Times’ Coverage of Dornan

* Bob Dornan once said he had to defeat both his Democratic opponent and the Los Angeles Times to get elected. Based on its effort-filled Oct. 18 article about Dornan’s legislative record (“ ‘B-1 Bob’ Vs. Democrats’ Darling, Round II”), The Times has again proven itself a worthy political adversary.

Two weeks before a hotly contested congressional election, you wrote that Dornan “left Congress in 1996, defeated by Rep. Loretta Sanchez, without having written a single bill that became law.” A review of Internet documents and The Times’ archives, however, reveals the opposite: that Dornan wrote numerous bills and amendments that were enacted into law.

For example, in March 1994, Dornan’s bill, H.R 4060, which imposed the death penalty for espionage, passed Congress as part of the crime bill and was subsequently signed into law. Today Dornan’s legislation is law, part of Title 18 of the U.S. Code.

Dornan also wrote legislation establishing the ROTC-style police corps program, which he introduced in 1989 and worked on a bipartisan basis to get enacted into law as part of the 1994 crime bill.

Also, at the request of local officials, Dornan inserted language into the 1990 defense bill that authorized the U.S. Navy to sell 77 acres of land at El Toro to Orange County. The county wanted the land to construct an I-5 interchange. This Dornan language was passed by Congress and signed into law Nov. 29, 1989.

Dornan also wrote the 1986 law that allows the Postal Service to seize the production and distribution assets of child pornographers who use the U.S. mails. According to Postmaster General Marvin Runyon, the Dornan law had “a tremendous, positive impact on the Postal Service’s ability to aggressively investigate and seek prosecution of traffickers of child pornography.”

Finally, one more important point in your article said Sanchez passed a bill into law that “compensates former South Vietnamese army commandos employed by the U.S. during the Vietnam War.” Not true. It was Dornan, as an Armed Services subcommittee chairman, working with the U.S. Senate in conference committee, who helped enact the legislation authorizing the compensation of the Vietnamese commandos. That law was enacted during the 104th Congress, before Sanchez was elected.

Contrary to your false and misleading article, Dornan wrote numerous bills that became law. But given the fact that such shoddy and irresponsible reporting was published two weeks before election day, one can only wonder how many votes will be cast based on your article. The Los Angeles Times owes Dornan a correction--and Dornan and the voters an apology.

PAUL MORRELL

Dornan’s chief of staff

1989 to 1995