8 O.C. Republicans Abandon Bush, Publicly Defect to Clinton : Politics: Their joint endorsement sparks a debate with loyalists outside a private club and refuels the ongoing fight over control of local GOP.

The defection of eight prominent Orange County Republicans to the Democratic presidential campaign prompted a verbal confrontation Friday outside a private club between moderate and conservative Republicans, highlighting a split that might have been unthinkable once in politically conservative Orange County.

The brief debate in the parking lot of the Pacific Club followed the announcement by the eight political and business leaders that they are endorsing Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton’s candidacy. Those making the political switch included Orange County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, home developer Kathryn Thompson and Western Digital Corp. Chairman Roger W. Johnson.

The formation of the Independent Americans for New Leadership committee was part of an 18-state announcement of similar switches to Clinton and had been anticipated for some time. But its formal entry onto the local political scene refueled part of the ongoing fight over control of the local Republican Party.

“My announcement today comes with much difficulty and sadness,” said Wieder, who became a Republican in the 1970s and has supported all the Republican presidents since Richard M. Nixon.

An abortion rights advocate, Wieder said she waited until the convention to decide her vote.

The GOP convention “turned its back on me and other Republicans like me when its members embraced, in fact, were captured, by the religious right that ignores the constitutional mandate of separation of church and state.”

Joining Wieder, Thompson and Johnson in endorsing Clinton were Dana Point City Councilwoman Judy Curreri; Harry Jeffrey, president of the local chapter of the California Republican League; Anita Mangels, a board member of the California Abortion Rights Action League PAC; Robert Nelson, a public relations executive and Republican political consultant, and Del Weber, president of the California Teachers Assn.

But as the group attempted during the news conference to slow Bush’s post-convention momentum, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) stood outside with 20 demonstrators and scoffed at the significance of the move toward Clinton.

“How do we feel about these people leaving?” Rohrabacher asked. “Good riddance!” the crowd responded.

Asked if he was contradicting his party’s claim that its tent is big enough to hold people of differing views, Rohrabacher replied: “We do have a big tent, but the Republican Party stands for conservative principles, and these people (the defectors) have been Republicans only for convenience sake, because it helps them in conservative Orange County. Anyplace else, they’d be Democrats.”

Singling out Wieder for attack, the congressman said her Republican credentials “are as phony as her college degree.” He was referring to her admission in 1990, during her unsuccessful congressional campaign against Rohrabacher, that she once had issued a resume falsely listing a journalism degree from a Michigan college.

Also joining the fight was state Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange), who said in a prepared statement, “Obviously, the Clinton campaign had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with this bunch.”

But during the news conference, the Clinton supporters defended their Republican credentials.

Nelson pointed to Thompson as an example of a longtime Republican fund-raiser. During the 1988 campaign, she was a member of President Bush’s Team 100, who all raised at least $100,000.

The political consultant also said the group was standing up for “the 116,000 Orange County Republicans who can no longer support George Bush,” referring to the 44% Republican primary vote that was cast against Bush.

And others blamed conservatives such as Rohrabacher and Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) for the party split, but said they had received encouragement from fellow party members.

“Many people have said, ‘Thank God someone is having the guts to stand up,’ ” Mangels said.

None of the eight Republicans said they were considering joining the Democratic Party, nor were they planning to endorse other Democratic candidates on the November ballot. Only Wieder said she was still considering her support for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn.

“I am sick and tired of being called un-American, unethical or immoral just because I have a different view,” Johnson said.

But their support for Clinton may come at a price.

Thompson demanded that Dornan apologize for his published comments that her endorsement of Clinton could hurt her construction business.

She also has resigned as a board member of the conservative Lincoln Club and has offered to withdraw her membership. But she said she did not know if her husband, Gus Owen, would be forced to resign as head of the influential GOP group. Owen was a delegate to the Republican convention.

The local Republican Central Committee also is considering whether to decertify the local chapter of the California Republican League, because its local chairman, Jeffrey, was among those endorsing Clinton. The league is a moderate group and is considered to have a small following in the county.

And Wieder said she has received calls from angry Republicans, including one Thursday.

“They said, ‘How could you?’ And I said, ‘How could I not?’ ”

After the news conference, Jeffrey confronted Rohrabacher in the parking lot and told him he was “so far to the right that you’ve fallen off the Earth!” He added: “You didn’t even win a majority of the Republican votes in the primary.”

But Rohrabacher shot back, “Who elected you? I’m elected and you’re not. . . .”

Jeffrey’s organization is so small, the congressman joked, that “they could hold their meetings in a phone booth.”

And Jeffrey replied, “You’re a vacuous, do-nothing congressman.”

When Nelson approached the protesters, Rohrabacher called him “the biggest phony who ever walked down the pike.”

Nelson responded: “I will never support someone who promises one thing and then does another,” referring to President Bush’s broken pledge not to raise taxes.