GOP applauds Bergeson

Alicia Robinson

Newport Beach resident Marian Bergeson, a former assemblywoman,

senator, Orange County supervisor and state education secretary, is

now the one and only recipient of a lifetime achievement award from

the Orange County Republican Party.

She was given the award Friday at the county GOP’s Flag Day

celebration.

“This is a truly lifetime achievement award for somebody who

deserves it, for somebody who has made a lasting impact as a woman in

politics in Orange County,” said county GOP Chairman Scott Baugh.

Bergeson said she was delighted to be honored but also said that

the Republican Party hasn’t always backed women in politics.

“I don’t think the women have been encouraged to the same extent

that the men have,” she said.

“We have so many outstanding women that they just need to be

encouraged to get into the political process.”

Bergeson’s was the first-ever such award, but it wasn’t a total

surprise to her because, she said, “I think they needed to make sure

I was going to be there.”

Rogan’s not in the

race (for now)

If you glean your political information from bumper stickers and

the Internet, attorney and former Rep. James Rogan is running for

Congress again. But if your favorite source is the horse’s mouth, he

is doing nothing of the kind. At least, not now.

Although Rogan has tried to stay out of the political limelight,

he’s being urged to run for Newport Beach Rep. Chris Cox’s seat,

should Cox be confirmed for the top post at the Securities and

Exchange Commission. The group that’s encouraging the unwilling

Rogan, the Free Enterprise Fund Political Action Committee, posted an

online petition and printed up bumper stickers supporting Rogan.

“The reason I didn’t want to give interviews about the race is

that there is no race until Chris Cox says there’s a race,” Rogan

said. “I remember what happened when we all thought he was going to

be nominated for the 9th Circuit [Court of Appeals], and then there

was one senator who said he was going to block the nomination.”

That was in 2001, and Cox ended up withdrawing his name from

consideration.

So Rogan’s officially not in the race that doesn’t officially

exist yet.

“There’s a lot of good people who are either running or have

thought about running and have publicly said so,” Rogan said. “I just

don’t see a need for me running.”

Rohrabacher just says ‘no’

It may or may not have something to do with his rapidly growing

triplets, but Huntington Beach Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has been

practicing saying ‘no’ lately.

He recently wrote a resolution that would cut U.S. aid to Ethiopia

unless its government gives back property seized from the family of

one of Rohrabacher’s constituents. The former communist government of

Ethiopia confiscated property from its citizens, including a

distillery owned by the family of a friend the congressman surfs

with.

Even after a new government took over 10 years ago and other

citizens were reimbursed, Rohrabacher said, the family hasn’t been

compensated.

A vocal critic of the United Nations, the congressman also

supported a recent House bill that would block funding to the U.N.

unless it adopts a litany of changes legislators say will make it

more accountable.

“The U.N. is a caldron of corruption right now, and everybody

knows it,” Rohrabacher said. “We are proposing some very serious

reforms dealing with accountability.”

Under the measure, the U.N. could lose as much as 50% of its U.S.

funding if it doesn’t agree to the reforms. To Rohrabacher, this is

the big stick that needs to be part of the nation’s foreign policy.

Locals hold out hope for disaster grants

Hoping to net federal assistance for victims of California’s

winter storms, Cox and Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote a letter this week

to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff urging him to

reconsider a June 17 denial of individual assistance grants to

residents and businesses that suffered damage from storms between

Feb. 16 and Feb. 23.

The legislators also asked Chertoff to extend disaster aid to

people who lost their homes in the June 1 landslide in Laguna Beach.

Local officials believe the winter storms weakened the ground enough

to cause the major landslide.