Rep. Ed Royce rebukes Trump on Arpaio pardon

Sept. 01--The Buzz is the Register's weekly political news column.

President Donald Trump's controversial pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio drew a diplomatic but firm rebuke from Congressman Ed Royce.

"Rule of law is a founding principle of our great nation," the Fullerton Republican said in an email. "The judicial process should have been allowed to run its course."

Royce's statement doesn't explicitly address an eventual pardon for Arpaio, but does join the chorus of those -- including Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona -- who've said that Trump jumped the gun because Arpaio had not been sentenced, let alone pursued the appeals process.

It's the latest indication that Royce is the most willing of Orange County's four Republican incumbents to express public concerns about Trump actions.

Make no mistake, Royce has voted with Trump 95 percent of the time, according to the analytic news site fivethirtyeight.com.

But the vast majority of congressional Republicans have voted with the president more than 90 percent of the time. And in a county where Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, has defended some of Trump's most controversial moments and the two other GOP Congress members have been more wary of breaking with Trump, Royce's concerns are noteworthy.

Only Rohrabacher expressed support for the Arpaio pardon in response to Register inquiries. Reps. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Beach, and Darrell Issa, R-Vista, did not respond to requests for their views of the presidential action.

All four Republicans have been targeted in next year's election by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in good measure because Hillary Clinton's victory in their districts last year showed that a Democrat could prevail in the longtime GOP strongholds. A key strategy for Democrats is to link the House incumbents to Trump.

In terms of voter registration, Royce is the most vulnerable of the four. Republicans' advantage in the district is just 1.7 percentage points, far less than that in the other districts. But he won reelection last year by 14 percentage points -- Issa prevailed by just 0.6 points -- and his ability to distinguish himself from the president on key issues could help retain support from moderate voters.

Royce has drawn six challengers to date, most of whom have bristled at the suggestion that he is a moderate. Among other things, they point to his anti-abortion rights position, his vote this year to repeal and replace Obamacare, and his "A" rating from the National Rifle Association -- although such stances haven't stopped him from cruising to reelection since first being elected in 1992.

Royce's endorsement of Trump for president, offered only after the nomination was secured, was lukewarm, not even mentioning the candidate by name.

"I have always voted for the Republican nominee and will do so this year," he said in an email to the Register last year.

He has raised issues with Trump's travel ban and his budget. And he was the county's only House Republican to express concerns with the firing of FBI Director James Comey, which had the support of Rohrabacher and Issa. Walters' statement at the time neither embraced nor criticized the move.

Transgender, climate change

As for Trump's directive banning new armed services recruits who are transgender, Royce is withholding judgment.

"The Pentagon's ongoing study of this issue is set to be completed in January 2018," he said. "Our commanders are experts at building effective military units to protect our country and I look forward to hearing their perspective."

Walters issued a similar statement, while a Rohrabacher spokesman said the congressman supported the directive. Issa also said he was looking forward to the study, but sounded ready to endorse transgender individuals being allowed to serve.

"If an American can meet the strict physical, medical and training requirements of our military, there's no reason they should be barred from consideration to serve our country," Issa said.

Issa was one of 24 Republicans who joined House Democrats on July 13 to defeat a proposed budget amendment that would have ended government-funded gender reassignment surgeries for service members. Royce, Walters and Rohrabacher voted for termination.

Also in the Defense Department budget is a provision to study "vulnerabilities to military installations and combatant commander requirements resulting from climate change over the next 20 years." The study is embraced by climate-change activists. A proposed amendment to delete that provision was defeated July 13 when 46 Republicans joined House Democrats in voting against it.

Royce, Walters and Issa were among those Republicans. Rohrabacher was the sole Orange County Congress member to support deletion.

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