ELECTIONS CONGRESS : Ferguson’s Tactics Are Questioned

At first glance, all the stars seem to line up for Democratic congressional candidate Anita Perez Ferguson:

* Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino, a Ventura Republican, showed that he is vulnerable in his district when he barely escaped defeat by a Democrat in 1988.

* This year, pollsters are measuring a strong current of voter dissatisfaction with incumbents. They say the “throw-the-bums-out” mentality grows each day that Congress fails to resolve the federal budget stalemate.

* And Ferguson, an articulate, attractive candidate, has emerged at a time when being a woman, a Latina and a fresh face are considered advantages.

But Democratic and Republican strategists contend that so far Ferguson has not managed to capitalize on these political assets. Nor has she taken advantage of Lagomarsino’s absence while he is stuck in Washington with round-the-clock votes on budget matters.

“Without him here, she could have raised a lot of heck,” said John L. Davies, a political consultant in Santa Barbara.

“She is not banging away, attacking his weaknesses with strong organized research about his record,” he said. For his part, Lagomarsino is confident enough of his reelection prospects to allow his campaign manager to quit six weeks before the election and an out-of-town consultant to run the campaign from afar.

“I certainly don’t want to create an impression that we think it is a snap,” Lagomarsino said. “If people got the impression that I didn’t care, they wouldn’t either.”

Yet the Lagomarsino campaign has no plans to change its strategy--even after Ferguson’s most successful attack last week linking Lagomarsino to the nation’s savings and loan scandal.

Ferguson grabbed headlines by pouncing on a 1986 letter that Lagomarsino signed with 15 other House Republicans that pressured the nation’s top S&L; regulator for secret records.

Edwin J. Gray, former chairman of the Home Loan Bank Board, called the letter a poorly disguised attempt to feed confidential information to the Irvine-based Lincoln Savings & Loan and Charles H. Keating Jr., its indicted owner.

Gray said the congressmen who signed the letter “allowed themselves to be duped by people like Charles Keating” and suggested “they should know what they sign and who they do favors for.”

The negative publicity put Lagomarsino on the defensive. The congressman said he signed the innocent-looking letter at the request of a Republican colleague and stressed that he has never met Keating or received any donations from him or his S&L.;

Bob Wickers, Lagomarsino’s campaign consultant, said he didn’t think the disclosure would significantly shrink Lagomarsino’s lead over Ferguson. Campaign polls showed Lagomarsino leading Ferguson 56% to 22% in June and gave similar figures in mid-September, he said.

“I don’t think it is going to hurt us in any way, unless she is able to communicate it to the voters, and I don’t think she is,” Wickers said.

Lagomarsino, who raised $274,581 in contributions through September, compared to Ferguson’s $115,127, began radio and television ads last week that promote him as a lawmaker concerned about helping his constituents and protecting the environment.

Wickers said the campaign is prepared to spend its entire cash reserve of $155,000 on media ads and direct-mail brochures.

As for Ferguson, campaign manager Sam Rodriguez said his candidate has received an infusion of cash in the last three weeks--although far short of the $400,000 Rodriguez initially said was needed to win.

Rodriguez said the campaign now has $68,165 to spend on ads to portray Lagomarsino’s poor environmental record and opposition to abortion as out of step with his district. Ferguson strategists are also considering raising the issue of ethics and the letter linking Lagomarsino to the S&L; debacle.

In one sign of how the Ferguson campaign is doing, Rodriguez and his rough-hewn style have become an issue in Democratic circles.

“He’s put people off,” said Don Cannon, a coordinator for the Ventura/Oxnard chapter of the National Organization for Women. “Most people won’t go through Sam to do anything,” he said.

Mary Rose, a seasoned Democratic consultant, sees Rodriguez in that “know-it-all stage” that deflates after campaign managers lose a few races. “Sometimes he is pushing Sam Rodriguez more than he is pushing his candidate.”

More significantly, Rose believes that Rodriguez has incorrectly steered Ferguson away from solidifying a base of core Democratic supporters needed to carry her in a low-turnout election.

“We Democrats have a harder time getting our voters to get out and vote,” Rose said. She said it is a mistake for Ferguson to assume that environmental and liberal voters are behind her just as they were behind state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara). Hart came within 4,000 votes of beating Lagomarsino in 1988. Ferguson was an aide to Hart until recently.

“She wasted the whole summer going after senior citizens, which are Lagomarsino’s strongest supporters,” said Reb Wayne, Lagomarsino’s former campaign manager. Wayne said he left Lagomarsino for a better job, “when it became obvious to me that my presence was not critical to his winning.”

Davies, a consultant for Republican and Democratic candidates, agrees that Ferguson has not set her priorities wisely. “She should be the darling of younger voters and women. Instead, she is out at senior homes, trying to perform brain surgery. If nothing happens soon, it’s all over.”

Mindy Lorenz, a Cal State Northridge art history professor, is in the race as a write-in candidate for the fledgling Green Party that promotes peace and ecology.

Lorenz hopes to attract voters disgusted with both major parties but more than likely will draw voters who would otherwise support Ferguson.

But Lorenz argues that the established Democratic Party has never fully backed Ferguson because Hart still has his eye on the congressional seat. “They wanted someone to fill in until Gary Hart comes back.”