He Says No Thanks to Raise Approved by Board He Wants to Join

Trying to portray himself as a fiscal conservative with a new take on county government, 3rd District supervisor candidate Todd Spitzer last week gave a $1,000 pay raise back to the county.

Spitzer, a deputy district attorney, said he did not want to accept a retroactive payment given to county employees this month to cover cost-of-living raises that had been withheld during the 18 months the county was in bankruptcy. “The county borrowed the money to cover this retroactive pay raise,” Spitzer said. “How can the supervisors pretend that this money actually exists?”

While spurning the cost-of-living pay, the deputy district attorney did accept the portion of the check that he earned as merit pay through step increases, he said. He paid taxes on both portions of the entire raise.

Spitzer, a relative unknown before his entry into the race this year, paid for most of his primary campaign expenses with his own money, then finished a surprisingly close second to Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange). So far, Spitzer has lent his campaign about $86,000, he said.

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Fund-raiser of the week: In one of the biggest legislative fund-raisers in Orange County in years, more than 1,000 guests feted Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle on Thursday night, contributing about $165,000 to the GOP leader’s Assembly victory fund.

Pringle preached the gospel according to the Republican agenda and presented about two dozen legislators and Assembly candidates to an enthusiastic crowd.

Criticizing the Democrat-controlled Senate, Pringle said the Republican Party has a historic “window of opportunity” to extend its rule in the Assembly. He told the faithful that he will spend the money to win a larger GOP margin in the lower house, which he currently controls by one vote.

Referring perhaps jokingly to his Assembly colleagues, Pringle said, “I don’t want any one of those guys to think they are the deciding vote anymore.”

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Have Check Ready

Filing for local elected office is the best bargain around. It’s absolutely free. But to get a statement of your qualifications on the printed ballot is another issue. Those prices, based on the number of registered voters in the area, are becoming almost prohibitive. Here are some of the highest costs in the county:

Deposits for candidate statements by office: Fee*

Saddleback Community College: $4,200

North Orange County Community College: 3,800

Coast Community College: 3,650

Rancho Santiago College: 2,200

Huntington Beach Union High School: 2,100

Municipal Water District of Orange County

Division 4: 2,150

Division 3: 2,100

Capistrano Unified School: 1,900

Newport-Mesa Unified School: 1,500

Source: Registrar of voters office

*Based on two candidates filing for office

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Oversight? Speculation swirled on Capitol Hill last week over House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s apparent decision to remove Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) from a key House and Senate conference committee on a military budget bill. Dornan’s omission was viewed as punishment for pressing anti-gay and antiabortion issues while heading the House Military Personnel subcommittee.

Not in recent memory, Hill staffers said, had a subcommittee chairman been denied a seat on the panel that finalizes the military authorization bill. Clearly, they added, the leadership was tiring of Dornan’s vitriolic speeches on the House floor.

Dornan, however, sought out Gingrich personally to fix the problem. Dornan said he was told the speaker’s staff assumed he didn’t want the assignment because he was already working on another conference committee on intelligence matters. Dornan reminded Gingrich he served on both committees last year, and wondered if it wasn’t going to look like he got yanked because of his opposition to homosexuals in the military.

At the end of the day Thursday, Dornan said on the House floor that he was back on the conference committee. But Gingrich’s staff refused to confirm that and a GOP spokesman for the House National Security Committee said late Friday that Dornan had not been officially added back to the conference committee.

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Calling Democratic women: The county’s newest political group--the Democratic Women’s Forum of Orange County--was born during informal chat after the county party convention last March.

“We thought we needed to do something to create a countywide organization for women,” said Maureen Drucker of Santa Ana, the finance chairwoman of the party central committee. The group also plans a political action committee to raise money for female candidates in Orange County.

State Controller Kathleen Connell and Molly Munger, coordinator of the “No on the California Civil Rights Initiative Campaign,” will be guest speakers at the group’s inaugural function at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Turnip Rose restaurant in Santa Ana.

UPCOMING EVENTS

* Today: The South Orange County Democratic Club will host a tribute to Richard O’Neill at 6 p.m. at the El Adobe restaurant in San Juan Capistrano. Tickets are $25. Information: (714) 470-9444.

* Friday: Green Party of Orange County will discuss the campaign of Ralph Nader at 7:30 p.m. at the UCI Marketplace public room, 4255 Campus Drive, Irvine. Information: (714) 644-7835

* Saturday: Lyn Nofziger, speech writer for former President Reagan, will attend a fund-raiser for the Rhonda Carmony Legal Defense Fund from 4 to 6 p.m. at the home of Gigi and Craig Barto, 2440 Bayshore in Newport Beach. Information: (714) 969-7457.

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

Politics ’96 appears every Sunday. Items can be mailed to Politics ‘96, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or faxed to (714) 966-7711.