Papen Leaves Republican Party

Political Power--Assemblyman Paul Horcher (R-West Covina) has such a knack for infuriating his political opponents that he has now driven two of them to change their party registration.

Diamond Bar City Councilwoman Phyllis Papen, who lost to Horcher in the Republican primary in the 60th Assembly District last June and then lost a lawsuit against him last week, quit the “Grand Old Party” to become a Democrat.

Two years ago, Democratic nominee Gary L. Neely after a disheartening loss to Horcher in the general election re-registered as an independent.

Papen said she changed her registration Friday after Pomona Superior Court Judge James H. Piatt ordered her to pay $3,275 in attorney fees and court costs as the loser in a defamation lawsuit.

Papen sued Horcher over campaign ads, including a cable television commercial that showed her head coming out of a garbage can while the announcer asserted that she cast a vote on a Diamond Bar garbage contract to help her “live-in boyfriend’s client.” Papen contended that her picture was altered to make her look ugly and that her actions on the council were misrepresented.

Horcher’s attorney, John A. Slezak, said the lawsuit was dismissed because the campaign ad was constitutionally protected. Anyone has a right to make comment on a candidate for political office as long as he does not falsely accuse the candidate of dishonesty or a crime, he said.

Small Tent--Papen said that, even if the court case had gone the other way, she was ready to leave the GOP because of the lack of support she garnered in her race against Horcher.

Papen said party leaders in the San Gabriel Valley and elsewhere shunned her because she is a woman and advocates abortion rights.

“The Republican Party does not support women, especially pro-choice women,” she said.

She said Republicans in the Valley give “lip service to the big tent,”--the idea of welcoming diversity-- but the party is still run by “the good-old-boy network.”

Papen received 43% of the vote in the Republican primary to Horcher’s 57% after she was outspent $60,000 to nearly $300,000.

Political Forum--The eight candidates seeking the office of mayor in Pomona have been invited to a candidates forum, from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 10, at the auditorium of the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, 309 E. 2nd St.

City council candidates will appear at a forum Feb. 17 from 6 to 9 p.m. in the same auditorium. The forums are sponsored by the Pomona Chamber of Commerce and other organizations.