Exceptions Taken to GOP Stories

Your sympathetic profile (“Orange County GOP: Guiding With an Iron Hand,” July 11) of Orange County GOP Chairman Tom Fuentes presented the mastermind behind the Orange County GOP poll guards scandal as a would-be man of the cloth turned William Wallace, battling a “biased press and encroaching Democrats.”

The article glosses over Fuentes’ scheme to place uniformed security guards at polling places to intimidate certain legal voters in Curt Pringle’s Assembly District. This clearly immoral activity resulted in [an] out-of-court settlement.

Times’ readers demand fair and accurate coverage. Do they deserve any less?

I assume you will be joining the Orange County Republican Party’s central committee as their full-time public relations representative any day now.

JONATHAN WOOLF-WILLIS

Huntington Beach

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* Regarding the July 6 article about the Lincoln Club of Orange County, in particular your reference to Kathryn Thompson and her husband, Gus Owen, your statements are incorrect. As a longtime member of the Lincoln Club and a member of the board of directors at that time, I’d like to submit the following to correct the record.

While, obviously, many members of the board of directors were at best disappointed in Thompson’s endorsement of Bill Clinton, not a single person disputed her right to do so. Thompson resigned on her own volition. As to Owen being replaced under a cloud, au contraire. Under his direction as president, the Lincoln Club had significantly rewritten its “constitution.” One of the key changes adopted was the specific term limitation for elected officeholders, and that is why Owen became chairman of the board and Doy Henley, who had served as treasurer for several years, was elected to become president.

KARL O. BERGHEER

Newport Beach

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* We would like to express our appreciation for your excellent series on the Republican Party in Orange County. Each article gave a lot of well-balanced information.

SAMUEL and

ELIZABETH SURACE

Laguna Hills

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* Regarding your July 8 story on Howard Ahmanson Jr.’s political and social agenda and the source of his wealth, please allow me to set the record straight with you and your readers. Your story and others that have appeared in The Times frequently refer to Howard Ahmanson Jr. as the “heir to the Home Savings fortune” or in some way imply an affiliation between him and Home Savings.

The fact is, Ahmanson’s father, Howard Sr., did found H.F. Ahmanson & Co., which purchased Home Savings of America in 1947. However, four years after his death in 1968, H.F. Ahmanson & Co. went public and is now principally held by institutional investors.

Howard Ahmanson Jr. does not own any stock of record in our company, and to our knowledge does not hold any stock beneficially. Furthermore, he is not employed by H.F. Ahmanson & Co. or Home Savings of America, nor has he ever been on the board of directors for either company. Ahmanson’s father made a great deal of money from many of his successful business ventures, including the purchase and earlier management of Home Savings and its parent company. However, I wish to make it clear to you and your readers that Howard Ahmanson Jr. is funding his political activities from his own personal resources and not from those of our company.

CHARLES R. RINEHART

Chairman of the Board

Chief Executive Officer

H.F. Ahmanson & Co.

Irwindale