Bill targets health costs

Alicia Robinson

Health care costs in the U.S. will shrink if a bill to reduce the

cost of doctors’ liability insurance is approved by Congress, said

Rep. Chris Cox, who wrote the bill. Cox, a Newport Beach Republican,

believes the bill would reduce health care expenses enough to save

taxpayers $18 billion over 10 years.

Despite that projected savings, however, the bill has apparently

failed five times to become law, though Cox’s House colleagues have

passed it. Not one to give up, Cox reintroduced the bill last week.

Who’s appearing

at speakers series?

Remember how the identity of the person who wrote political

bestseller “Primary Colors” was such a mystery when the book was

first published in 1996? Joe Klein, its author, has not been

anonymous for some time, and he’ll appear at the Newport Beach Public

Library on Friday and Saturday to kick off the 2005 Distinguished

Speakers Lecture Series.

Klein will discuss his book, inspired by the 1992 presidential

election, and his experiences as a political journalist. He’ll talk

at 6 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday. For information or tickets,

call (866) 301-2411 or visit https://www.nbplfoundation.org online.

Organizers have canceled another event planned for Friday, a

conference on homeland-security issues for businesses. The

“Leadership and Homeland Security Conference” was set to begin at 8

a.m. Friday at National University in Costa Mesa, but it was canceled

because of several factors, including low registration, according to

organizers. It may be rescheduled later.

‘Death tax’ still

in Cox’s sights

Cox also isn’t quitting on his efforts to permanently repeal the

“death tax” -- he just reintroduced a bill to do that, something he’s

tried nearly every session of Congress for the past 12 years. He had mixed success in 1997, when he let the provision go into the “budget

reconciliation process,” a quirky Senate procedure that allows

measures that affect the budget to last for only 10 years. That means

estate taxes will be phased out and will disappear by 2010, only to

come back in 2011.

“Whenever anything goes through the legislative process, it is

logrolled and compromised, and some of that happened here,” Cox said.

He must be hoping for better things this time, because he hasn’t

advised his constituents to avoid the tax by dying in 2010.

DeVore looks to

honor Ukrainians

Hoping to recognize Ukrainians for their diligence in getting a

democratically elected government, 70th District Assemblyman Chuck

DeVore, a Republican representing Newport Beach, introduced a

resolution this week honoring them. A November presidential election

in Ukraine was widely considered corrupt and included the alleged

poisoning of opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko, who lost

initially but won a subsequent election held in December that was

considered more fair.

DeVore said in a statement that people everywhere in the world

should be recognized when they stand up for democratic principles.

The Assembly has not yet voted on the resolution, which DeVore said

has broad bipartisan support.

Cox is target of

El Toro campaign

Apropos of the Navy’s attempt to unload the closed El Toro Marine

Corps Air Station this week, Ann Watt of Newport Beach-based The New

Millennium Group sent the Daily Pilot an artistic depiction of how

the group views federal officials’ plans for the base.

Cox’s response was to point out that the process being used to

identify contamination at the base is the same one that has been used

at many other bases, and the Navy plans to pay for the clean-up of

contaminants such as trichlorethlene, or TCE.

“The Navy has acknowledged legal responsibility for their

liability,” Cox said. “The Navy is legally responsible for cleaning

up the base of TCE contamination and has already dedicated $15

million to the task.”