A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County’s political life : An Affirmative Action Proponent’s Reception Is Nothing but Negative

As the invited speaker at a recent Rotary luncheon in Orange, Roland Holmes thought he might win some support for the statewide ballot initiative in favor of affirmative action that he is sponsoring. The measure needs nearly 700,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

But Holmes, an African American Republican from Mission Viejo, said he discovered he had walked into a “lion’s den”

of conservatism. He was even surprised at the group’s lack of knowledge about the issue.

In a questionnaire, Holmes asked members and guests their definition of affirmative action. “The results were shocking,”Holmes said. Half answered correctly that affirmative action meant equal opportunity, he said. The rest said affirmative action meant guaranteed employment for blacks and other minorities at the expense of whites.

Also disturbing, he said, was that none of them said they would change their minds if they learned their beliefs about affirmative action were wrong.

Rotary President Frank Parsons downplayed Holmes’ reaction, saying the service organization and its members are not easily swayed when it comes to public issues. “We’re careful about people with political agendas,” he said.

Holmes, who has about 225,000 signatures on petitions now, has until Feb. 24 to gather the rest.

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Pringle resolved: A couple of Cypress City Council members last week prevented their panel from immediately honoring newly elected Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle for finally capturing the lower house’s top post.

Councilwomen Cecilia L. Age and Gail H. Kerry voted against an emergency resolution to honor the new speaker, who lives in neighboring Garden Grove. Because the resolution wasn’t on the council’s regular agenda, it required four votes on the five-member council to be added to the agenda. The measure was proposed by Councilman Tom Carroll.

“I believe the Cypress City Council should congratulate the new speaker,” Carroll said. Pringle “is from a neighboring community, and his children go to school here in Cypress.”

But Kerry balked, saying, “I’m not sure we need to rush it.’

Age, who has filed to run against Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach), a Pringle ally, in the March 26 primary said her vote Tuesday night had nothing to do with her candidacy.

“I’ll vote to congratulate Mr. Pringle when it comes up as a regularly scheduled item, as long as the resolution is on his accomplishments, the same as we praised Doris [Allen] on her accomplishments,” Age said, referring to a resolution passed last summer honoring the former assemblywoman when she was elected speaker. Allen was recalled and replaced by Baugh Nov. 28.

A resolution congratulating Pringle is scheduled for the City Council’s Jan. 22 meeting.

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Speaker’s staff: Pringle, who was elected speaker this month, is beefing up his staff.

Pringle hired longtime Sacramento Republican staffer Mark Watts to be his chief of staff. Former chief of staff Jeff Flint, who ran the office for Pringle when he was just one of 80 Assembly members, is now deputy chief of staff.

“Curt needs someone who has extensive experience in Sacramento,” Flint said.

Formerly an undersecretary of business, housing and transportation in the Wilson administration, Watts also was “one of the top two or three Republican staffers in the Assembly . . . and was the first person fired by Doris Allen,” Flint said.

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What snow? Federal government workers in Washington, D.C., were told to stay home during the first part of last week because of the blizzard that hit the East Coast, but that didn’t keep a few California congressional staffers from showing up for work Tuesday.

Most attributed their diligence to cabin fever after two straight days of snow. But in the office of Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside), it wasn’t volunteerism that got staffers there. Rather, Raymond Mock III, the chief of staff and a Louisiana native, had ordered aides to report for duty by 9 a.m. Tuesday regardless of the weather.

They didn’t stay long, however, shutting the office at midday when snow started falling again.

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Bedeviling Dornan: It sounds like Democrat Mike Farber, who was trounced by Rep. Bob K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) in a congressional contest two years ago, believes he can make a better go of it in 1996.

Mike Kaspar, who is running the Farber campaign, reports that Farber has raised $400,000 in a nationwide direct mail campaign that demonizes the Orange County conservative. Kaspar is co-author of a 1994 compilation of memorable Dornan quotes titled “Shut Up Fag!”

Dornan, of course, is concurrently running for president, and has been distracted from fund-raising for his congressional seat. He spent $2 million to defeat Farber last time around and faces two challengers in the GOP primary.

Farber first must win the Democratic primary, where there are three other candidates.

“We are raising money by targeting people we think are tired of a right-wing conservative demagogue,” Kaspar said.

UPCOMING EVENTS

* Monday: Republican Central Committee of Orange County general meeting at 7 p.m. at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel.

* Monday: The Orange County Green Party meets at the UC Irvine Marketplace Community Room, above the Improv, 4255 Campus Drive, Irvine, at 7 p.m. Speaker: Mike Feinstein of the Southern California Green Party.

* Tuesday: Debate among the candidates in the 71st Assembly District primary. Hosted by the Orange Republican Women Federated at 11 a.m. at the Turnip Rose in Orange. (714) 637--5680.

* Wednesday: Laguna Niguel Republican Women Federated’s January meeting, 9:30 a.m. at Mimi’s Cafe in Laguna Niguel. Guest speaker is Scott Holleran of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine. (714) 496--2665

Compiled by Times political writer Peter M. Warren, with contributions from staff writers Gebe Martinez, David Reyes and Len Hall and correspondent Bill Billiter.

Politics ’96 appears every Sunday. Items can be mailed to Politics ‘96, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or faxed to (714) 966-7711.