Gingrich, in Irvine, Calls Budget Accord Unlikely

House Speaker Newt Gingrich expressed pessimism here Saturday that the federal budget impasse will be broken any time soon, vowing that Republican leaders “are not going to agree to a bad deal” just to end the stalemate.

“We are not going to have some phony, papered-over, fake budget just so President Clinton can campaign this fall saying he got a balanced budget,” Gingrich told a crowd of Orange County Republicans at a fund-raiser and birthday party for Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside).

Gingrich (R-Ga.), who is about halfway through a 27-stop, nine-state tour to support House Republicans, said his goal is to pass a series of temporary spending measures to keep the government open until the November elections.

The speaker accused Clinton of playing “political games” by characterizing the GOP’s proposals to reduce the projected growth of Medicare and Medicaid as “cuts,” when the amount of money spent would actually increase.

“Our conclusion is that the president is factually challenged,” Gingrich told his audience, which responded with guffaws and shouts of “Go get ‘em, Newt!”

The crowd included a number of elected officials and GOP luminaries, including Reps. Christopher Cox of Newport Beach and Ed Royce of Fullerton, Orange County Supervisor Marian Bergeson and Assemblyman Mickey Conroy of Orange.

The gathering at the Hyatt Regency, along with an earlier private reception for Packard, was expected to net about $75,000 for the veteran congressman’s reelection campaign, an aide said.

Outside the hotel, meanwhile, about 75 demonstrators protested Gingrich’s visit, waving hand-lettered placards that took issue with federal policies on immigration, unemployment and trade.

Though a few demonstrators shouted anti-Gingrich slogans, most of them, including Huntington Beach anti-immigration activist Barbara A. Coe, took pains to say that their main quarrel was not with the speaker.

“We’re not really upset with Newt,” said Coe, who chairs the California Coalition for Immigration Reform. “We wanted to give a message to him to take back [to Washington] to show that he has our support in trying to stop the immigration invasion.”