Planning for the worst

Alicia Robinson

In a move that perhaps belies his laid-back surfer persona, Rep. Dana

Rohrabacher introduced a worst-case scenario bill that would provide

for replacement of representatives and senators who are victims of a

terrorist attack or are otherwise taken out of commission.

“It provides a means for having temporary replacements for

representatives and senators who die in office or who are

incapacitated in office and thereby addresses what some folks have

called the continuity of Congress problem,” Rohrabacher spokesman

Rick Dykema said.

Introduced Friday, the bill would amend the Constitution to allow

federal legislators to name three to five successors in the event

that they are unable to fulfill their duties. Elected legislators or

candidates would name potential successors at least 60 days before an

election in which they are running, Dykema said.

The bill will now move to the House judiciary committee. Dykema

said another bill headed to the House floor would request states to

hold expedited special elections to replace dead or incapacitated

legislators, but Rohrabacher sees drawbacks to that proposal and

won’t support it.

No taxation without representation

Rohrabacher also is preparing to defend his bill that would

restore Congressional voting rights to residents of Washington, D.C.,

in committee hearings next month. Dykema said the bill would allow

D.C. residents to vote for federal legislators through the state of

Maryland, as they did until 1801. Those who live in the nation’s

capital now have a nonvoting representative on the House and are not

represented in the Senate.

Rohrabacher, a member of the House D.C. committee until it was

abolished in 1995, put forth the legislation because Washington

residents are subject to federal taxes and other liabilities of

citizenship but don’t have the privilege of representation in the

federal legislature, Dykema said.

The bill will be heard along with three others on district voting

rights in the House government reform committee in May.

A worldly agenda heads this way

For those interested in budget deficits and world affairs, several

events are slated in Newport-Mesa to address those topics. On Monday,

Vanguard University’s political science honor society Pi Sigma Alpha

will host a debate with UC Irvine assistant history professor Mark

Levine and Chapman University Rabbi Stuart Altshuler on the Middle

East peace process. The free event is set for 6 p.m. at the Newport

Mesa Christian Center, 2599 Newport Blvd. Costa Mesa.

Former National Security Advisor and Defense Secretary Frank

Carlucci will speak at the monthly meeting of the World Affairs

Council of Orange County on Tuesday in Newport Beach. Carlucci, who

also has served as deputy director of the CIA and U.S. ambassador to

Portugal, will discuss the current state of U.S. national security.

Reservations are required for the event, which is scheduled from

11:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Sutton Place Hotel and costs $48 for

nonmembers of the council. For information call (949) 253-5751.

The budget deficit will be the topic of an April 27 talk by

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, director of the Congressional Budget Office in

Washington, D.C. He will give a free lecture on why constitutional

and legislative rules have not controlled federal and state budget

deficits and possible solutions to deficit problems. Holtz-Eakin will

speak at 7 p.m. in UC Irvine’s Beckman Center, 100 Academy Way, Irvine. For reservations call (949) 824-2904 or visit

https://www.democ. uci.edu online.