<i> A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County’s political life</i> : Rohrabacher Rival Calls Race ‘Competitive’ but Incumbent Thinks Not

Consider the source: Hoping to show that his candidacy isn’t as much of a long shot as mournful political pundits might think, Democratic congressional candidate Brett Williamson released a poll last week showing the Republican incumbent, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Huntington Beach, with a low approval rating and with one-third of the voters not knowing him well enough to rate him.

The survey of 508 voters in the 45th Congressional District--taken in late June and early July--showed that 32% of the voters gave Rohrabacher an “excellent” or “good” rating and that 25% gave him a “fair” grade.

Williamson, who calls himself a “moderate mainstream Democrat,” concedes the poll “does not indicate we are going to sweep easily to victory in November.” But he maintains the district is “much more competitive than is generally thought. This district has a very large number of independent voters.”

Rohrabacher supposedly did not give the poll a second thought. “Consider the source” is the phrase that “says it all,” Rohrabacher’s spokesman said.

*

Money isn’t everything: Final campaign finance reports for the local June 7 primary show the big loser on election day was indeed Huntington Beach businesswoman Haydee V. Tillotson. Not only did she miss a place in the November run-off election for the Board of Supervisors District 2 seat, but she also paid dearly for her third place finish behind Huntington Beach Councilman Jim Silva and Huntington Beach Mayor Linda Moulton Patterson.

According to reports filed with the registrar of voters, Tillotson lent her election committee $432,000--including a final $90,000 personal loan that she took out on election day. Ironically, Silva, who had the most trouble raising money during the primary campaign, received the most votes.

In the 70th Assembly District, Republican candidate Marilyn C. Brewer had better luck. She barely won the three-way contest in the conservative coastal district, even though she funneled $240,000 in personal loans to her campaign.

*

Silva’s silver: Silva’s friend Supervisor Roger R. Stanton recently invited prospective donors to a $1,000-a-plate luncheon and requested that invitees bring along a “business associate” who could also give $1,000. But the event was mysteriously canceled. “A lot of people are working on my behalf, but I don’t know anything about that side of it,” Silva said.

*

Heroes are exempt: A group seeking to limit House members to six years of service and U.S. senators to 12 years recently named three local congressmen “term limits heroes” because of their support for a term limits amendment. Reps. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar) and Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) were the only Californians recognized by the group.

Kim and Royce are still a few years away from meeting the term limit standard advocated by the group. Dornan, who has long advocated term limits, has pledged that if he wins reelection in November to his ninth term, it will be his last. That’s right, ninth term, as in 18 years in Congress.

“We don’t ask members to limit themselves to those term limits,” said Ron Nehring, the congressional affairs director for the U.S. Term Limits group. “What we are interested in is national limits. They signed contracts pledging they would support limits in Congress.”

*

Community property: LaVonne Campbell, a retired police detective and the wife of ousted Newport Beach police chief Arb Campbell, is considering challenging Newport Beach Councilman John W. Hedges in the Nov. 8 election.

If she does run, Campbell said, she doesn’t expect her candidacy to be hurt by the allegations of sexual misconduct against her husband that led to his firing and are now part of a lawsuit scheduled for trial next year.

“My family is still somewhat battered,” she said. But Arb “would support me in any way he could, and I couldn’t imagine that people would hold that ancient history against me.”

Campaign Spending

Incumbent Republican congressmen have a huge lead over their Democratic challengers in money raised for the current campaigns. Reps. Jay Kim (R-Diamond Bar) and Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), in particular, have buried their opponents. Money raised and spent between Jan. 1 and June 30, and cash on hand as of June 30:

Money raised Money spent Cash on hand 39th Congressional District D: R.O. “Bob” Davis $ 374 $ 1,824 $ 61 R: Ed Royce (1) 72,722 94,192 33,918 41st Congressional District D: Ed Tessier 9,035 18,773 661 R: Jay C. Kim (1) 290,355 379,861 31,454 45th Congressional District D: Brett Williamson 28,297 38,202 10,094 R: Dana Rohrabacher (1) 67,040 56,892 64,113 46th Congressional District D: Mike Farber 90,116 127,589 84 R: Robert K. Dornan (1) 665,664 554,678 191,447 47th Congressional District D: Gary Kingsbury * * n/a R: Christopher Cox (1) 71,536 43,006 273,562 48th Congressional District D: Andrei Leschick n/a n/a n/a R: Ron Packard (1) 59,346 29,571 151,059

(1) Incumbent

* Under $5,000

Source: Federal Election Commission reports

*

UPCOMING EVENTS

* Wednesday: Orange County Young Republicans meet at the South Coast Westin Hotel, 686 Anton Blvd. beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Politics ’94 appears every Sunday.