Congressman steps back into dangerous territory

Alicia Robinson

The angry phone calls and death threats that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher

received Jan. 28 didn’t deter him from taking another public stand

against benefits for illegal immigrants on Wednesday.

The threats stemmed from legislation he introduced that would

limit healthcare for illegal immigrants and require hospitals to

report illegal immigrants seeking treatment to U.S. authorities.

This week, the subject was Social Security. Rohrabacher attended a

Washington event at which the Seniors Coalition, a senior advocacy

group, presented members of Congress with about 150,000 signed

petitions asking President Bush not to give Social Security benefits

to illegal immigrants.

“I took the threats seriously, but it’s not going to intimidate

me, and I hate to think that our country has actually come to the

point where there’s serious danger to elected officials for taking a

stand against illegal immigration,” Rohrabacher said.

No federal policy now grants Social Security to illegal

immigrants, but the White House has discussed the issue, Rohrabacher

spokesman Aaron Lewis said. The congressman is still pushing

legislation he introduced last year that would deny such benefits.

The bill never made it to a House vote, but it still could during

this session, Lewis said.

“It’s a show of force to dissuade the administration from going

down that road,” he said.

Ethics violation alleged in 70th Assembly race

Candidate Chuck DeVore has taken the latest shot in the ongoing

Republican battle for the 70th Assembly District seat, this week

filing a complaint against opponent Cristi Cristich with the ethics

committee of the Orange County GOP. A letter from DeVore’s campaign

to ethics committee Chairman Eric Woolery alleges that Cristich

violated the party code of ethics four times with three pieces of

campaign literature and a recorded phone message to district voters.

DeVore has criticized Cristich for a mailer featuring excerpts

from a letter from Rep. Chris Cox (see related story, Page 3), a

press release that says DeVore supports President Bush’s proposed

guest worker program -- which it calls “amnesty” -- and other

campaign material.

Glitch botches Orange County’s sample ballots

A computer glitch caused errors in some sample ballots sent out to

Orange County voters, county Registrar of Voters spokesman Brett

Rowley said. The position of some candidate names on the sample

ballots will not match their positions on absentee ballots or at

polling places. Races affected by the error were the Presidential,

Senate, House of Representatives races and a county Green Party race.

Rowley said the error will not affect actual voting on election day.

Rohrabacher backs former treasurer for Senate

As Republicans around the state make their pick among four

candidates hoping to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer, Rohrabacher has come

out in favor of former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin. Marin, who has

her campaign office in Costa Mesa, announced the endorsement last

week.

While he doesn’t agree with Marin on everything, Rohrabacher said,

Marin is intelligent and hard-working and would make a good party

spokeswoman.

“My endorsement mainly deals with the fact that she’s committed to

Republican ideals and she’s a fine person,” he said. He dismissed the

race’s front runner, Bill Jones, for backing away from an endorsement

of George Bush in favor of Sen. John McCain during 2000 presidential

primaries.

“That really rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, including me,”

Rohrabacher said. “I think Rosario knows what loyalty means and

that’s what counts.”

Endorsement train keeps rolling

Other endorsements announced this week were an endorsement for

Cristich from the Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, endorsements for

DeVore by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. and outgoing 35th

District Sen. Ross Johnson, and an endorsement of 68th District

Assemblyman Ken Maddox for the 35th District Senate seat by Sen. Tom

McClintock.

DeVore also announced that he received the U.S. Army’s meritorious

service award on Sunday for his service in the Army National Guard.