F.V. man elected president of state Republican group

Fountain Valley resident and accountant John W. Briscoe, 63, has replaced Celeste Greig as president of the California Republican Assembly.

Greig was ousted in a 84-78 vote during the group’s convention April 28. The assembly is a volunteer group that works to elect Republican candidates.

Briscoe said his goal is to elect as many conservative Republicans as possible.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” he said. “It’s a good group.”

Briscoe’s election comes after some controversy involving Greig. She was criticized by many after she spoke about the possibility of getting pregnant as a consequence of rape, according to reports in The Bay Area News Group newspapers.

While criticizing Republican Missouri congressional candidate Todd Akin’s remarks in August that victims of “legitimate rape” rarely get pregnant because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” she ended up making a similarly controversial statement that angered many people, according to the news group.

“Granted,” Greig said during the March 1 interview with The Bay Area News Group, “the percentage of pregnancies due to rape is small because it’s an act of violence, because the body is traumatized. I don’t know what percentage of pregnancies are due to the violence of rape. Because of the trauma the body goes through, I don’t know what percentage of pregnancy results from the act.”

Briscoe was president of the Fountain Valley Republican Assembly for three years. A new leader will be elected at that group’s next meeting in a few weeks, he said.

Briscoe uses his middle initial to differentiate himself from John Briscoe, the Ocean View School District trustee.

alicialopez@latimes.com

Twitter: @alicialopezHB