<i> A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County's political life</i> : Even After Knockout, Allen Has a Punch Line That Hits Below the Belt

L.A. Times Archives

Dec. 3, 1995 12 AM PT

Sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer has nothing on dethroned Assemblywoman Doris Allen.

Last week, fresh from being recalled from office, the former Assembly Speaker from Cypress participated in a broadcast of the Comedy Channel’s television show “Politically Incorrect” and took the opportunity to once again comment on a certain central aspect of the male physique.

Seated next to “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno and across from Ed McMahon, Allen blurted out, “To me, the penis is a small part of an anatomy.”

The male participants on the show, including songwriter Randy Newman (who wrote “Short People”), seemed to give her a “Says who?” look.

Just before ending her short-lived reign as Speaker, Allen created controversy by suggesting her male foes in the Republican Party were “a group of power-mongering men with short penises.”

The purge: While Allen was making yuks on TV, her erstwhile staffers were getting some bad news. Without the protection of their benefactor, a wide array of Allen staff members were given their walking papers by current Assembly Speaker Brian Setencich (R-Fresno).

Among those removed were Morgan Staines, an Orange County health-care official who came to Sacramento to serve Allen as a consultant and later was promoted to executive director of the powerful Rules Committee, which controls the lower house’s purse strings.

Corrective politics: Still steaming because the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of Orange County was allowed on the floor of the House of Representatives to deliver the morning prayer early last month, Reps. Lynn Woolsey (D-Santa Rosa) and Nita Lowey (D-New York) introduced a bill last week that would ban registered lobbyists from the House chamber.

Sheldon, who heads the Anaheim-based Traditional Values Coalition and lobbies Congress on Christian conservative issues, was criticized by Woolsey for making “a career out of vilifying lesbians, gays and persons with AIDS.”

After Sheldon led the prayer, 22 House members asked Speaker Newt Gingrich “not to provide bigots like Rev. Lou Sheldon with an official platform in the House of Representatives in the future.”

On hearing of the latest attempt to keep him off the House floor, Sheldon replied: “Their attacking me is really their attacking God, because this is not my philosophy. I am only reflecting what the Judeo-Christian ethic has had for several millenniums.”

Credit credibility: During testimony before a House panel last week, House Inspector General John W. Lainhart IV revealed that some members of Congress or their employees had their official credit cards canceled because their accounts were past due; others exceeded office expense ceilings or submitted reimbursements for expenses not related to travel. But, he testified, there was no fraud.

Lainhart didn’t name names, but said the infractions--large and small--involved dozens of members and staffers.

The only member of the Orange County delegation to ‘fess up so far to a minor error was Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach). Gary Curran, Rohrabacher’s chief of staff, said the congressman mistakenly doubled-billed a rental car expense in 1993 totaling approximately $200.

Rohrabacher repaid the amount and is now seeking reimbursement from the rental car agency in California, Curran added.

The offices for Reps. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar) and Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) said they were unaware of auditing errors in their credit card accounts. Spokesmen for Reps. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) and Ron Packard (R-Oceanside) could not be reached for comment Friday.

From the mouths of adults: After holding their student body elections, about a dozen students from John Malcolm Elementary School were shuttled to a recent Laguna Niguel City Council meeting to observe how the big boys and girls of their local government do it.

They got plenty of action. Former Councilman Paul Christiansen stood at the podium and told Mayor Mark Goodman to “shut up” when the mayor tried to tell him his speaking time had expired.

From there, things got really nasty. Goodman called a letter sent by Councilman Eddie Rose decrying the O.J. Simpson verdict “a piece of trash.” Goodman was assailed by audience members for using the controversy over Rose’s letter for his own political gain, then was served with recall papers.

The reaction from 10-year-old Carter Wystrach, fifth-grade student body president? A diplomatic “I guess everybody was saying what they thought.” But if he were mayor, Wystrach said, he “would’ve absolutely laid down the law.”

UPCOMING EVENTS

* Monday: Jim Morrissey for Assembly wine-tasting fund-raiser with Santa Barbara Assemblyman Brooks Firestone, 5:30 p.m. 852-2147.

* Tuesday: Fund-raiser for Democrat Jim Prince, candidate in the 46th Congressional District, 7:30 p.m., Corona del Mar. 836-1996.

* Wednesday: Birthday party and fund-raiser for Treasurer-Tax Collector John M.W. Moorlach, 6 p.m. Disneyland Hotel. 540-0461.

* Wednesday: Huntington Harbour Republican Women Federated Christmas program meeting and 1996 officers’ installation, Meadowland Country Club. 840-3113.

* Wednesday: Phil Gramm for President fund-raiser. (800) 96-GRAMM

* Thursday: Democrats of North Orange County dinner meeting, 6 p.m., the Sizzler, Fullerton. 526-7374.

* Saturday: Friends of Gil Ferguson Annual Brunch at Balboa Bay Club, Pacific Coast Highway, Newport Beach. 852-0181.

* Saturday: Forum for 71st Assembly District candidates at 10 a.m. at American Legion Post 131, 1404 North Grand Ave., Santa Ana. (714) 543-6256.

Compiled by Times staff writer Eric Bailey with staff writer Gebe Martinez and correspondents Frank Messina and Julie Fate Sullivan

Politics ’95 appears every Sunday.