Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,ca.politics
Subject: Sonny Bono--Bonehead politician
From: drogers@csun.edu (David D. Rogers)
Date: 3 Dec 1995 02:16:08 GMT

The following is from the December 1-7 edition of the Los Angeles View, a
weekly alternative paper. The article is titled "Power Outage," describing
"The ten dimmest bulbs in Congress." It was originally carried in The
Progressive, and was written by Ken Silverstein. Number eight on this list
is our old pal, Sonny Bono (with a God-awful line drawing of him above his
name).

--*--*--*--*--*--

Bono, the new representative of California's 44th District, is best known
in his post-Cher incarnation for his four guest appearances on the Love
Boat. He entered politics because he was mad about how long it took to get
a permit to open a restaurant in Palm Springs. 

Bono's intellectual shortcomings have long made him a subject of scorn
among California politicians. During his run for Congress last year, Palm
Desert Councilman Walt Snyder called Bono a "laughingstock," and Rep. Al
McCandless charged that Bono "[took] pride in not having studied [the]
issues until just a few months ago." (Snyder and McCandless, incidentally,
are both Republicans who supported Bono in his race against Democrat Steve
Clute.)

Bono served as mayor of Palm Springs between 1988 and 1992. His public
relations director, Marilyn Baker, later revealed to the Los Angeles Times
that she had to rewrite the mayor's agendas into script form so that Bono
could conduct official business. "For call to order, I wrote, 'Sit.' For
salute the flag, I wrote, 'Stand up, face flag, mouth words.' For roll
call, I wrote, 'When you hear your name, say yes,'" recalled Baker, who
quit after three depressing months of service.

Bono's current legislative director, Curt Hollman, is charged with the
Herculean task of summarizing complex issues in short, simple memos that
Bono can comprehend. Unfortunately, Hollman can't always keep his boss out
of trouble. At one Judiciary Committee meeting, Bono complained, "Boy it's
been flying in this room like I can't believe today. We have a very simple
and concise bill here, and I think it would be to everyone's pleasure if
we would just pass this thing." New York Rep. Charles E. Schumer dryly
replied, "We're making laws here, not sausages." On another occasion, Bono
complained that his committee colleagues--who write laws and deal with
trifling matters such as constitutional protections--were becoming
needlessly bogged down in "technical" matters and legalese.

--*--*--*--*--*--

No mentions of his (ongoing?) involvement Scientology, but not a very
becoming description anyways.


Peace,


<> David

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