Gore, Sanchez Put in a Full Day of Politicking in O.C.

Al Gore came to Orange County Friday to talk about reinventing government. But when he got here his agenda was politics the old way: a groundbreaking, a fund-raiser, photo ops with cute kids--and politicking for Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), at his side all day.

From the future site of the museum to be known as the Taco Bell Discovery Science Center, to a forum on school funding at an overcrowded Anaheim junior high, to a $500-per-plate luncheon for Sanchez at the Disneyland Hotel, the vice president’s mission was clear: He was in town to tout the local congresswoman and Democratic Party favorite.

In one speech, Gore mentioned the name Sanchez 10 times in four minutes.

But amid the politicking, which included a backstage showdown between Sanchez and Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) over who would introduce Gore at the museum (Sanchez, of course, won), Gore got more than a little done.

He plugged a Sanchez bill to help California school districts issue $112 million in bonds and a larger national proposal for $2.3 billion for state and local school bonds.

And speaking in front of county politicians and policymakers at UC Irvine, Gore emphasized the need for professional management in government, an idea that local leaders with memories of Robert L. Citron’s rogue investments took to heart.

“The people of Orange County are in a better position than the people in most counties to understand why professional management is important,” Gore said.

“It wasn’t a war or a disaster or El Nino that bankrupted Orange County. It was very poor public management. We owe it to our constituents to heed that lesson.”

Gore’s visit to Orange County, still mostly enemy territory for Democrats, left politicians and fund-raisers on both sides of the aisle gleeful.

As one Republican at the groundbreaking said of Gore, “He’s got the title now, I guess. And it helps bring in the money.”

Which was the fond hope of many as they mingled on the AstroTurf-covered dirt lot where one of the largest interactive museums in the country will someday rise.

“We’ve been waiting a long time for this to start happening,” said Gloria Velenton, a volunteer for the museum, as city officials congratulated each other, their cell phones and pagers ringing and beeping madly.

“The vice president being here, it should help us get the money we need to finish this. And this political stuff works. Now I hear [Gov. Pete] Wilson has upped the ante. He’s going to come to a gala we’re having in the spring.”

Money also was on the minds of school district officials at Ball Junior High, where Gore stepped into the cafeteria that doubles as an auditorium, under missing ceiling tiles and in heat battled by only a few 1950s-circa fans.

“It’s why we’re here,” Craig Haugen, assistant superintendent of the Anaheim Union High School District, said of the legislation Gore came to push that would increase funding for schools by reducing the cost of borrowing.

Under legislation introduced last year, state and local governments would help schools issue bonds to modernize facilities. Schools would owe only the principal to investors, who would receive interest in the form of a federal tax credit.

Sanchez has introduced a similar bill to help California schools issue $112 million in bonds.

At the junior high school, Gore led an Oprah Winfrey-style “town hall” meeting on the school’s facilities crisis. Those who took the microphone included a girl who complained, to much nervous laughter, about the lack of toilet paper in the bathrooms, and a school principal who related the horrors of teaching 1,751 students in a school built for 1,300.

Next, Gore’s motorcade whizzed to the Sanchez lunch, followed by a private reception, where about 60 guests paid $2,000 each. Gore took in $200,000.

Gore’s biggest audience was at UC Irvine, where about 2,000 people showed up for his speech on professional management of government.

Before he began, he turned to thank Sanchez.

She was standing about 10 feet away--the farthest from Gore she’d been in public all day.

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Times correspondent Hope Hamashige contributed to this report.

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