Democrats’ Inaugural Party Has Extra Relish

WASHINGTON — Anyone passing by the Orange County Democratic Foundation’s inaugural bash on Saturday might have had trouble remembering that President Clinton did not, in fact, carry the Republican county in the November election.

But this weekend, it didn’t seem to matter to the longtime political underdogs of one of the nation’s most conservative regions.

They hosted a celebration of Clinton’s second inauguration and--more important at the local level--the election of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) to the seat once held by conservative icon Robert K. Dornan of Garden Grove.

So high were their spirits that the Democrats ignored the fact that Dornan is still challenging the seating of Sanchez before the House of Representatives.

“I can now announce officially that Loretta Sanchez is running for reelection [in 1998] as of this minute,” Orange County Democratic Chairman Wylie Aitken joked from the podium.

Alongside a spread of buffalo wings, egg rolls, fruit and other bite-size snacks, current and former Democrats and Republicans marveled at the Democratic Party’s presence in the traditionally Republican Army and Navy Club. Retired Brig. Gen. David Henley of Newport Beach, who helped set up the event, quipped that the only Democrats usually found at political functions in the club are the ones tending bar.

Said another Democrat, former California party Chairman Richard J. O’Neill: “We look at where we were eight years ago and there would not have been anybody here but me.” On Saturday, about 200 joined the victory party, just one of many inaugural festivities taking place in Washington this weekend.

Among the guests were California Democratic Reps. Bob Filner of San Diego and Ellen Tauscher of Pleasanton, whom Sanchez thanked for helping her raise money at a time when Tauscher also was campaigning for her own election victory over former Rep. Bill Baker (R-Danville).

Also attending were: California Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante (D-Fresno) and Assembly Majority Leader Antonio R. Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles); Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr. and Republican Mayor Tracy Wills Worley of Tustin; and many who were early supporters of Sanchez.

Retired Col. Bill Dougherty, a Republican confronted by Dornan for switching support to Sanchez, mingled with the crowd while wearing a suit adorned with his military medals.

“Only about 50” people had congratulated him on Saturday for choosing Sanchez over Dornan, he said.

Michele Morrissey MacDonnell, a Republican-turned-Democrat and Santa Ana activist, said of her trip to Washington: “I’m here for Loretta. We were anxious to see her win, and we are anxious to see her now that she’s our congresswoman.”

Bustamante, the Democratic Assembly speaker, spoke of the need to eliminate voter fraud, if it occurred, as Dornan has alleged in his election contest. But Bustamante was not conceding the point, and took pleasure in Sanchez’s victory.

“I enjoyed it on election night, I enjoyed it the week after, I enjoy it today,” Bustamante said.

Sanchez’s election has boosted the spirits of the local party regulars, even though President Clinton did not beat GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole in local balloting.

Though Clinton carried California 51% to 38% over Dole, the reverse occurred in Orange County, where Dole received 52% of the vote, compared to 38% for Clinton and 8% for Ross Perot.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the last Democrat to carry a majority of the votes cast in Orange County. But one Democrat allowed himself the hopeful thought that some day soon, a Democratic presidential nominee will win a majority of votes in the county that was the birthplace of Richard Nixon. “Hope burns eternal,” said former state Assemblyman Tom Umberg of Garden Grove, who served as the California state director for the Clinton/Gore ’96 campaign.

“I think the president did well in Orange County this past election, and the election of Loretta Sanchez bodes well for future Democrats in Orange County,” Umberg said.

Today, a political action committee that works on behalf of AIDS patients will sponsor a fund-raiser in downtown Washington to help defray legal expenses that Sanchez is expected to incur because of Dornan’s challenge. A Sanchez aide said the bills could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.