Taking a swipe at Schipske

S.J. Cahn and June Casagrande

It turns out local Republicans aren’t the only folks who are a bit

tired of Gerrie Schipske.

Schipske, who ran unsuccessfully against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher

this fall (drawing 35% of the vote) is one of a dozen candidates

political pundit Stuart Rothenberg begs in his latest Roll Call

column not to run again.

“Running for office can be an addiction for some people,” he

writes in his Dec. 9 column. “And it’s an addiction that some repeat

losers need to break.”

He has this to say about the Long Beach nurse: “[She] nearly upset

Rep. Steve Horn (R-Calif.) in 2000, and she was planning on a rematch

when the state Legislature eliminated Horn’s district. Instead of

reconsidering her political options, Schipske simply shifted her

sights to an unwinnable bid against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.).

She drew 35 percent.”

Talk about being hit when you’re down.

IT’S DANGEROUS TO WORK ON CAPITOL HILL

Aaron Lewis, press secretary for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, was

speaking for himself this week in a story in the Capitol Hill

publication The Hill.

Lewis recounts how he spent his honeymoon in June in Bali, which

later would be the site of a terrorist bombing that’s been linked to

Al Qaeda.

But it wasn’t just that trip that had Lewis thinking deeper

thoughts. Life on Capitol Hill, with anthrax scares and the

consistent worry of attack, caused him to call this “the year of

living dangerously.”

ALL THEY ARE SAYING IS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE IN IRVINE

Lately, there’s been plenty of peace activism on the UC Irvine

campus, even spilling over to Orange Coast College.

Now, for those who want to go beyond protests, UCI and Chapman

University professors and peace scholars will be meeting tonight to

talk about the roles of peace activists.

Among those in attendance will be two-time Democratic

Congressional candidate John Graham, of UCI’s Graduate School of

Management, and the founder of UCI’s Citizen Peacebuilding Program,

Paula Garb, associate director of international studies.

Topics will include peacemaking in the Middle East, peace activism

in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Georgia and how trade affects

war and peace.

Participants also will unveil UCI’s “Peace Monitor,” which

measures countries according to death by violence. Denmark is the

safest at 1.2 deaths per 100,000 people. The U.S. has 8.9 such

deaths.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the Irvine Marriott Hotel,

18000 Von Karman in Irvine. Information: Deb Behrens, (949) 955-9200.

AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POLITICAL LADDER

Glamorous, it’s not. Former Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway had

some less-than-encouraging words for his replacement, Steve Bromberg,

on what it’s like to be mayor.

In their ceremonious special meeting on Tuesday, the City Council

selected Bromberg as the city’s new mayor. Ridgeway, who was selected

to be vice mayor a second time, recounted a story about a phone call

he got from a resident. The woman had called City Hall demanding to

speak to the mayor. Ridgeway happened to be in his City Hall office

and accepted the call, but the caller was hardly appeased. She didn’t

believe she was really speaking to the mayor.

“She said, I want to talk to the mayor, and I said, ‘You’re

talking to him,’” Ridgeway recalled.

The woman wasn’t buying it.

She said, “I want to speak to the mayor. I don’t want to speak to

anyone lower than the mayor.”

To which Ridgeway replied, “There is no one lower than the mayor.”