<i> A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County’s political life</i> : Wilson’s Fund-Raising Campaign Will Swing Into Irvine This Week

Hunting for big game: The Pete Wilson for President bandwagon is bringing its fund-raising show to Orange County next week, with a $1,000-a-plate dinner at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine.

John J. Cronin, state finance chairman for Wilson and head of a Santa Ana-based professional scuba-diving trade association, says the campaign committee group is hoping to raise $500,000 at the July 27 bash. They have about $300,000 already in hand.

“We feel we are in very good shape,” he said, then downplayed talk that Wilson is having trouble raising money in the county. “If we don’t hit our goal, there are problems.” Because it is a federal campaign, donors may not give more than $1,000 per candidate. A number of Republican activists say many of the county’s well-to-do political and business types are hedging their bets by giving to several candidates.

“When the governor is running full throttle, people are going to support him,” said Doy Henley, president of the Lincoln Club, the exclusive Republican political group. “Just because someone showed at another campaign’s event doesn’t mean anything. He is our governor, and when the campaign is over, he is either going to be nominated for vice president or President, or he will remain the president of the nation-state of California.”

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Lam speaks: Westminster Councilman Tony Lam said he wasn’t ducking sensitive questions from reporters Tuesday about President Clinton’s decision to establish relations with Vietnam. But Lam, who could not be reached for comment that day, later in the week acknowledged that confronting the issue of normalization of relations with the Communist regime is an extremely difficult one.

The passions on both sides of the issue are strong, said Lam, who is the first Vietnamese American elected official in the country.

“It’s not easy for me with a decision like this,” said Lam, 58, a council member for nearly three years and a Garden Grove restaurant owner. “It’s a crucial decision, but I’m walking on a political balance beam. I don’t want to hang myself, but you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

For the record, Lam said he considered fighting the tide to establish relations “a lost cause.” But, like many, he has major concerns about the human rights record of the current Vietnamese government and he was disappointed “that Mr. Clinton didn’t even consult with any of the Vietnamese community, including me.”

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Jumping in with the supes: Another hoping to succeed County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez is Charles W. (Pete) Maddox of Santa Ana, a computer consultant and president of the Board of Trustees of the Rancho Santiago Community College District. Maddox, a Santa Ana native, formally announced his candidacy Thursday.

Maddox, 46, who wrote the district’s first ethics policy, is a Democrat, but “that shouldn’t matter because this is a nonpartisan race,” said Lee Mallory, a supporter and English professor at the community college.

As a district trustee, Maddox has championed budget cuts while redirecting money to the classroom. He said he believes “public entities can work efficiently. It just takes a commitment on the part of elected officials to make it happen.”

The other announced candidates are Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) and Emmy Day, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Fire Authority.

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Robbing Peter to pay Paul: With all the talk in the House about cutting the federal budget, there’s nothing in the rule book that requires Congress to apply the savings to reducing the federal deficit. Oftentimes, the money is simply spent on other programs.

Enter Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton), who took his “Porkbusters” crusade to a House government reform hearing last week, suggesting a “lock box” to keep the savings from being recycled. Had the rule been in effect last year, $658 million could have gone toward reducing the deficit. So far this year, the House has cut $101 million from its version of the budget and sent it on to the Senate.

“This rules change does not require a new statute or amendment to the budget act, and it doesn’t require the President’s signature. . . . We can do it all ourselves,” Royce told the House panel. But this is Congress, and the idea, along with other similar proposals, is under study.

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No collision here: Jumping on the information superhighway with a bill that would give parents, not the government, a way to control smut on computer networks, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) won support for his legislation from the Clinton Administration’s resident computer guru, Vice President Al Gore.

Before a White House meeting last week on budget issues, Cox said Gore “started touting the bill,” which would rely on technology, rather than federal regulations, to control sexually explicit photographs and messages from reaching children using computers.

Last weekend, Cox also won support for his bill during an hourlong interactive forum with TimesLink. “There was virtual opposition to government acting as a censor,” Cox concluded.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Monday: The Fullerton Republican Woman will sponsor a public forum featuring the candidates for the 72nd Assembly District at 7 p.m. at the home of Peggy and Byron Brown in Fullerton. Information: (714) 680-4779.

Tuesday: Primary election in the 72nd Assembly District for the seat vacated by Ross Johnson. Johnson’s former 72nd Assembly District, where he reigned for more than 16 years, includes all or parts of Fullerton, Yorba Linda, Buena Park, Placentia and Anaheim.

Saturday: The 68th Democratic Assembly District Committee will feature Joe Napier, general manager for work force diversity at McDonald Douglas Corp., who will talk on “Diversity is Business.” Meeting starts at 4 p.m. at the Fullerton Savings & Loan Community Meeting Roon, 12860 Euclid Ave. in Garden Grove. Information: (714) 891-0373.

Compiled by Times political writer Peter M. Warren, with contributions by staff writers Len Hall and Gebe Martinez.

Politics ’95 appears every Sunday. Items can be mailed to Politics ‘95, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626, or faxed to (714) 966-7711.