Better luck next time, Chuck

Ever subject to the whims of politics, Newport Beach Assemblyman

Chuck DeVore on Wednesday failed to get approval for an audit of

improvements at Crystal Cove State Park. DeVore announced in June

that he planned to request the audit because the project is behind

schedule and over budget.

Sending weeks of careful politicking down the drain, one member of

the state Joint Legislative Audit Committee left a meeting before the

vote on the audit, DeVore spokesman Brian O’Neel, said. The 12-member

committee is made up of six Assembly members and six state Senators,

but approval of the audit required at least four votes from each

house, and DeVore ended up with only three Senate votes.

Sen. Charles Poochigian, a Republican from Fresno, was the member

who left.

“We did everything short of sending out a hit squad to go kidnap

him and bring him back,” O’Neel joked ruefully.

Since being elected to the Assembly in November, DeVore has

hammered state parks projects at Crystal Cove as examples of the

parks department’s inefficiency and as places where money could be

saved. O’Neel said DeVore hasn’t yet decided whether to bring the

audit request to the committee again.

“It could be in the next few months that the problems that we’re

trying to deal with in this audit become even more pronounced,” he

said.

Two times the charm for Crystal Cove bill

A bill that will give a nonprofit group control of renovating and

operating historic cottages at Crystal Cove State Park was

unanimously passed Tuesday by a state Senate subcommittee. It was the

second try for Sen. John Campbell, the bill’s author, who retooled

the legislation earlier this month.

“We’re delighted that it’s made it past the first hurdle,” said

Laura Davick, founder of the Crystal Cove Alliance, who worked with

Campbell on the bill and has said her group would be interested in

taking over park operations.

The Senate and the Assembly have until Sept. 9, the end of the

legislative session, to act on the bill. If passed, it would trump a

move the state parks department made in late June to seek bids for

cottage operations. Bids from nonprofit and for-profit groups are

being accepted through Sept. 21.

Officials vie to allow Jewish votes in Cox election

Still frustrated by the choice of a major Jewish holiday for a

special primary to replace former Rep. Chris Cox, local Jewish groups

are working with state and county election officials to ensure Jewish

voters can cast ballots if they want.

The Oct. 4 election to fill the 48th Congressional District seat

falls on the same date as Rosh Hashanah, “which is one of the holiest

days in the Jewish calendar,” said Joyce Greenspan, regional director

of the Anti-Defamation League in Costa Mesa. “It is not a day where

you can be doing any kind of work, including writing.”

Greenspan said that of the 70,000 to 100,000 Jews in Orange

County, at least 60% of them live in the 48th District -- which

includes Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Irvine and several other

cities. Several ideas are being discussed to make sure Jewish voters

aren’t disenfranchised, she said.

The controversy over the election date may actually spur more

people to cast ballots.

“I believe that the effect on this election is that there will be

many more people voting,” Greenspan said. “Certainly I can see the

Jewish community being very clear about wanting to vote.”

Brewer takes the pledge

Hoping either to one-up her political competitors, or to get her

name in another press release, 48th Congressional District Republican

candidate Marilyn Brewer recently announced she signed the taxpayer

protection pledge offered by Americans for Tax Reform.

Those who sign agree to “oppose any and all efforts to increase

the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses,”

according to a statement from Americans for Tax Reform.

There are 221 members of the House who have signed the pledge.

Campbell’s got Next

No word on whether he’ll have to serve Pepsi on the campaign

trail, but Campbell on Tuesday announced an endorsement by Generation

Next, a group of young Orange County Republican business and

community leaders.

Campbell, of course, is running for the 48th Congressional

District seat and has racked up an array of endorsements, with the

most impressive likely being Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s.

For those who remember the late 1990s, “Generation Next” was used

in a Pepsi ad campaign that included the Spice Girls.

All joking aside, , the political group is not affiliated with the

beverage but spends its time considering hip, youthful issues such as

business and Social Security.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

o7alicia.robinson@latimes.comf7.