OXNARD : Takasugi to Speak at GOP Convention

Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi will address the Republican National Convention when delegates meet in Houston next week to renominate George Bush and Dan Quayle to the GOP presidential ticket.

Takasugi, who won the Republican nomination in the 37th Assembly District, said he will cram his life story, a pep talk on American values and an endorsement of the Bush-Quayle ticket into a 3-minute speech Tuesday morning.

He said his address will mirror the one that he gave at the GOP convention four years ago in New Orleans before more than 20,000 delegates and Republican faithful.

At that time, he told of his family’s detention at an internment camp for Japanese-Americans months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. And he talked about how after his incarceration, he rose to the highest elected post in Oxnard.

“I will tell the delegates how anyone who wants to get ahead in this country can do so if he sets his mind to it,” Takasugi said. “I will tell them that despite its shortcomings, America is still the greatest country in the world.”

Takasugi said he was not sure if he would attend the convention until he was invited to speak.

He said he knows that he will be losing valuable campaign time in his bid to become the first Asian-American elected to the state Legislature since 1978.

“I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity four years ago,” Takasugi said. “Here I find myself with a second great opportunity of a lifetime.”

But while Takasugi is away, his Democratic competitor Roz McGrath plans to try to woo his supporters by airing two, 30-second commercials on local cable television during convention week.

“I want to offer the public an alternative to career politicians, and from the failed politics-as-usual policies espoused by incumbents such as my opponent,” McGrath said.

Meanwhile, Takasugi announced that he has received the endorsement of the California Union of Safety Employees, a statewide organization of more than 5,000 police officers and other safety personnel.

Takasugi and McGrath are competing in the 37th Assembly District that encompasses Moorpark, Camarillo, Oxnard, Port Hueneme and most of Thousand Oaks.