2 LaRouche Followers Seek House Seats

Two followers of imprisoned extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. kicked off campaigns for two Orange County congressional seats Friday, unveiling proposals that range from economic sanctions against China to a crackdown on “organized criminal Satanism.”

Arthur Hoffmann, 33, an unemployed technical writer from Santa Ana, announced that he hopes to be the Democratic Party’s choice to unseat Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) from the 38th District in 1990. Hoffman waged an ill-fated battle in 1986 for the Democratic nomination in the 40th Congressional District, which takes in Newport Beach and other parts of South County, and which is now held by C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach).

Marion Hundley, 63, a retired electrical engineer from Yorba Linda who lost a fight for a state Assembly spot in 1986, announced his candidacy for the 39th Congressional District, a seat held by Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton).

Mike G. Balmages, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, dismissed the two men as fringe candidates.

“They are certainly not mainstream Democrats,” he said. “They are extremists. They do not represent the philosophy of the Democratic Party.”

Balmages said the party will run “legitimate candidates in all the districts who really represent the Democratic Party.”

Hoffmann and Hundley are among 16 LaRouche followers who have declared their candidacy for public office this week. Other candidates include Mark Calney, 39, of Los Angeles for the office of governor and Khushro Ghandhi for lieutenant governor.

Calney, Hoffman and Hundley said overturning LaRouche’s December conviction on mail fraud and conspiracy charges would be among their top priorities if elected. LaRouche, a four-time presidential candidate who contends that the Queen of England operates a global drug conspiracy, is serving a 15-year term in federal prison for cheating lenders who financed his 1988 presidential campaign.

On Friday, Hoffmann and Hundley--arriving 45 minutes late for a news conference at the Civic Center in Santa Ana--outlined a platform calling for a crackdown on U.S. banks that launder drug proceeds and for an increased commitment to space programs.

They also are pushing for identification and quarantine of AIDS victims, modernizing and expanding ground and air transportation to aid consumer travel and a revitalization of the aerospace industry. In addition, they said, economic sanctions should be imposed against China in retaliation for its crackdown on student demonstrators.

The two men also included in their platforms a measure to mandate “classical education” in public schools, which they say would teach youngsters to think creatively by steeping them in a course of poetry, geometry and music styled after ancient Greek schooling.

And they also said they want to wipe out “organized criminal Satanism.” Asked to elaborate, Calney pointed to what he said were recent instances of child abduction and animal mutilation by devil worshipers.