DeVore reigns in every polled city

Alicia Robinson

Republican Chuck DeVore, presumptive heir to the 70th district

Assembly seat John Campbell will leave when he moves to the state

Senate next year, announced this week that he netted the most votes

in the March 2 primary in each of the district’s nine cities. DeVore

won the six-way Republican contest with 46.3% of all votes cast.

“I think we were pleased [and] delighted that we received a

district-wide mandate,” DeVore said of the election results. He noted

that his margin of victory was 5.3% in Newport Beach, where three of

his opponents live.

He attributed his widespread wins to his conservative background

as a Reagan White House appointee, former staffer for Rep. Chris Cox

and an Army reservist and national guardsman.

While the heavily Republican 70th district leaves DeVore little to

do to gather votes in November, he is planning several major

fundraisers including one in Sacramento and two in Orange County.

“There’s a tremendous amount that we have to do to raise money

because it’s expected that the person from this district will do

everything they can to support Republicans in other districts and

around the state,” he said.

Cox bill helps military recruiters on campus

The House on Wednesday passed a bill written by Rep. Chris Cox

that would stop federal dollars from homeland or national security

agencies from going to colleges and universities that bar ROTC

offices from campus or discriminate against military recruiters.

Many schools -- including Cox’s alma mater, Harvard -- closed ROTC

offices to protest the Vietnam War, and some schools today don’t give

military recruiters the kind of access to students that other

employers enjoy, Cox said.

“Since Sept. 11, the country has rediscovered the importance of

our troops,” Cox said. “It’s time to put this Vietnam-era anachronism

behind us.”

Under the bill, schools that keep ROTC and military recruiters

away would not be eligible for funding from the Defense, Justice and

Homeland Security departments, the CIA and other security agencies.

The bill must be approved by the Senate to become law.

Human error blamed for computer glitches

The Orange County Board of Supervisors and Registrar of Voters

certified the March 2 primary election results Tuesday, despite

messes that resulted in 2,000 voters getting the wrong ballots.

It was the first time the county used new electronic voting

machines, but Registrar of Voters spokesman Brett Rowley said it was

human error that caused the glitches.

“We didn’t have a problem with the system,” he said. “We had an

issue with training and we are taking steps to correct those.”

He noted that 99.7% of the 567,204 votes cast were done

accurately.

Because of the problems at polling places, the supervisors in

March formed a special committee to collect input from the public and

poll workers and then report on how the election process can be

improved. Focus groups with poll workers and public meetings on the

March 2 election are scheduled later this month.

Republican Navy veteran honored

Retired Navy Capt. Emily Sanford of Costa Mesa was recently

appointed by Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi to serve

on the Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Women

Veterans beginning in June.

Sanford served in the Navy for 27 years and is the Orange County

Republican Party’s sergeant-at-arms.

Outgoing Orange County Republican Party Chairman Tom Fuentes was

nominated by Rep. Chris Cox to attend the National Hispanic

Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., this summer. The summit will

address proposals relating to jobs, healthcare and education. Fuentes

will retire later this month after 20 years at the helm of the county

GOP.