O.C. Convention Delegates: Varied Backgrounds, Issues

One wants to wave the flag for crime victims everywhere. Another will push her fight against illegal immigration. Some want to see the Republican Party jettison its platform plank opposing abortion. Others vow to keep it.

Orange County’s 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention, which begins Aug. 12 in San Diego and runs for four days, are ready to do a lot more than attend multiple social events and cheer on presumptive nominee Bob Dole.

They are an eclectic bunch, both racially and ideologically, defying the stereotype of Orange County as white and unbendingly conservative.

One is a native of Korea, another is from Vietnam, a third was born in Iran. Two are black women. One is a Latino police chief. Another is a multimillionaire. A half dozen are elected officials.

“I think there was an effort to get a good mix, so you have all income levels, you have women, you have minorities,” said county Supervisor Marian Bergeson, a delegate for the fourth time. “I think the selection process was very appropriately done.”

Not all agree. Some conservatives, even a few in the county’s delegation, are privately grumbling that America’s most Republican of regions is being represented at the convention by a group that has something of a moderate patina to it.

That could have an impact, particularly on the issue of abortion. Gov. Pete Wilson has promised to champion efforts to pull the abortion plank from the party platform--or at least see language added that expresses tolerance for differing positions on the contentious issue. Dole has already made it clear he wants a tolerance plank.

Wilson could find allies in the California delegation, which some insiders believe he virtually hand-picked for Dole, and among the delegates from Orange County. As some conservatives see it, the bulk of the county’s delegation, like the rest from California, are supporters of Wilson’s aborted presidential run recycled as Dole delegates.

“He has appointed,” groused one conservative, “a very liberal delegation.”

But conservatives such as Jon Fleishman, an Irvine resident and state president of the California Republican Assembly, say they won’t stand for any watering down of the party’s firm stand against abortion.

“Anyone who believes life begins at conception cannot accept a tolerance plank and still call themselves a moral person,” Fleishman said. “It’s like accepting a car bomber into your party, saying that we’re going to advocate tolerance. It’s that black and white an issue.”

A number of people in the county’s delegation, including several who label themselves “pro-life,” say they will be happy to join with Wilson for a fight to remove the abortion plank.

“I don’t think it should be in the platform at all, and I’m pro-life,” said Yorba Linda City Councilwoman Barbara Kiley, a first-time alternate delegate. “It’s not a government issue. It’s a moral issue. It’s a personal issue. It is the most personal issue a woman has going. And I think a lot of men forget it’s strictly a women’s issue.”

Bergeson predicted the abortion war will be waged inside the party’s platform committee, which begins its deliberations this week. Bergeson was scheduled to be one of the California delegates on that influential committee, but had to bow out because of responsibilities next week with the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

“I don’t see it being a battle on the floor,” she said.

The devil can be in the details. Some delegates are worried that a tolerance plank will be included in the highly symbolic text of the platform; they’d prefer it be simply disposed of in the preamble.

“It’s going to depend on what they do, where they put it and how strong it is,” said state Senate GOP Leader Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove), an antiabortion advocate who will be attending his first convention.

Thomas Fuentes, county GOP chairman and a staunchly antiabortion Catholic, predicted the abortion debate won’t generate many sparks.

“I think the abortion issue will be set aside and resolved by virtue of the fact that Bob Dole has stated his position and the convention will extend its courtesy to the nominee in shaping a platform that is comfortable to him,” Fuentes said. “He has done an outstanding job in stating his opposition to abortion while extending open hospitality to those who differ. So I don’t think that should be an issue.”

Indeed, some would prefer the convention not become bogged down on such a divisive issue while there are other matters that Republicans wholeheartedly agree upon.

“All across the nation, the number one concern is crime. It’s not abortion, it’s not all these other things. It’s crime,” said Collene Campbell, a San Juan Capistrano City councilwoman and celebrated anti-crime advocate. “I just hope that’s put in the spotlight, because the Republicans are very good in that area.”

Campbell, an alternate delegate, hopes she can bring her message to the convention, perhaps by grabbing a few minutes on the podium to speak about her own experiences. Her son was murdered in 1982 at the age of 27, a crime for which two men were convicted and are serving life sentences. In 1988, her brother, off-road racing guru Mickey Thompson, was shot to death. That slaying has not been solved.

“I would love to bring the real world of the crime victim to the people of the nation,” Campbell said. “Unfortunately, I got a hands-on education in the field of criminal justice. I know the Republicans have been supportive of trying to get that system fixed, despite tremendous problems with the liberals.’

Campbell has crime. Kiley has immigration.

As one of the authors of 1994’s successful Proposition 187, the anti-illegal immigration measure that was gutted by the courts but has spawned a tidal wave of immigration reform in Congress, she will be a spokeswoman on the issue. Several immigrants rights groups are planning protests outside the convention, so Kiley should find a bright spotlight.

