<i> A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County’s political life</i> : Rohrabacher Crusades for Civil Rights Initiative, Willie Brown Fights Back

Dana and Willie: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who stirred up nasty debates over illegal immigration on the House floor last year, has taken up the crusade for the California Civil Rights Initiative.

Rohrabacher appeared Thursday night on CNN’s “Crossfire,” where he had to shout to be heard above California Assembly Democratic leader Willie Brown during a debate on the topic.

The initiative, which backers hope to have on the 1996 ballot, would prohibit either discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, sex or ethnicity and would wipe out affirmative action programs.

“We are talking about racially based decision-making,” Rohrabacher said on the program. “Is that wrong or is that right? We’re saying it’s wrong.”

Expect to see the congressman making frequent media appearances in California and Washington to argue for the measure, a Rohrabacher spokesman said.

Brown, of course, had no kind words for Rohrabacher.

“It is clear, Mr. Congressman, that you are putting a formula together to maintain white America in total control so that racial minority America cannot be a part of society,” Brown said.

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And Gil and Paul and Ross: Only one candidate has officially announced he’s running, but the race for county Supervisor Marian Bergeson’s vacated state Senate seat is definitely on.

And judging by the mailer that went out last week in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Irvine, this race could get nasty. The professionally done four-page mailer targets former Assemblyman Gil Ferguson--the only announced candidate--and is authored by the Ross Johnson Senate Committee, although Assemblyman Johnson (R-Placentia) is not yet an official candidate. A special election has been set for March 14.

Headlined “Strange Political Bedfellows!” the mailer again hammers Ferguson for his alleged role in advising maverick Assemblyman Paul Horcher (I-Diamond Bar) to abandon the Republican Party and vote for Democrat Willie Brown of San Francisco for another term as Assembly speaker. Horcher’s vote has left the Assembly deadlocked to this day.

Ferguson has acknowledged talking to Horcher but has vehemently denied advising him to support Brown, an old adversary. As for the mailer, Ferguson decried it as a “hit piece.”

“I am saddened to see this campaign start out in the gutter,” Ferguson said. “I wonder now how much farther down it will go.”

Ferguson aides traced the Barranca Parkway address on the mailer of the Johnson committee to a post office box in a mail boxes center.

Although Johnson, a powerful assemblyman who owns a condominium in Irvine, has not officially jumped into the race, it has been known for months that he badly wants this seat. Last Thursday, Johnson said an announcement would be coming “in about a week” and then took another shot at Ferguson.

Johnson said Ferguson’s actions with Horcher “disqualifies him absolutely from holding public office.”

“Gil Ferguson has condemned himself out of his own mouth on this issue,” Johnson said. “There is no doubt he did it and everyone knows he did it.”

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Award for Gil: Apparently, not everyone is angry at former Assemblyman Gil Ferguson. Orange County’s delegates of the California Republican Assembly, the state’s oldest and largest grass-roots conservative volunteer organization, last week awarded him the Legislator of the Year award at a convention in Garden Grove.

“I will cherish this award and place it next to my ‘Taxfighter of the Year’ award,” Ferguson said.

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Manager hired: The other “candidate” in the race for Bergeson’s seat, Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) has acknowledged she is running and will make her announcement official at a press conference Monday.

Allen has hired one of Bergeson’s old allies, Ron Smith, to manage her political campaign for the state Senate. Smith, of Los Angeles, ran several of Bergeson’s campaigns, including her failed try for lieutenant governor.

Allen said it would be a tough campaign, but said she was confident, based on her strong showing last November in her northwest Orange County district.

“I took 74% of the vote in November, higher than anyone in the state, and I didn’t even campaign,” said Allen, who came back to Orange County Friday to visit her flooded Cypress home. “That makes me feel very hopeful.”

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Here they come: The county is expecting an onslaught of fund-raisers for Republican presidential hopefuls in the coming months and, last Thursday, things got started. Two advisers for Texas Sen. Phil Gramm arrived in Newport Beach for a luncheon at the office of developer Buck Johns.

Carly Eudy, the national finance director for Gramm’s presidential campaign, and Laurie Christman, the senator’s western regional finance director, talked strategy with Johns and then left Friday, promising to return for a fund-raiser for Gramm on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.

Eudy said it is no secret that California--and Orange County--is a vital part of any fund-raising campaign.

“California, Texas, Florida and New York are where the money is in this country,” Eudy said. “And for a conservative candidate like Phil, Orange County is very important.”