Rohrabacher bill under fire again

Alicia Robinson

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s bill that would limit healthcare for illegal

immigrants and require hospitals to report them to U.S. authorities

is a “misguided attempt to grab headlines,” according to a statement

last week from Democrat Jim Brandt, who is challenging Rohrabacher

for the 46th District Congressional seat.

The bill, which Rohrabacher will take to the House floor Tuesday,

brought the congressman a barrage of angry responses and a few death

threats in January. Brandt’s statement said the bill would “make

healthcare workers into de facto immigration agents” and create a

huge new federal bureaucracy.

The statement quotes several healthcare professionals, including a

spokesperson for the California Health Care Assn., as critics of the

bill.

Cox resolution targets Vietnam prisoner

At the urging of Rep. Chris Cox, the House on Tuesday passed a

resolution he co-sponsored that asks Vietnam’s Communist government

to release Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest who has

been held for three years of a 15-year prison sentence.

A statement from Cox’s office said Ly was convicted and sent to a

hard labor camp after he testified to the U.S. Commission on

International Religious Freedom that the Vietnamese government has

stripped churches of independence and freedom.

Ly was previously arrested and imprisoned in 1982 for leading a

religious pilgrimage to La Vang, a site considered holy by Vietnamese

Catholics.

Cox said the resolution “serves as a warning to oppressive regimes

around the globe that their acts of injustice do not go unnoticed.”

A big way to register voters: Reggie the rig

Voter registration and large trucks apparently go hand in hand for

Republicans, who rolled Reggie the Registration Rig out to the Orange

County Market Place in Costa Mesa this weekend. Orange County GOP

members applauded the success of the visit, which was part of the

truck’s first trip to California. Voters apparently went for the

gimmick also, because more than 250 of them registered as Republicans

during the two days Reggie was in town.

Two Newport women named GOP delegates

Two local women have been named delegates to the 2004 Republican

National Convention to be held this summer in New York City.

Newport Beach residents Jo Ellen Allen and Elaine Park will be

delegates for the 48th Congressional District.

Allen is public affairs director for Southern California Edison

and serves on the county GOP Central Committee.

Park is president of the Newport Harbor Republican Women and

belongs to the 400 Club, the Orange County GOP’s fundraising arm.

Democrats plan meeting on military medical care

Area Democrats will hear about medical care for military personnel

injured in Iraq at a May 26 meeting of the West Orange County

Democratic Club.

Club members George and Louise Giacoppe will describe a recent

visit to their son, who is a physician in Germany.

The Giacoppes maintain that the elimination of air ambulances

means some injured soldiers can’t get the medical facilities they

need while being transported on regular planes and they die in

transit to hospitals.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. May 26 at Green Valley

Recreation Room, 17250 Los Jardines West, Fountain Valley. For

information visit https://www.dcwoc.org online.

Border protection

bigwig meets Cox club

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner will

be on hand for a Saturday meeting of Cox’s Congressional Club. Bonner

now heads 40,000 customs agents and employees, and he previously

served as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration and as chief

federal prosecutor for Orange County.

The fundraising event will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon

Saturday at the Radisson Hotel, 4545 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach.

To reserve a spot call (949)548-1299.

Democrat earns some union labels during bid

While many campaigns have gone into semi-hibernation after the

March election frenzy, Brandt is still active in his bid to take

Rohrabacher’s seat.

Brandt recently announced he has been endorsed by the national

Assn. of Letter Carriers Local 1100 in Garden Grove and the American

Postal Workers Union AFL-CIO Long Beach Area.

Brandt also will hold two fundraising receptions Saturday, one in

Huntington Beach for small donations and the other at his campaign

director’s home in Los Angeles for bigger spenders.

The Huntington Beach event is set from noon to 2 p.m. at the home

of Laura and Michael Moncrief, 6561 Clare Drive, with $25

contributions requested.

Those who want to give $150 can attend an 8 p.m. fundraiser at the

home of Rick Conrad, 1960 Coldwater Canyon Drive.