Victor Veysey, R.I.P.

Human Events, Jul 2, 2001 by Gizzi, John

When I covered the California Republican Assembly (CRA) convention in Los Angeles March 30-April 1, one longtime CRA favorite who was not present was stalwart conservative former Rep. (1970-74) Victor Veysey, who had died shortly before at age 85. Over lunch during the convention, Republican Assemblyman Dennis Hollingsworth and his parents Dan and Joan-who had known Veysey since childhood-reminisced about this remarkable man.

A graduate of Caltech and Harvard Business School, engineer Veysey worked on the Manhattan project and helped develop the HBomb. After 11 years of teaching, he moved to California's Imperial Valley in 1949 and began farming. He was soon elected to the Brawley School Board and, in 1962, won a seat in the state assembly, where he rose to become chairman of the Education Committee. There he carved a niche for himself as an outspoken enemy of campus revolutionaries and weak-kneed administrators, as well as the father of legislation requiring parental approval for school busing. Veysey also championed a measure to outlaw desecration of the American flag.

When Democratic Rep. (1962-70) John Tunney left his House district to run for the U.S. Senate in 1970, Veysey won it in a close race against Tunney's top aide, David Tunno. As he had done in Sacramento, Veysey in Washington turned in a strongly conservative performance (ACU rating: 83%) and was known as an advocate of "fiscal sanity" and a strong defense (American Security Council rating: 100%). Democratic-controlled reapportionment forced Veysey into largely alien turf when he sought a third term in 1974, and he was defeated by liberal Democrat James Lloyd, then the mayor of West Covina.

Veysey would go on to serve as assistant secretary of the army for civil works and then was nominated to be California director of industrial relations by Republican Gov. (1982-90) George Deukmejian in 1983. That spawned vigorous opposition from unions, and Veysey was rejected by the state senate by a margin of 20-to-13.

"Vic always told me he regretted not going to Congress until he was 58.because he couldn't accomplish as much as he wanted," Dan Hollingsworth told me. "Well, I'd say being an engineer, educator, and farmer, and serving at three levels of government, is quite a life of accomplishment."