Cut in Federal Funds Could Delay Work on Courthouse

Construction of Orange County’s first federal courthouse may be delayed by a surprise move Thursday in Congress, which cut $25 million for the project out of next year’s budget.

The $25 million, the last of $128 million budgeted for the courthouse, was eliminated from an appropriations bill Thursday night by a conference committee after the House of Representatives voted to cut the Senate version of the bill by $200 million.

Those who voted to send the bill to the committee for cuts included Reps. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), in whose district the courthouse would be built, and Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), as well as Republican Senate candidate and Rep. Mike Huffington (R-Santa Barbara).

In a news release issued Thursday night after the committee action, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein blamed Dornan and Huffington, who is running for her seat, for the loss of the $25 million. The money, in addition to $103 million that Congress appropriated last year, is required to complete the courthouse.

“What is unbelievable is that Congressman Bob Dornan, who represents the district and the man who aspires to be a senator from California, Michael Huffington, stood at the doors of the House floor actively lobbying for this cut,” she said.

Dornan and Huffington denied they had been instrumental in the House action. Dornan said he had been busy in other meetings all day and only appeared in the House to cast his vote.

Moreover, Dornan and Huffington said they were unaware that the Orange County project was in any jeopardy, and they blamed the Democrats in the conference committee for the upset.

“It is the first time I knew there was $25 million in it (the bill) for the courthouse,” Huffington said. “As I often do, I voted for cuts in spending.”

Dornan said he realized that the courthouse project was in the larger budget appropriation. But he said he thought that it would be protected from any trims because it was a high-priority item and had been contained in the original bill that was approved by the House before the Senate added projects.

“I fought on the House floor to protect the courthouse and won just six weeks ago,” Dornan said. “It was a resolved issue. . . .

“I did not expect them to play cheap partisan politics and go back into the meat to punish Republicans by cutting projects in Republican districts.”

Dornan, Huffington and Cox said they believe that the $25 million for the courthouse still can be saved, if Feinstein wields her influence with Democratic members of the conference committee before the bill goes back to the Senate and House for final confirmation.

“She is in the perfect position to fix this, and it can be fixed,” Cox said.

However, Bob Maynes, press secretary for Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), who co-chaired the conference committee, was skeptical that the courthouse appropriation can be salvaged.

Maynes said “Huffington and Dornan have shot themselves in the foot.” He said both had energetically lobbied for the $200-million cut. “I suspect that the conference committee may well have given them the opportunity to put up or shut up,” he said.

“The question,” he added, “is whether they will view this cut as a laudable cut in pork-barrel spending or scream foul because the cuts have come in their own state. It would appear they have been just a little too cute for their own good and, unfortunately, for the good of their constituents.”

If the cut was not restored, Dornan said, construction would be delayed by about four months.

The project is considered vital to a growing caseload in Orange County. The city of Santa Ana has worked more than 20 years to bring a federal courthouse to the Civic Center, said City Manager David N. Ream. A federal court now operates out of temporary space in a modular building.

The new courthouse will be built on a 3.9-acre parcel of city-owned land bounded by 4th, 5th and Ross streets.

Ream said that even with Thursday’s action in Congress, officials expect site work to begin in October and construction to begin in February or March.