ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Delegation’s Day in the Sun

After years of having its members’ ideas derailed and worse, the uniformly Republican Orange County congressional delegation seems to have gotten a life. These have been a heady 100-plus days in pursuit of the “contract with America” for a delegation pushed deep within the minority through long years of Democratic rule.

A few members are even making a splash, and one is running for President. Last week, the garrulous Robert K. Dornan of Garden Grove gathered his extended family and, taking aim at what he called “moral decay . . . rotting the heart and soul of our country,” he promised to make social issues the focus of his campaign for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination.

The primaries will hold their own test for Dornan’s ideas, but he has unabashedly laid claim to a campaign agenda that largely has seemed up for grabs among Republicans since former Vice President Dan Quayle decided not to run. For all his freewheeling gift of gab, Dornan as a member of the House continues to demonstrate that he is capable of real allegiance to his party, a useful asset to the Republicans.

Another significant member of the delegation is no surprise. Rep. Christopher Cox of Newport Beach early on put to rest any speculation that the delegation might be relegated to the back bench by getting elected to the House leadership as policy chairman. He has continued to draw attention as author of the securities litigation reform bill and as one of the leaders in the debate over legal reform.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (Huntington Beach) showed clout, unfortunately, in raising his opposition to what looked like a sensible federal land swap with the Irvine Co. involving a wilderness area and a piece of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The Interior Department withdrew the plan.

Rep. Jay C. Kim of Diamond Bar, who has a piece of northern Orange County, has to his credit successfully lobbied to have a federal transit agency release $8.85 million in aid to the county more than three months ahead of schedule to help in the bankruptcy crisis. Rep. Ron Packard (Oceanside) has relished scrutinizing expenditures for perks in a House appropriations subcommittee. Rep. Ed Royce (Fullerton) drew satisfaction in having his ideas get a hearing early in his second term.

Ironically, as a conservative county reckons with the aftermath of fiscal imprudence, its representatives are seeing their ideas gain serious consideration. Let them keep in mind the best interests of whom they represent and work together to help Orange County get on its feet.