He owns Carona del Mar

Alicia Robinson

An otherwise innocuous e-mail arrived Wednesday from the Orange

County Sheriff-Coroner Department.

“Public invited to give input on county of Orange hazard

mitigation plan at two workshops in Santa Ana, Carona del Mar.”

Whoa now. We all know that Sheriff Mike Carona’s political stock

is pretty darn high, but they haven’t renamed a part of Newport Beach

after him yet, have they?

Good news is, lower in the press release, the meeting’s scheduled

for the Harbor Patrol Main Office, 1901 Bayside Drive in “Corona del

Mar.”

That meeting, for anyone interested in the county’s hazard plans,

is at 10 a.m. on July 6. Those attending will get a chance to look at

the county’s draft natural hazard mitigation plan.

Incumbent money

ahead of the pack

Fundraising is going strong for Newport-Mesa’s incumbent

Republican congressmen, who are well ahead of Democratic and

third-party challengers, according to candidate fundraising trackers.

Quarterly reports filed with the Federal Election Commission in

April say that by the end of March, Rep. Chris Cox raised close to

$576,000, while Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s coffers were at $631,000.

Wednesday was the close of a reporting period for political

fundraising done between Feb. 15 and June 30. Reports on money raised

and spent by federal candidates in that period are due to the

commission by July 15.

Neither legislator faces a serious challenge. None of Cox’s or

Rohrabacher’s opponents has raised more than $12,000, according to

the website https://www.opensecrets.org, a site run by the nonpartisan

Center for Responsive Politics.

Judge Jim Gray, Newport Beach resident and Libertarian candidate

for U.S. Senate, said he’s doing well, but he is lagging behind his

two major party opponents, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and

Republican candidate Bill Jones.

“We crossed the $100,000 barrier in April and are now into our

second hundred-thousand, so we have a full-fledged campaign with

staff going around the state,” Gray said Wednesday.

As of their April filings, Boxer’s campaign reported collecting

$9.4 million and Jones had bagged $1.4 million in contributions.

Wednesday was also the end of the semi-annual reporting period for

state candidates. Their reports are due to the secretary of state’s

office by July 31.

Local GOP leader backs blockage of open primary

Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh recently lauded the state

Senate’s passage of a measure that would block a ballot proposal to

bring back the open primary election.

An initiative to be on the November ballot would reestablish open

primaries in which voters can vote across party lines for any

candidate they want. California voters in 1996 approved an open

primary. But the measure was later declared unconstitutional by the

U.S. Supreme Court.

The Senate last week passed a constitutional amendment co-written

by Irvine Sen. Ross Johnson that will give parties the right to place

their highest primary election vote-getter on the ballot in the

general election.

“The proponents claim [the open primary] will increase voter

turnout and elect more moderates, neither of which is true,” Baugh

said. “It eliminates all minor parties from the general election

ballot ... We should not be afraid to have minor parties afraid to

express views.”

GOP Assembly candidate named to fellowship

Chuck DeVore, Republican candidate for the 70th District Assembly

seat, was named a 2004 Lincoln Fellow by the Claremont Institute, a

political research and policy foundation.

He joins nine other fellows, who include Pulitzer Prize-winning

Los Angeles Times cartoonist Michael Ramirez, U.S. State Department

special advisor William Inboden and several legislative analysts and

political aides. Fellows will participate in a nine-day study of the

U.S. Constitution and the principles on which America was founded.

Congressmen to discuss Reagan over luncheon

Reps. Chris Cox and Dana Rohrabacher will speak about their

memories of Ronald Reagan today at a luncheon held by the Orange

County Forum in Irvine.

Both congressmen launched their political careers working for

Reagan. Rohrabacher was a press secretary and speechwriter, and Cox

served as associate counsel to the president.

The luncheon will begin with a reception at 11:30 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency, 17900 Jamboree Road, Irvine. Tickets are $40 for

members of the Orange County Forum and $50 for nonmembers. For

information, call (949) 588-9884.

GOP outreach program set to launch on Tuesday

The California Republican Party on Tuesday will launch

“Women-Count,” a program to reach out to Republican women in Costa

Mesa.

Men are also welcome at the event, which is scheduled for 6 p.m.

at the Shark Club, 841 Baker St. For more information, send an e-mail

to masy@cagop.org.