Local right has capital ball

Alicia Robinson

A gaggle of Orange Countians went to Washington, D.C., for the

presidential inauguration and found themselves in a winter

wonderland, complete with snow.

“It’s cold and slushy right now, and that slush is going to turn

to ice,” Newport Beach urologist Don Udall said Wednesday.

This is Udall’s third inauguration -- he also attended events for

former Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.

Udall is from a politically connected family that includes several

congressmen, and he helped with the Bush campaign, so he decided to

make the trek to Washington despite the weather. “I think that

President Bush is doing a good job,” Udall said.

“I’m inspired by these sorts of things, and I wanted my wife to

see it also.”

Newport Beach Rep. Chris Cox held an open house Wednesday for

several hundred Orange County visitors and took them to the House

floor, and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who represents Costa Mesa, planned

a breakfast this morning for his constituents who are in town.

Bush will be sworn in for his second term today at noon Eastern

time, and tonight guests will don formal attire to attend one of nine

balls being held around town.

Singer Resa Hempfling, a former Newport Coast resident who

recently moved to Laguna Niguel, will perform at the ball at the

National Building Museum.

It’s her fourth inauguration -- she sang at both of the

celebrations for former President Bill Clinton, and she was at Bush’s

first inauguration in 2001.

“It’s just a tremendous honor to be invited back time after time,”

said Hempfling, who normally sings jazz but will change her routine a

little tonight.

At the Clinton inaugurations, she performed rock ‘n’ roll, but

because Bush is more conservative, she’s selected swing music,

patriotic songs and Broadway tunes.

Even if Bush isn’t there, she said: “I probably will close with

the ‘Yellow Rose of Texas.’ That’s his favorite song.”

El Toro auction gets

bid of sorts for L.A.

The battle over the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station

continued this week with no decisive moves made on either side.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted to urge the U.S.

Navy and Department of Transportation to lease the former Marine base

to the city as an airport, although federal officials already quashed

any hopes that they’ll comply. The base property was put up for bids

in an online auction that opened Jan. 5, but so far no bids have come

in on the four parcels.

El Toro airport proponents claim contamination on the property has

scared away potential bidders, but anti-airport activists disagree.

No one expected any bids to come in until the auction closing date

is announced, which could happen next week, said Meg Waters,

spokeswoman for the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority. Even before the

L.A. City Council’s action this week, Waters’ group had been planning

to step up its lobbying efforts to ensure the base never becomes a

commercial airport, she said.

For those who want more information on environmental cleanup

efforts at the base, the El Toro auction website,

https://www.heritagefields.com, lists a public meeting set for 6:30

p.m. Wednesday at Irvine City Hall, 1 Civic Center Plaza.

Cox criticized on

base housing issue

In other El Toro news, military advocate Ken Lee fired off an

angry letter to Rep. Chris Cox about the former base Wednesday.

Lee represents Ocmil.com, an advocate for Orange County’s military

personnel and their families. He criticized the congressman for

allowing voting in Iraqi elections at El Toro but not pushing to

reopen housing and a commissary on the base to help local military

families.

“You continue to fail to act to support the housing and commissary

needs of our troops, yet you have moved quickly in helping others

reuse the El Toro Officer’s Club at taxpayers’ expense,” Lee said in

the letter.

In April 2004, Cox wrote letters to federal Defense Department

officials in charge of El Toro asking questions about the

department’s decision not to reopen the housing or the commissary,

and he has said he’s doing everything possible on the issue.