Rohrabacher opponent secures notable Democratic endorsement

Paul Clinton

COSTA MESA -- Congressional hopeful Gerrie Schipske has nailed down an

endorsement from one of the biggest names in the House of

Representatives: Rep. Barney Frank.

Frank, a liberal Democrat who has held a Massachusetts seat in the

House since 1981, is backing Surf City Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s Democratic

opponent in the newly aligned 46th District.

In addition to the support, Frank has pledged to attend a private

fund-raiser for Schipske on July 20 in Laguna Beach.

The Long Beach native has also secured a local endorsement from Women

in Leadership, an Orange County political action committee.

That blessing came at a June 6 luncheon at the Pacific Club in Newport

Beach.

Schipske, a nurse, attorney and instructor at Cal State Long Beach,

hopes to unseat Huntington Beach’s Rohrabacher in the November general

election. She has run against other Republican incumbents. In 2000, she

came within 1% of unseating former Rep. Steve Horn, whose seat was erased

when districts were redrawn.

Rohrabacher’s newly aligned district includes Costa Mesa and other

sections of North County, as well as parts of Long Beach and Palos

Verdes.

“I think an endorsement by a progressive Democrat helps me,” Schipske

said. “He’s a respected leader. He’s got a great track record on human

rights.”

Schipske may have run a nail-biter against Horn but unseating

Rohrabacher will be a tougher task, because the district counts about 45%

of its registered voters as Republicans. Horn’s district had a Democratic

majority.

Whether Schipske’s more liberal message plays well in the Orange

County cities remains to be seen, observers said.

“If anything, that indicates she is well out of the Orange County

mainstream,” said Aaron Lewis, Rohrabacher’s press secretary.

“Massachusetts has very little in common with Orange County. It’s the

epicenter of East Coast liberalism.”

Schipske said she raised $2,600 at the Newport Beach event, $1,000 of

which came from the women’s group. Costa Mesa Planning Commission

Chairwoman Katrina Foley, who is running for a City Council seat in

November, unveiled the endorsement.

The group also endorsed Republican Charmayne Bohman, who failed to

unseat Rohrabacher in 1998.

Foley, however, declined comment when asked if she personally

supported Schipske for the seat. She did say Rohrabacher, whose district

office is in Huntington Beach, hasn’t been accessible to Costa Mesa

residents.

“I feel he has not been there for Costa Mesa,” Foley said. “I haven’t

seen him very involved [in the city’s issues].”

Rohrabacher does fly back to Huntington Beach every weekend to visit

the district and surf a few waves, Lewis said.

“That’s absurd,” Lewis said about the charge that Rohrabacher is an

absentee congressman. “He’s there every week.”