‘Illegal’ angst on air

Alicia Robinson

Either Rep. Dana Rohrabacher or Rep. Chris Cox could be on the

chopping block, at least with conservative talk-radio listeners,

after being guests on KFI’s The John & Ken Show on Tuesday.

Cox and Rohrabacher were among five Southern California Republican

representatives the show’s hosts have called to account for their

party’s lack of action to stop illegal immigration, show co-host John

Kobylt said Wednesday.

Listeners are angry that Republicans in Congress aren’t doing

anything substantial about the illegal immigration problem, so the

show launched a “political human sacrifice” poll to see who should be

voted out of office, Kobylt said.

“They’re not doing what the activists do on the pro-illegal side.

They take the safe route,” Kobylt said. “We’ve decided they’re a

bunch of girlie men.”

The radio hosts harangued Cox and Rohrabacher for about an hour

each, asking them when the U.S. will seal its borders and calling a

law Cox touted in support of his record “worthless.”

“That was quite a circus,” Rohrabacher said of the show Wednesday.

“I agree that we’re not doing enough, but the Democrats would be

worse.”

Of the representatives targeted on the radio show -- the others

were San Dimas Rep. David Dreier, Palm Springs Rep. Mary Bono and

Vista Rep. Darrell Issa -- Rohrabacher probably has the least to

worry about. He’s long been on record as a fighter of illegal

immigration. An earlier listener poll had Dreier as least popular

with Cox in second place. Rohrabacher was fifth.

Kobylt said the interviews and polling will continue throughout

the summer with results sometime before the November election.

Partying with a major party

Local Democrats, including Orange County Democratic Party Chairman

Frank Barbaro, jetted to Boston for the Democratic National

Convention, which began Monday. Among the delegates, alternates and

special guests are about 100 Orange County Democrats, and they’re

having a blast, Barbaro said Wednesday.

“It’s a very upbeat mood, a tremendous amount of energy on the

floor of the convention,” he said. “There’s probably at any given

time 100 events going on.”

The party is being unified and energized by the convention,

Barbaro said. He’s hoping Orange County delegates will bring that

energy back with them so they can continue marshaling voters and

raising money for John Kerry, who is scheduled to accept the official

nomination as the party’s presidential candidate tonight.

Cox announces ’03 report

on government spending

Sustained economic growth and falling federal tax revenues are

highlighted in an annual report on government spending in 2003

released last week by Rep. Chris Cox, who represents Newport Beach.

The report notes federal revenue dropped from $2.28 trillion in

2002 to $2.23 trillion in 2003, while expenses grew from $2.44

trillion in 2002 to $2.6 trillion last year.

Most of the spending was on social programs, with significant

chunks also going to the military and interest on the national debt,

the report showed.

One hopeful sign was an economic turnaround that has improved tax

receipts enough to reduce the projected deficit in 2004 by more than

$70 billion. To view the report, visit https://www.cox.house.gov.