Despite Strong Korman Push, Gallegly Is Still GOP Favorite

When he first joined Congress last year, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) had every reason to expect a long career on Capitol Hill without much opposition at the polls, barring a major misstep.

The ex-Simi Valley mayor had proved his political clout in 1986 by upsetting Tony Hope, son of entertainer Bob Hope, in a hard-fought GOP primary before going on to a landslide victory in November. With the financial, staff and media advantages of being the incumbent, Gallegly looked like a sure bet for easy reelection in the bedrock Republican 21st District.

“I didn’t expect to have a major challenge,” Gallegly acknowledges. “Maybe that caused me to be less concerned about campaigning and politicking and more concerned about getting my feet on the ground.”

Well-Heeled Opposition

Enter Sang Korman, a first-generation Korean immigrant with a fervor for politics usually confined to later generations. He is mounting a well-financed bid to knock Gallegly off his feet in the June Republican primary. The Newbury Park real-estate developer has poured $55,000 of his own money into the campaign and says he has raised another $130,000 toward an expected campaign fund of $200,000 to $300,000.

“Most of the people don’t know who is their congressman” in the district, said Korman, 50, who would be the United States’ first Korean-American representative. “Believe me, when I go to Washington, D.C., all the nation will know about Sang Korman.”

But first he will have to make sure the district’s 161,447 registered Republicans know about him if he is to beat long election odds. Gallegly, 43, may be pushed harder than he expected to be, but he is still heavily favored to win the GOP nomination, which is tantamount to being elected in this conservative district.

“Republicans are not going to fire their incumbent without specific reasons to do so,” said GOP consultant Allan Hoffenblum, who is not affiliated with either campaign. “An incumbent has to be enormously unpopular or involved in a scandal” to be defeated.

Neither applies to Gallegly. The former real estate executive is not especially well-known, but this is hardly surprising for a first-term incumbent in the competitive Los Angeles media market, where few lawmakers achieve high profiles. Colleagues contrast his deferential style with that of ex-Rep. Bobbi Fiedler (R-Northridge), his unusually visible but abrasive predecessor.

“Fiedler was very outspoken and seemed to be involved in almost every issue that came to the floor and developed into a controversy,” said Rep. Leon Panetta (D-Monterey), “whereas Gallegly seems to be someone who’s working within the process.”

Backed by George Bush

Even though he has not been in the legislative forefront, Gallegly’s stoutly anti-tax and pro-defense conservatism appear to be in step with voters in the district, which includes southern Ventura County, parts of the northern and western San Fernando Valley and Santa Catalina Island. And he has the support of the Republican establishment, including Fiedler and Vice President George Bush.

“The message is going to be what I talked about when I came to Washington,” Gallegly said. “Establishing a relationship with other members, supporting the Reagan Administration’s economic and defense policies and being an accessible and responsive representative.”

Gallegly returned to California 28 times in 1987, several times as many as colleagues from neighboring districts, according to records filed with the House clerk. He says he was in the district on all but three weekends to attend public events and meet constituents. Republican activists say that Gallegly, after a slow start, has established a stronger presence in recent months.

Although Gallegly ended his 1986 campaign with a $135,000 debt and Korman initially caught him with his coffers down, he will apparently have enough money to get his message across. He says he has raised $165,000 to $185,000 since Feb. 1, with most of the proceeds coming from a $300-a-person fund-raiser held Friday. He expects to spend at least $250,000 overall.

David Desko, a catering manager from Canoga Park, is also running in the GOP primary but expects to raise little money and is not likely to be a factor. Attorney Donald E. Stevens of Thousand Oaks, the sole candidate in the Democratic primary, is not expected to be a serious threat in the fall.

Meanwhile, if Gallegly is not exactly a household word outside his Simi Valley stronghold, Korman starts the campaign as an unknown. A political newcomer, he has no natural base of support in a largely white district with a small Asian-American population. Korman said he has received 85% of his money from the Korean-American community, including contributions from those in other states and from registered Democrats, raising issues Gallegly could exploit.

“I am scared if they have strong ethnic prejudice, no way I can win,” Korman said. His public-opinion polls indicated that his race is not a handicap, he said, but GOP activists say it could be.

Korman must also overcome other barriers. He immigrated to America in 1972 and his English remains choppy, ungrammatical and sometimes difficult to understand. His knowledge of issues was so scant that his political consultants shielded him from the media for weeks until he insisted on dealing directly with reporters after declaring his candidacy. “If congressmen need a good speech, then hire the congressman’s speech coach,” Korman said impatiently during an interview in his Thousand Oaks campaign headquarters. “A lot of things I don’t know about. I will study, and I will let you know. Congressmen, they don’t know everything.”