“I’m going to remind people that this is a very, very important issue, and we can’t let it be ignored,” Kiley said.

Such matters, of course, are just a sideshow to the main event under the big top: the nomination of Dole and his selection of a running mate. Republican leaders hope the convention gives Dole’s flagging campaign the usual bump in the polls.

On that score, several Orange County delegates, moderates and conservatives alike, expressed concern about the level of zeal for Dole’s candidacy.

“I’m worried about the lack of enthusiasm,” said Kiley. “But people need to remember that Sen. Dole, despite his age and his calm demeanor, would be a far superior president to the current occupant of the White House.”

Someone who has no trouble getting enthusiastic about the upcoming presidential race is Alberta Christy, a longtime Orange County Republican Party secretary and Central Committee member. “Our major enemy is Clinton,” she said. “The goal of the convention has to be unification of the party behind Dole.”

Christy is one of two black women in the county delegation. The other, Emily Sanford, is a GOP activist from Huntington Beach.

They are joined by a variety of others who break the image of the Orange County GOP as an all-white enclave. There is also Placentia Police Chief Manuel Ortega; Vietnamese Republican activist Ky Ngo; and Bijan Kian, a Wilson appointee of Iranian descent.

And there is Ho Chung, a Korean American and Garden Grove City councilman making his first trip to a convention. Chung came to the U.S. more than a quarter century ago with plans to earn a fortune and return home to a career in politics. Instead, he decided to stay. He’s spent the last 23 years as an insurance agent, and in 1992 became the first Korean American elected to a municipal government post in Southern California.

“Being involved for the first time, I just want to learn what goes on at a convention,” Chung said. “I hope to meet lots of good people from all over the country, and make some good personal relationships.”

Among those who were supposed to serve as delegates was Orange County Lincoln Club founder Bob Beaver, 89, who had to withdraw because of health problems, and Irvine Co. magnate Donald Bren. Although business affairs interfered for Bren, the billionaire developer plans to spend at least a couple days in San Diego schmoozing with other big GOP donors and politicians.

Orange County’s other big bucks GOP benefactor, George Argyros of Newport Beach, will serve as a delegate and mingle with other heavy hitters at the prime ticket parties and social events.

Indeed, a convention is remembered as much for its parties as its politics. And San Diego will have its share of fancy fetes.

One recent day, Fuentes sat in his office and thumbed through a tall stack of party invitations--one for the governor at the rowing club, a shindig for congressmen at Sea World, another at the historic railroad depot, a Planet Hollywood gig with Chuck Norris, Dan Quayle and Arianna Huffington. And lots more.

The whole convention is preceded by a whistle-stop train ride down the California coast that includes two stops in Orange County. Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), another of the county’s delegates, is scheduled to be aboard, with House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Even after the convention ends Thursday evening, the high times continue.

“For those who have a healthy liver and can stay awake,” Fuentes said, “it’s going to be one heck of a week.”

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Delegate Lineup

Like most delegations heading to San Diego for the Republican National Convention, Orange County’s 28-member group ranges from grass-roots activists to party bigwigs. Before the March state primary, each presidential candidate formed a delegation pledging its support. Three candidates and three alternates were selected from each congressional district and seven at-large candidates were chosen statewide. Bob Dole, who won the primary, sends his delegates to the convention.

Orange County Delegates for Dole

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Name Home Status At-Large Gary Hunt Newport Beach Delegate State Sen. John R. Lewis Orange Alternate 39th District Lois Godfrey Fullerton Alternate Phil Stump Irvine Alternate 41st District Councilwoman Barbara Kiley Yorba Linda Alternate Police Chief Manuel Ortega Placentia Delegate Franny Yen Anaheim Alternate 45th District George Argyros Newport Beach Delegate Supervisor Marian Bergeson Newport Beach Delegate Assemblywoman Marilyn C. Brewer Irvine Alternate Evelyn Mayberry Orange Alternate Emily Sanford Huntington Beach Alternate Haydee V. Tillotson Huntington Beach Delegate 46th District Judy Buffin-Edge Santa Ana Alternate Alberta Christy Santa Ana Alternate Councilman Ho Chung Garden Grove Alternate State Sen. GOP Leader Rob Hurtt Garden Grove Delegate Ky Ngo Garden Grove Delegate Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle Anaheim Delegate 47th District Jo Ellen Allen Newport Beach Alternate Jon Fleishman Irvine Alternate GOP Chairman Thomas A. Fuentes Lake Forest Alternate David Moore Newport Beach Delegate Charlotte Mousel Tustin Delegate Michael Schroeder Irvine Delegate 48th District Jeffrey Brown Monarch Beach Alternate Councilwoman Collene Campbell San Juan Capistrano Delegate Bijan Kian Laguna Niguel Alternate

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Note: Districts with fewer than six names listed have delegates from other counties.

Source: Republican Party

Researched by ERIC BAILEY / Los Angeles Times