CITY FOCUS:

Huntington Beach-based coating and paint supplier Coatings Resource Corp. had a contract with Mattel Toys for 25 years, selling paint for iconic toys like Barbie dolls.

But a few years ago Mattel awarded that contract to a Chinese company later implicated in recent scandals over lead paint, and the local business was forced to slash its jobs from 85 to 30.

But the company’s chief executive Ed Laird isn’t bitter toward Mattel, and said his company is planning to start certifying paint made for the toy giant in China so children are never endangered that way again.

“I put the blame at the foot of the Chinese companies,” Laird said. “They cheated. And it’s out there now. Why the toy companies didn’t catch it I don’t know.”

The temptation to use lead is high for companies trying to undercut their competitors, Laird said. It brings down costs by two-thirds, and the paint sticks better, he said. But he doesn’t allow such toxins anywhere into his factory. It’s made it hard to keep up with foreign prices, but Laird says his company’s expertise will keep it afloat in the global market.

“We have some technology they are not able to replace over there,” he said. “If we make the change from a paint company to a technology company, we can survive.”

The company’s ups and downs brought U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher to its offices Saturday. He called it justification of his hard-line stance on China, calling unrestricted trade with the country a threat to domestic jobs and even the health of children.

“American jobs and know-how are going over there,” he said. “We’re creating an economic monster that is so powerful that it is able to put large numbers of Americans out of work. Ed Laird’s company symbolizes America’s dangerous and unhealthy relationship with communist China.”

What the U.S. needs is stricter rules on trade with an “emerging adversary,” Rohrabacher said.

He also used the occasion to speak against China’s human rights record, calling for a boycott of the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

“For the free world to permit the world’s worst human rights abuser to host this sporting event that represents the best in humankind is a travesty,” he said. “Boycotting the Olympics would show to the Chinese they have a long way to go, a lot more reform to do if they want to be accepted as an equal.”