His biggest handicap, however, may be that he echoes Gallegly on most major issues. Both support military aid to the Nicaraguan Contras and “Star Wars,” President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative. They oppose protectionist trade measures. Both are staunch anti-communists.

To reduce the federal deficit, both favor a balanced-budget amendment, a line-item veto for the President and further cuts in spending for social programs and pork-barrel projects. Neither has put forth a specific program to balance the budget.

Gallegly’s voting record received perfect scores from the pro-defense American Security Council and the pro-business United States Chamber of Commerce. He proudly reports he has been present for 98.6% of all House votes.

He also has antagonized specific constituencies. He voted against the position of the National Council of Senior Citizens on all 10 measures affecting the elderly, against the AFL-CIO’s pro-labor positions on 15 of 16 issues and against the National Education Assn.’s pro-teachers position on three of five bills.

Korman, an intense, energetic man who built a successful real-estate business after arriving in the United States with $75, maintains that his knowledge of the Asian education system, values and trade practices provides him with insights to help make America more competitive. He calls his campaign a personal crusade--a chance for him to repay this country for the opportunity it has provided him.

“I have knowledge and wisdom with my background to make proper international relations, especially with Asian countries,” Korman said. “I can be very comfortable and form a bridge between Asian countries and the United States. . . . I don’t want to see America fall down.”

Education would be his foremost priority, he says. He supports raising teachers’ salaries, reducing the number of school administrators, encouraging parents to emphasize respect for teachers and instructing students in moral values such as honesty, compassion, fairness and justice.

Although these tend to be state, local or family matters, Korman said, “If I can be in Washington, D.C., I can make a big deal for America” by speaking out on the need for change. He promises he would go beyond conventional channels to make his points--no matter what the stakes.

“If I found something wrong in Congress, I will not eat,” Korman said. “If I see something wrong with pork-barrel spending, I will point out somebody’s name. Maybe somebody will kill me. I don’t care.”

Gallegly’s most celebrated action occurred when he joined five colleagues to take sledgehammers to a Toshiba radio on the Capitol steps last summer. They were demonstrating their anger at disclosures that a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate had joined a Norwegian consortium to illegally sell submarine technology to the Soviet Union.

“Maybe I got more recognition than I was due,” said Gallegly, who was quoted and shown nationwide in the news media. “But it’s something I’m going to continue to work on.”

He said it will cost the United States $31 billion to offset the advantage the Soviet Union gained through Toshiba’s sale. He supports a ban on Toshiba consumer imports, which amount to $14 billion a year in products and parts, included in trade bills pending in Congress. The State Department has opposed such punitive action.

“This was not an attempt to bash Japan,” Gallegly said in response to those who charge that there is an undercurrent of racism in the Toshiba incident. “It was an attack on a company that was in Japan.”

Gallegly is reluctant to criticize Korman, taking the traditional front-runner posture that the less attention his opponent receives, the better. However, he charges that Korman’s campaign is being orchestrated not by the candidate but by his Los Angeles-based political consultants, Marathon Communications.

“He’s being kept insulated from the press and most public places where he might be questioned on issues,” Gallegly said. “These people are pros.”

Korman responds: “I’m not trying to hide anything. I have no experience.” But, he adds firmly, “I make the decisions. I make the announcements.”

The campaign is likely to produce little, if any, direct contact between the opponents. Korman does not plan to request any debates, said campaign manager Bob Lavoie. This is unusual for a challenger and is apparently because of Korman’s relative unfamiliarity with a broad range of issues.

So he spends much of his time in his shirt sleeves determinedly knocking on the doors of consistent Republican primary voters, repeatedly shaking their hands, imploring them to vote for him and handing them his slick red, white and blue flyer that makes no mention of Gallegly.

One of those Korman approached last week was Harold E. Johnson, 57, a Chatsworth property manager who said he voted for Gallegly in the 1986 primary and general elections. Johnson greeted Korman warmly but moments later reflected the obstacle facing the challenger.

“I really didn’t think he was doing that bad a job,” Johnson said of Gallegly. “My feeling is they need to be there for a while to understand what’s going on. So, to put another person in doesn’t benefit the district unless there’s some problem with what Gallegly’s doing.”