ELECTIONS CONGRESS : Gallegly to Face Feisty Korman for 2nd Time in June Primary

Two years ago, neophyte congressional candidate Sang R. Korman told his staff to draft a victory speech for him to deliver in the event he pulled off a political miracle and upset Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) in the June primary election.

Korman, a wealthy Korean-American real estate developer, had mounted a spirited, if quixotic, campaign, glad-handing door-to-door and displaying extraordinary energy and determination--along with a large measure of political naivete. His first-ever campaign cost $350,000, including $245,000 of his own money.

But as the returns trickled in on the night of the primary, Korman’s victory speech remained in his jacket pocket. Not only did Korman fail to beat Gallegly, he captured less than 14% of the vote despite outspending Gallegly by more than 2-to-1.

Undaunted by the 1988 thrashing, Korman is again trying to wrest the GOP nomination from Gallegly in the 21st Congressional District, which spreads from the conservative suburbs of northern and western Los Angeles County into southern and eastern Ventura County. The two face off in the June 5 primary election.

Korman’s optimism about his chances remains irrepressible. “When I’m elected, my constituency will love me,” he said. “I think when I’m elected, I can be a good congressman. The people will love me, they’ll be for me.”

Korman, 52, still faces very long odds, however. Only three incumbent California congressmen have been upset in primaries in the past decade, and all were damaged by scandal or allegations of misdeeds. And political analysts give Korman little or no chance of beating Gallegly, 46, who was elected to Congress in 1986 after serving as mayor of Simi Valley.

Both incumbent and challenger are pro-defense, antiabortion conservatives. But Korman, of Calabasas, has resorted to a series of hard-punching attacks on Gallegly’s voting record and his role in a controversial internal FBI investigation of four Los Angeles-based agents.

Korman recently took to the airwaves with his criticisms, spending $100,000 for a series of ads on network and cable television outlets--an unusual tactic in a geographically large congressional district because of the expense.

“I did very gentle with him” in 1988 “because I don’t want to hurt him,” Korman said. “Later I found out he sent out very dirty hit pieces on me. He teach me a good lesson. Now I’m paying him back.”

Korman’s most focused--and potentially damaging--assault came last week when he produced a retired FBI agent, James Paulson of Santa Clarita, who accused Gallegly of lying and trying to cover up his instigation of an internal FBI investigation of four agents in 1987 and 1988.

Gallegly repeated earlier denials that he filed complaints against the agents, which Paulson said prompted the probe.

The FBI investigated three of the agents after they lobbied the congressman in 1987 to support legislation to raise their overtime pay rates. A fourth agent was investigated for allegedly conspiring to prevent Gallegly’s reelection.

The Times reported last month that documents released by the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act show the yearlong probe was conducted because Gallegly made repeated accusations against the agents to high-ranking FBI officials. The documents also indicate that the agents were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Korman has capitalized on the revelations by repeatedly assailing Gallegly, who has sought to position himself as a champion of law enforcement. Last month, Korman issued a press release giving Gallegly step-by-step instructions on how to request that the FBI publicly release other documents related to the inquiry in his file.

For his part, Gallegly has adopted a classic front-runner strategy, trying to ignore Korman’s broadsides while emphasizing his constituent service and anti-crime legislation in Congress.

“I’m focusing on Mr. Gallegly. I don’t like mudslinging campaigns, Republicans don’t like mudslinging campaigns,” he said.

Gallegly added that Korman’s attacks have had the unintended effect of generating more reelection donations to him. But he acknowledged that the criticism “certainly doesn’t make my life any easier for a couple of months.”

Gallegly cited his introduction of a federal death-penalty bill designed to apply to killers of federal officers in states that do not have their own death statutes. The legislation, however, has been bottled up for months in the House Judiciary Committee, the congressman said.

He also has tried to portray himself as pro-environment, an increasingly popular stance in the rapidly developing district. He said he voted for a double-hulling bill aimed at preventing future oil-tanker spills and supported a $12-million appropriation for land acquisitions in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Despite his stated intention of publicly engaging Korman as little as possible, the congressman couldn’t resist charging Korman with running a “campaign by press release,” a reference to the almost-daily barrage of accusatory news releases churned out by Korman’s campaign.

In addition, Gallegly’s campaign recently mailed to reporters copies of a Simi Valley newspaper article that said Korman, in an interview, was unable to name any U.S. Cabinet secretaries.

But Korman, who speaks three languages and is worth about $800,000 as a result of his real estate and other business transactions, charged that such questions discriminate against him as an immigrant.

“I think . . . it is not necessary to memorize years and dates,” he said. “What year, what place was Kennedy assassinated? Most important thing is what kind of ideas you have; can you initiate legislative projects?”

Although he shares Gallegly’s basic conservatism, Korman has sought to stake out sharply different positions on several issues.

For instance, he opposes a controversial proposed land swap that would allow construction of 750 houses and a tournament-class golf course in the Jordan Ranch area of Ventura County. Gallegly has said he will remain neutral on the project until local hearings have been held and environmental reports are completed.

Korman also criticized the congressman for accepting campaign money from political action committees representing special interests, such as the troubled savings and loan industry. Korman has pledged to accept no PAC contributions if elected.

But Gallegly said campaign contributions do not affect his votes on legislation. He cited his recent vote in favor of establishing a federal seven-day waiting period for the purchase of handguns, saying he voted for the measure even though he received contributions from the National Rifle Assn.

In his TV ads, Korman has referred to Gallegly as the “goose egg” congressman, charging that he secured no federal funds for road, water or other pork-barrel projects in the 21st District over the past three years.

Gallegly responded that he opposes pork-barrel appropriations, which he said are “breaking the back of the American taxpayer.”

* CONGRESSIONAL RACE

Questions and answers from 21st District candidates. B4