O.C. GOP Leaders Critical; Others Liked Speech

As California’s Republican stronghold, Orange County is always a tough sell for President Clinton.

So it’s not surprising that many in the county’s delegation to Washington were critical of the President’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night.

But instead of attacking what he said in his speech, county Republican leaders largely complained that Clinton’s plans did not go far enough, or said they doubted he would follow through on his promises.

“I thought it was the vintage Clinton that we’ve come to know,” said Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach). “What that means is that I found myself agreeing with a great deal of the rhetoric, but knowing full well there is an enormous gulf between the words and the reality.”

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) agreed. “What he is selling are conservative themes and Republican themes, but the picture is quite the opposite,” he said.

Aside from the partisan snipes, the President’s speech drew praise from several corners of Orange County, including local business leaders, health care officials and Democratic leaders. In his speech, Clinton renewed his effort to pass a universal health care plan and he tied that program to a welfare reform proposal that emphasized job responsibility and disincentives for parents who can’t afford another child.

But the President found the most support in Orange County with his tough call for new anti-crime legislation that bans assault weapons and requires any defendant convicted of three violent crimes to serve a life sentence.

“He’s suddenly become Ronald Reagan on crime,” said Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove). “No Democrat has ever spoken this strongly on crime. He’s stealing the ideas that have been kicking around here for 18 years . . . but better late than never.”

Royce said that Clinton stopped just short of supporting the full package of anti-crime legislation he has proposed in Congress. Both Royce and Cox said the President should also have called for tougher sentencing laws as part of the crime package.

But Royce applauded the President’s endorsement of the so-called “three strikes and you’re out” legislation. And Cox also promised to support it. “I think we will now see it become law,” Royce said.

Clinton also struck a chord with Orange County’s lone Democrat in state or federal office--Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove). Umberg, a former federal prosecutor who is exploring a campaign for California attorney general this year, said he gave a speech earlier Tuesday that outlined several of the same crime themes as the President.

“He’s talking about the things that Americans care about and he understands their human experience,” Umberg said.

County Democratic Chairwoman Dorianne Garcia, who hosted about 30 people at a speech-watching gathering in Santa Ana on Tuesday evening, said she thought Clinton had put the nation’s problems ahead of politics because his plan was not conservative or liberal.

“He sets out to do what’s right,” she said. “We see that with the health care program, with the crime program and with (his advocacy of) accessible and affordable education,” Garcia said. “I cannot see anybody in Orange County not agreeing with those.”

Where the county Republicans separated most sharply with the President was on his call for a universal health care plan.

Dornan said he thought a “key moment” in the speech came when the President raised his pen and threatened to veto any health care plan that fell short of providing universal coverage. The Garden Grove congressman, who repeated Tuesday that he has not decided whether to seek reelection, promised to oppose Clinton’s plan.

“We’re (not) going to give universal coverage to every criminal and alcoholic lying in an alley somewhere,” he said. “He’s pushing socialized medicine.”

Cox also criticized the President for being disingenuous in his facts about the problem, saying that he greatly exaggerated the number of Americans who don’t have health insurance.

“When he talks about health care, he says we should have choice and let the market work,” Cox said. “These happen to be wonderful ideas that are diametrically opposed to his legislation. He’s going to grant government agencies regional monopolies. That is hardly letting the market work.”

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who gave the President credit for “a very well-crafted speech,” also thought Clinton overstated the nation’s health care problem. Rohrabacher said the nation’s health care system needs reform, but he added: “I don’t believe there’s a health care crisis in America.”

While the medical profession has criticized many of the Clinton Administration’s initial health care proposals, Tuesday’s speech drew applause from some in Orange County’s health industry.

“I, and most physicians, support (the kind of program) he was talking about,” said Melvyn L. Sterling, president of the Orange County Medical Assn. and an internal medicine specialist in Orange. “I was very encouraged that he reaffirmed a commitment to employer-based private insurance.”

Co Pham, a Westminster obstetrician, said Clinton’s health care proposals sounded “very realistic. Even though I’m a Republican, I am very impressed. He was very eloquent.”

Pham, president of the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, said he has patients on welfare, “especially in the Vietnamese community, who are afraid to take a low-paying job because they are afraid of losing medical benefits.”

Clinton’s words won some hearts elsewhere in the county’s business community--at least for one night.

Even critics such as career development specialist P. Anthony Burnham credited Clinton with a speech that will provoke a lot of thought and discussion.

“He is a very sincere man,” said Burnham, president of ProActive Institute, a career skills development center. “I was glad he proposed the move from an unemployment system to a re-employment system. But I was very disappointed that he didn’t develop that more.”

Aaron Lovejoy, past president of the Orange County Black Chamber of Commerce, said he thought the speech had some heartening news for small businesses, citing Clinton’s commitment to community development banks and empowerment zones.