ELECTIONS : 21ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : Gallegly Wins Again, but Korman Is Happy Over Better Showing

After spending nearly $500,000 of his own money in two unsuccessful attempts to unseat Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), Calabasas developer Sang Korman said Wednesday he would not rule out a third try.

“Someday I will be a good congressman,” said Korman, who was soundly defeated in Tuesday’s GOP primary election for the 21st Congressional District. “If I had $10 million, I would spend it. I think it’s worth it.”

Tuesday’s vote marked the second time in two years that Gallegly has defeated Korman. Gallegly received 68.4% of the vote. Korman got 31.6%.

Korean-born Korman--who came to the United States in 1972 virtually penniless, but is now worth about $800,000--said he was encouraged because his share of the vote was more than twice the 13% he garnered in 1988. “I’m very happy,” he said.

Korman, 52, spent nearly $500,000 out of his own pocket on both races, $245,000 on the 1988 campaign.

Asked if he will run again, Korman replied: “That is two years in the future and I don’t know. I have to take care of my family and children and then I will make my decision. . . . I still have some money left in my pocket.”

Gallegly, 46, discounted the increase in Korman’s vote, saying other candidates in the state made similar showings against incumbents without spending as much money.

Gallegly will face Democrat Richard Freiman, an Agoura lawyer, in the November general election. Gallegly is favored to win a third term because Republicans outnumber Democrats 177,000 to 124,000 in the district, which covers western and northern Los Angeles County and southern and central Ventura County.

Freiman acknowledged Wednesday that his campaign will be an “uphill struggle,” but said he is counting on crossover votes from liberal Republicans who disagree with some of Gallegly’s positions. He said he will specifically target Gallegly’s opposition to abortion.

Korman and Gallegly shared conservative views on many issues.

Gallegly’s strategy for much of the campaign was to ignore Korman. That changed in the days before the election, when Gallegly ran a series of television commercials to counter Korman’s $120,000 TV ad campaign.

One of Korman’s ads attacked Gallegly’s involvement in an internal FBI investigation of four Los Angeles-based agents in 1987 and 1988. The agents were the target of a yearlong probe after they lobbied Gallegly in 1987 to support a then-pending bill to raise FBI overtime pay.

Gallegly said he did not file the complaints against the agents that prompted the inquiry. But documents released by the FBI show that he repeatedly complained to high-ranking bureau officials that the agents threatened him and conspired to defeat him in his 1988 reelection campaign.

Korman’s ads claimed that Gallegly covered up his role in the investigation, which eventually cleared the agents of wrongdoing.

“I think the people could sort out what was fact and what was fiction,” Gallegly said Wednesday.