Navy fighter pilot, Rep. Randall (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego) remembers the annual conventions put by the San Diego-based Tailhook Assn.

He remembers the rowdiness. As a squadron commander at Miramar Naval Air Station, he ordered his charges to steer clear of the anything-goes partying at Tailhook conventions.

Cunningham does not equivocate; he wants those responsible for the disgustingly abusive treatment of women at the recent Tailhook convention in Las Vegas punished. “Sexual harassment is reprehensible,” he said.

But he also hopes the Navy does not forget the contributions Tailhook has made to Naval aviation since it was formed 35 years ago.

“Once the NIS (Naval Investigative Service) investigation is over, I hope there is a rethinking of the (Navy) secretary’s position,” he said. “I hope the Navy is not deprived of the service that Tailhook has provided.”

As it stands now, Secretary of the Navy H. Lawrence Garrett has ordered the Navy to sever all ties with Tailhook, a private, nonprofit organization.

Tailhook has been told to vacate its office at Miramar. More important, there are signs that the Navy will no longer provide speakers or transportation for Tailhook conventions.

Its rowdy reputation aside, Tailhook’s mission is to promote discussion of tactics and hardware. The kind of things that are important when the shooting starts.

The recent convention, which attracted 3,000 military fliers, retirees and others, was full of seminars on what worked and what didn’t during Operation Desert Storm.

James Ramage, a retired rear admiral living in Coronado, says the strength of Tailhook conventions is that no one stands on rank.

“I’ve had a junior officer stick two fingers in my chest, and say, ‘Admiral, have you ever been in the right-hand seat of an A-6? That damned gear doesn’t work,’ ” said Ramage, commander of the 7th Fleet during Vietnam.

“That kind of exchange between the junior officers who have to fly the missions and senior officers who make the policy is unique.

“It doesn’t happen anywhere else.”

Broderick and More Broderick

Betty bonanza.

* Nervous joke making the (male) rounds.

How do you know if your wife is really angry at you?

She joins a Betty Broderick support group.

* A TV movie (“Till Murder Do Us Part”) about the Broderick case is being shot in Culver City. Tentatively set for February on CBS.

Meredith Baxter (the mom on “Family Ties”) plays Betty. Stephen Collins (JFK in the miniseries “A Woman Named Jackie”) will be Dan Broderick.

No San Diego filming is planned. And, no, Baxter will not be required to add poundage to portray the post-divorce Betty; the beefing up will be done with padding and makeup tricks.

* Broderick turned 44 Thursday. She had been set to continue testifying, but two jurors took sick.

No one knows if the jury is buying her version of events. But, if she read her birth date horoscopes Thursday, she’s got to be encouraged.

From The Times: “Marital status commands part of spotlight along with possibility of addition to family. During November you’ll be on more solid ground. You’ll travel in December.”

From the San Diego Union: “You have greater personal freedom in December. Next year expands imagination and creativity, for business or pleasure.”

Less-Than-Ringing Endorsement

Let’s talk.

* Washington-based Campaign magazine is not impressed by our local hopefuls: “A Motley Crew Seeks San Diego Mayoralty.”

From a story by West Coast bureau chief Ann Shanahan Walsh.

* Anita Hill is set to speak next Friday at a sex-harassment forum sponsored by the New Jersey-based Center for the American Woman and Politics at the Hotel del Coronado.

C-SPAN is covering.

* Barrio Station Executive Director Rachael Ortiz says someone is ripping off her organization by using its name in telephone fund-raising.

* A new landscape design firm in San Diego: Ava Gardeners.