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*Having graduated from Fullerton Union High School in 1959……we had a Senior Day when we could go to the City of Fullerton and intern for the day with one of the luminaries. I had chosen the position of Mayor, but had to have a backup position, which I chose as City Attorney. David Boies got to Intern at the Mayor position. I got to Intern with the current City Attorney. His name was William Dannemeyer. When you look under eclectic and jocular you may still find his photo in the Orange County history books! The day for a 17 year old with the one and only Bill Dannemeyer was truly something. I was interrogated in great detail, about why I thought I would like to be an attorney. I had no answer, just more questions…..like: “I don’t know – what do you do?” I said. Dannemeyer gave me one his famous looks……like: “Sure you don’t want to be someplace else?” Finally, I put my interrogation skills to work and the rest of the day was as fun as you can imagine. Little did I know then that the great Bill Dannemeyer was going to absolutely rule Orange County for quite some time to come.
Years later, we were honored to have Bill Dannemeyer become one of the founding members of The Cutting Edge – a talk show. Bill took us down to San Diego to meet Indiana Congressman Dan Burton, who did our voice over along with B-1 Bob Dornan for our Promo. We loved Bill and his wonderful 2nd wife Lorraine Day! Bill had an ongoing battle with the Health Care System since the passing of his first wife in 1999. He knew the whole process was dirty and he wanted to change it, but after 1992 when Hillary and Bill tried to change it and failed…the process looked pretty bad. Bill and Lorraine have spent every waking moment involved in Naturopathic Health Care and whatever you might say: Bill has had a great run at life. We will miss him with all our hearts! He was a real person, who was still helping us actively, up to three years ago! Thank you Lorraine for all your dedication and understanding of our dearest friend. We will always be indebted and honored that Bill Dannemeyer, the great Lutheran force of nature…..was our friend!
Ron & Anna Winship
To be sure…..Bill Dannemeyer was both very unique and also a pillar of ethical stature!
He followed in the shadow of Congressman James B. Utt.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2019
CONTACT: Randall Avila
PHONE: (714) 453-0900
Statement on the Passing of former Representative William Dannemeyer
ORANGE COUNTY, CA – Hon. Fred M. Whitaker, Chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County, released the following statement on the passing of former Representative William Dannemeyer:
“We are saddened to announce the passing of former Orange County Congressman William E. Dannemeyer. Congressman Dannemeyer passed peacefully at his home early on July 9 at the age of 89. Bill Dannemeyer represented Orange County in the United States Congress and in his seven terms in office he served on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on the Budget.
Notably in Congress on the Judiciary Committee with Democratic Majorities he was the leader in successfully impeaching 3 corrupt judges. He was a founding member of the CLUBB (Congressional Leaders United for a Balanced Budget), COS (Conservative Opportunity Society), and the RSC (Republican Study Committee). He will not only be remembered for his time in Congress but also as a veteran who served our country in the Korean War.
He helped to shape modern conservatism, receiving one of the highest conservative ratings among Republicans in the House. Prior to his first election to Congress in 1978, Democrats held many partisan seats across Orange County. His leadership in grassroots organizing earned Republicans every partisan seat in the county by the time he retired at the end of 1992. His work became a benchmark for future local Republicans in incoming election cycles.
Representative Dannemeyer was succeeded in Congress by Ed Royce who served from 1993-2019. Congressman Royce shared his thoughts on his predecessor’s passing, “Bill Dannemeyer was a man who truly loved his country. He saw patriotism as a virtue and worked long and hard to represent the people of Orange County. My heart goes out to his family.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dannemeyer family at this time.”
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Thank God that the times have passed him and his type of antics by.
William Dannemeyer spread lies about gay people, tried to quarantine people with the AIDS, worked to restrict the rights of LGBT people, believed in crazy conspiracy theories—including anti-Semitic paranoia, generally opposed the separation of church and state, believed in idiotic creationism, and was, at least in his public persona, just mean.
Predictably, he sided with business interests over the preservation of wilderness—specifically to stop the establishment of the Mojave National Preserve, wanted to ban flag burning even though it is obviously a form of free speech that cannot be outlawed, similarly sought to preserve prayer in public schools, and even introduced a House Resolution expressing doubt about whether or not chlorofluorocarbons were destroying our planet’s ozone layer (they were, and still are)!
