Playing it right down the middle

S.J. CAHN

Before I teed off on my 17th hole at the Mesa Verde Golf Classic on

Monday, I talked briefly with a reader of this column who’s a fairly

prominent guy in the community.

You’ve been playing it fairly down the middle lately, he told me

-- and he wasn’t, unfortunately, talking about my golf game.

From what I could suss together from our five-minute talk, he was

remembering when I admittedly got more opinionated during the latter

part of the Measure L campaign, although my skeptical stance against

Marinapark’s opponents probably met with his approval. (Yeah, I know,

surprising given I was at a country club playing golf.)

Since then, I’ve tried to get back to the purpose of this column,

and I’ll just quickly post what that is as a reminder.

Unlike the shrieking masses on TV, I’m not trying to shout my

opinions louder than everyone else.

The point is to try to evaluate, dissect and illuminate what’s

going on in Newport-Mesa’s political scene. The goal is analysis, not

bombast.

That’s the goal, anyway.

It’s the votes

that are important

A familiar face waited at the seventh tee of the Mesa Verde

Country Club for those playing in the Mesa Verde Golf Classic, which

raised money for Costa Mesa United’s effort to build a stadium at

Estancia and a 50-meter pool at Costa Mesa High.

Well, it was a familiar face to just some of us, apparently.

Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Katrina Foley was monitoring the par

3, where a brand new Mercedes was on the line, courtesy of Fletcher

Jones Motorcars.

I joked with the councilwoman that she probably hadn’t been out in

the sun so much, and doing so little, since she’d walked precincts

last fall in her successful council bid.

No, no, she was quick to correct me. Talking to voters isn’t a

bunch of lollygagging. It’s work.

It’s work that clearly paid off for her, given her top showing in

the November election.

Still, being known at the polls doesn’t guarantee that everybody

knows your face.

“It’s a little humbling,” she told me. “Everybody who comes to the

hole asks, ‘Do you work for Fletcher Jones?’”

The most astounding statement ever

I truly meant for this week’s column to be a Rep. Chris Cox-free

one. But I was reading his final House Policy Committee report,

summing up the 108th Congress, and ran across this line: “The

Republican Party has proven the most effective political organization

in the history of the world.”

Wow! Now that’s the kind of hyperbole for effect that the best of

writers can enjoy.

Here it is in its full context:

“The 108th Congress has been among the most important for

Republican policy in the 150 years since the founding of our party.

“This is no small assertion. The Republican Party has proven the

most effective political organization in the history of the world.

“From President Lincoln’s work with Republican majorities in

Congress to save the Union, to the Reagan-Bush leadership that

brought victory in the Cold War and the collapse of Communism,

Republicans have freed millions of people from slavery at home and

abroad.”

The report goes on, but my guess is that Pilot columnist Joe Bell

might be tackling it in more depth, so I’ll leave the nitty-gritty to

him -- and thereby keep to my middle-of-the-road status.

Cox, of course, has resigned his chairmanship of the House Policy

Committee so he can lead the House’s Homeland Security Committee.

The Policy Committee’s website no longer features a photo of Cox.

It now announces: “As a result of Chairman Cox’s election as the

first chairman of the new permanent Committee on Homeland Security,

the Conference will select a new Policy Chairman on January 26,

2005.”

* S.J. CAHN is the managing editor. He may be reached at (714)

966-4607 or by e-mail at [email protected].