Assemblyman: the Red Menace, Contras and L.A. Riots

"Donna looked at Tim, holding his gaze deeply. Her brown eyes tried to see past their tense days together in Taiwan to gain insight into another part of his soul.

"An orderly cleared his throat.

"Taylor glanced briefly at the orderly, then refocused on Donna. His crisp blue pilot's eyes suddenly seemed to relax. His lips turned upward, 'I thought I'd be scared when I asked you this question, but I'm not; Donna Klein, will you marry me?'

"Donna smiled back and carefully bent over Tim's face. Curly strands of red hair brushed against his forehead. She kissed him then pulled away just far enough to say ..."

If you want to know Donna's answer, you'll have to find a copy of Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore's novel, "China Attacks." Despite the passage above, the novel is a macho, political-military potboiler that imagines the brinkmanship between China and the U.S. over an invasion of Taiwan. I won't tell you the ending to the 415-page book, published in 2000 and co-written by DeVore, but let's just say our communist trading partners get some needed butt-whooping. The novel has been translated into Chinese.

The California National Guard makes an appearance in the novel, which is not surprising because DeVore is a lieutenant colonel in the California Army National Guard, personnel division. (He has been an intelligence officer as well.) His personal website features photographs of DeVore while "activated for Desert Storm" in Ft. Irwin, California.

DeVore also boasts about meeting "the late freedom fighter" Enrique Bermúdez Varela, the Nicaraguan Contra military leader who became a key liaison with the Reagan administration. He was assassinated in 1991. (Claudia Bermudez, his daughter, twice ran unsuccessfully against Democrat Rep. Barbara Lee for Oakland's congressional seat.)

And, finally, DeVore describes his deployment to the L.A. riots, at Martin Luther King and Crenshaw boulevards, this way:

"During his 18-day deployment, Chuck led armed patrols to combat threats to people and property by enforcing the curfew, clearing the streets of rioters, protecting vulnerable businesses from looters and arsonists, and gathering and analyzing information on the activities and intentions of looters and criminal gangs."

Chuck DeVore: A one-man army.

In an interview, DeVore said he has received hate mail from mainland China about "China Attacks." One writer, a professor in Beijing, called him a "white pig" and compared China's interest in Taiwan to President Lincoln keeping the union together during the American Civil War. DeVore wrote back and said that while the Union fought for freedom, China is "fighting to enslave" Taiwan.

(Photos: ChinaAttacks.com; state Assembly website)