William Dannemeyer represented the worst of OC politics, helping to promote our county’s reputation as a bastion of ignorant, reactionary lunatics. I believe he was actually crazier than Bob Dornan, and that is really saying something.
I am only glad that his hateful old ass lived long enough to see an openly gay man elected to the city council of Fullerton, where he lived.
There aren’t enough pixels in cyberspace to express what a complete waste his six terms in Congress represented. If this is your idea of a hero, go back to the Middle Ages and burn some poor soul at the stake as a witch, because I’m confident that’s what he would have done.
Good for you. My briefer comment went to moderation.
Right now, all comments are going to moderation, despite our setting being to allow new comments from accounts with previously approved comments. I have no idea why it hasn’t been working, but no one would like it to be fixed more than I would, because I’m the one who has been doing most of the wading in and separating the sheep from the goats. We’re currently getting a massive onslaught of “goats,” and most of them are particularly ugly goats.
Post it again, David, we’ll keep an eye out.
Boy am i so stoked over the recent death of former (U. S.) Rep. William E. Dannemeyer – the Roy S. Moore of California politics AND ‘public enemy number one’ of the LGBT community – at the ripe old age of eighty-nine. Because of Dannemeyer’s hateful legacy, i strongly feel that it is appropriate to speak ill of Dannemeyer. GOOD F—ING RIDDANCE!
That’s a blast from the past, who knew he was still alive?
When I was 18-21 (1978-81) and lived near the Orange Circle, Dannemeyer was my councilman. I was listening to a lot of KPFK at the time and reading Mother Jones, and my big gripe was US support of tyrannical regimes in Latin America, particularly El Salvador. I thought I’d go to one of his “town halls” to tell him why we should withdraw support from these murderers and torturers. Him and his crowd looked at me like I was from another planet.
Now I think of it I probably did look kind of punk rock back then.
PS. Fuck that guy.
GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE!
Beauty and Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder! The truth? Well, that is something which requires objective observation. From your point of view it is obvious that Bill was not exactly your cup of tea. One thing you cannot fault him for is having opinions! Agree or Disagree….your right and privilege.
All we can say, is that he treated everyone directly. Whether it was the President of the United States or a sitting City Councilperson. Whether you were talking issues of war or peace, misrepresentations or arguments about property lines…..Bill stood up and made his points. Bill came out of the Moral Majority era. Fault him for that if you must…..but during the 1970’s when Wilson Riles changed all the rules for school kids in California, Bill Dannemeyer was not thrilled. Bill never supported Busing either…..something else you might disagree about.
Bill had strong feelings about a society losing its traditional moral compass. You know,
no work on Sunday…..no incest……no Boy Scout Leaders that molested their flock. Say what you will…..but there are always two sides to every story. Some folks have vision….as you seem to think you have and maybe others don’t. That is called a difference of opinion….and fault Bill as you will…..he never backed down from an argument or issue to discuss. He virtually stood his ground and let the voters determine his fate.
You probably never voted for him….your right and your privilege. Well, you don’t have Bill Dannemeyer to kick around any more. However, if you still find enough energy, you are entitled to still kick Dick Nixon around….he and LBJ certainly still deserve your ere!
What’s an ere.
*Good Point DZ…actually EYRE…..which are itinerant Judges traveling from village to village Old English!
Rot in hell, evil old man.
Your self-reflection has triggered you!
Billy came and spoke to my class one day at Fullerton College. Nice enough guy, but I’ll never forget him claiming that people with AIDS emit spores and pregnant women should stay away from them.
Never heard the “spore” theory — that’s pretty fungal — but I do remember people in the mid’80s claiming that the HIV could be transmitted by casual contact like kissing and hugging and in the air.
When we have a HIV-type virus that can be transmitted as readily and easily as measles, we’ll find out what our society is made of. It won’t be pretty.
*5G, Vaccines, GMO’s, Food Additives, NOX Emissions, Forest Degradation,Plastic Plumbing pipes, Lead Plumbing pipes, Natural run-off Well Water, Electromagnetic Phone Emissions, Weevils, Ticks and Fleas……and pretty soon you run into Global Warming, Climate Change and then the Bill Dannemeyer awareness of AIDS Transmissions kind of pales in the whole scheme of things…..eh?
There’s plenty of room in the Hall of Infame, just like the last 50 years don’t mean that we no longer note Hall of Famers George Mikan and Bob Cousy.
That we take stock of people when they die is one way that we convince people to take better stock of themselves while they live.