ARTICLES

Whither The Local G.O.P.?

PRO-LIFERS CONSIDER STRATEGY

By Carlos Bey

California politics is turning out to be central in efforts to change the Republican position on abortion: Pete Wilson is becoming the leading Republican pro-abort, the 1996 Republican National Convention will be held in San Diego, and pro-abortion Republicans are running for seats in the state legislature.

Some pro-life activists urge voters to defeat pro-abortion Republicans at all costs in order to keep the party opposed to abortion. Says one pro-life lobbyist in Sacramento, "When pro-abortion Republicans get elected, they not only serve in the legislature, they have power in the party. When you vote, you have to take into consideration what you're doing to the party. Are you helping to sustain the pro-life position of the party? You may best serve the pro-life position by helping to defeat a bad Republican.

"If the Republican party loses its pro-life position, they could turn out to be worse than the Democrats because of certain other of their positions. So it's better to have one more liberal pro-abortion Democrat rather than risk losing the Republican pro-life plank. Defeating them sends a message to the Republican Party. Majority is not necessary anyway. If the Republicans were only one-third plus one in both houses, they could stop abortion funding."

Republican Brian Bilbray, who disappointed pro-lifers by promising to oppose abortion funding, then proceeding to vote with abortion interests in every crucial case, will be defending his 49th congressional district seat this November.

The race's Democratic primary includes Peter Navarro (whose office says he is "100 percent pro-choice" and that he supports funding) and Nancy Casidy. Casidy was a lobbyist for the California Abortion Rights Action League (CARAL) in the late 1970s and early '80s. She and her husband Derek also worked as "sex counselors" in the '80s. While she was working for CARAL, the diocese of Sacramento's peace and justice commission (under now-retired Bishop Francis Quinn) attempted to present the non-Catholic Casidy with an award because of her civil disobedience in the peace movement.

Carpetbagger pro-abort Republican Tricia Hunter (who has lost assembly races in northern San Diego County and in Riverside County) will be running for the 78th state assembly district, which runs from Coronado to La Jolla, pro-abort Democrat DeDe Alpert having been term-limited out of that seat. (Alpert will run for the state senate seat which Lucy Killea loses this year to term limits). Hunter is strongly supported by Pete Wilson (who created a $72,000 Sacramento job for her when she lost her assembly seat). Pro-life groups say that Hunter has received hundreds of thousands of dollars for her campaigns from California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), a lobby with which Wilson has great influence. Hunter's opponents in the primary race will include Bruce Henderson (who is pro-choice but says he opposes funding of abortions and supports parental consent) and Scott Harvey (also pro-choice). Nathan Johnson, pro-life chairman of the American Independent Party of San Diego, has also filed for the 78th district.

Pro-abort Democrat Bob Filner will face City Councilman Juan Vargas in the Democratic primary for the 50th congressional district in South Bay. Vargas, a former Jesuit seminarian, has said he is against third-trimester abortions and is in favor of parental consent, but he did vote for the city's "bubble law" to prevent pro-lifers from picketing and counseling at abortion clinics. Pro-life pastor Jim Baize is running in Republican primary.

The 70th state assembly district in Irvine also boasts a pro-abortion Republican, Marilyn Brewer. In the last primary election, two pro-life candidates ran, each backed by various evangelical churches, and took about 33 percent of the vote each. Brewer, with 34 percent of the vote, won the nomination. Since she is the incumbent, the Republican Party is backing her in her bid for re-election this year. Party organizers tried to prevent pro-lifer Jim Rems from filing to run against Brewer in this year's Republican primary, demanding that he speak on a cellular phone to Republican leaders, trying to talk him out of running. Rems was finally able to file his campaign paperwork and has registered a complaint with the Republican Party.

While some activists are urging pro-lifers to vote for pro-abortion Democrats over like-minded Republican candidates, Michaelene Jenkins, spokesperson for California Pro-life Council's San Diego office, says, "Where there isn't a choice between pro-life and pro-abortion candidates, we don't go out of our way to defeat someone. We focus our efforts on another race."

Races which CPC is urging pro-lifers to get involved with include the 76th Assembly district, where pro-life Bob Trettin will run in the primary against pro-choice Mike McSweeney, to face abortion devotee Susan Davis (she voted against a measure to deny Medi-Cal payments to abortionists who are under discipline by the Medical Board for incompetence) in November.

Jenkins also stressed the importance of the county board of education election, in which the pro-abort teacher's union is influential. Each of the three races this year includes a pro-life candidate against one or more pro-abortion candidates. Malcolm Morrison, John Vogel, and Jim Kelly are pro-life candidates running in the first, second, and fourth education board districts, respectively (Kelly is the incumbent in his district).

Another San Diego pro-life activist is more cynical: "The Republican Party on the local level in California has become a country club party, the Republican party of pre-1980, which is fiscally semi-conservative and socially liberal -- 'Cut my taxes, but if other people want to kill their children, let them.'"

He suggested supporting candidates from the U.S. Taxpayers' Party and its California branch, the American Independent Party. He sees spiritual weapons such as the Mass and the Rosary as the only appropriate weapons in the war against abortion, adding, "We can't put our faith in men; we must put our faith in God."