John Graham: Running the beaches

Paul Clinton

In what has become somewhat of an election-season stunt, John

Graham has been jogging down stretches of Orange County’s beaches to

call attention to what he says is his Republican opponent’s

deplorable track record on environmental issues.

The object of Graham’s ire is Rep. Chris Cox; he’s bidding to

unseat him for the 48th District seat. Joe Michael Cobb is the

Libertarian candidate.

“The main reason I’m doing it is to bring attention to the

environment,” Graham said. “Cox’s record is clear on the environment.

He doesn’t care.”

On 13 separate mornings, Graham jogs down a section of beach,

collects a sample of the ocean water and delivers it to a lab for

analysis. Graham started in West Newport at the Santa Ana River on

Oct. 7. He’ll wrap up his tour on Friday at Capistrano State Beach in

South County.

Graham may be making hay over Cox’s record on the environment, but

he has also advanced a series of proposals to improve the public

school system, including a 10% across-the-board pay hike for all

teachers.

If he wins the seat, Graham said he would push for $25 billion in

additional funding per year for teachers’ salaries. In return, he

said he would ask for an extra month of instruction time for

students. The extra spending may be a tall order in today’s federal

belt tightening on budgetary matters.

An even taller order for Graham is winning election to the seat.

The district, which was redrawn based on 2000 Census data, is

among the most solidly Republican in the state, if not the country.

Among registered voters, 52.9% are Republican and 27.5% are

Democratic. The remaining 19.6% are registered with other parties or

have declined to state a preference.

Graham ran against Cox in 2000 for the 47th District seat and

collected only 30% of the vote.

Education is a natural focal point for Graham, who has taught

international business classes at UC Irvine’s graduate school since

1989. He also holds three degrees, including a doctorate from UC

Berkeley.

As a specialist in international trade, Graham has written several

books on the topic of trade with Japan and other Asian countries.

Trade, Graham says, is the best way to avoid war. He even recommends

it as a solution to the current friction with Iraq.

Graham has criticized President Bush, Cox and other Republican

leaders for using war with Iraq to divert public attention away from

the country’s faltering economy.

“All of this is a political ploy,” Graham said. “Right now, Bush

and the boys are using the flag to hide a declining economy.”

During the early 1970s, Graham was a frogman in the Navy’s

demolition team. He was trained to detonate explosives to destroy

various military targets.

Now he’s an advocate for building relationships through trade.

“Trade causes peace,” Graham said. “You use trade as a carrot to

change people.”