Lawmakers to Work on Image : Elections: State and federal legislators, startled by the defeat of some colleagues, target projects to improve their standing with constituents.

State and federal lawmakers, relieved to have escaped an anti-incumbent backlash from angry voters in last week’s elections, say they are eager to complete legislative projects that will shore up their standing with constituents.

Although lawmakers representing Ventura County won by wide margins, these incumbents were startled by the defeat of some of their colleagues. Most of them expressed concern about voters’ irritation over budget inertia and political scandals in Sacramento and Washington.

“All of us took a certain amount of hits from the anti-incumbency movement,” said Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley). He attributed the defeat of three California congressmen to anti-incumbency votes and saw his margin of victory drop by 8 percentage points compared with 1988.

“In a real tight district, that would have had more significance,” said Gallegly, who defeated Democrat Richard D. Freiman by a margin of 58% to 35%.

Looking to the future, Gallegly said he sent a letter on Election Day to U.S. Customs Commissioner Carol Hallett urging that the deep-water Port of Hueneme be allowed to handle different types of cargo. Gallegly wants to help the port expand so it can bring more jobs to the area.

He said his staff is also trying to get federal financing for an ambitious anti-drug education and counseling program proposed by Ventura County Sheriff John Gillespie and Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury.

Of all the incumbent lawmakers in the area, Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) had the tightest race in a district with 23,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. Yet Lagomarsino was able to fend off Democrat Anita Perez Ferguson with a 54%-to-46% margin of victory, even though Lagomarsino was detained in Washington with budget votes until the final week of the campaign.

“Being an incumbent probably hurt me some,” Lagomarsino said. The congressman said he was disturbed by the way some of his colleagues who had captured 70% of the vote in 1988 managed to win only “by split hairs” Tuesday.

Lagomarsino said Ferguson’s “negative” campaign might have backfired when the challenger accused the incumbent of breaking promises. “People in this district know that that is not true,” Lagomarsino said.

In the next Congress, Lagomarsino vowed to finish a traffic-control system for ships in the Santa Barbara Channel that would help avoid collisions and oil spills. He also said he would push his bill to protect portions of Sespe Creek from development and persuade Congress to buy the remaining private land on Santa Cruz Island for the Channel Islands National Park.

State legislators received a strong message of dissatisfaction from voters who approved Proposition 140, which limits lifetime service to eight years in the Senate and six years in the Assembly. Voters also ousted a few state legislators, but none from this area.

State Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), who defeated Republican Carey Rogers by a margin of 61% to 35%, said he was perplexed by the voters’ mixed message.

“I can’t figure it all out yet,” he said. “Some incumbents lost, but a lot of others maintained traditional strong followings.” He suggested that Tuesday’s results confirmed “the old political saw: People don’t like the Legislature, but they like their legislator.”

As chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Hart said he has been frustrated in recent years by Gov. George Deukmejian bottling up education funds and vetoing his bills to improve education.

Although he had hoped Dianne Feinstein would be governor, Hart said he believes that Pete Wilson is a moderate Republican who will not “be a caretaker governor like Deukmejian who says no to everything.”

The senator said he hopes to develop a new program to help schoolchildren at risk of dropping out by establishing an “ombudsman for at-risk children who would be responsible for them and prevent them from falling through the cracks.”

He also plans to suggest that Wilson consider a special election to pass bond measures needed to finance the construction and repair of college and university buildings. If the state doesn’t act quickly, he said, the university systems will run out of money for earthquake repairs and for the construction of a Cal State University campus in Ventura County.

Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria), who crushed Republican Connie O’Shaughnessy by a margin of 68% to 32%, said he also plans to concentrate on education issues during his fifth term.

One of his ideas is to make it easier for school districts to float bonds for school construction by lowering voter approval requirements from two-thirds to a simple majority. “In Ventura County, where we have tremendous growth, we need to make sure we have adequate education facilities,” O’Connell said.

Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) said she also will work on education bills during the next session. Wright, who beat Democrat Dennis A. Petrie by a margin of 54% to 39%, said she plans to resubmit two of her education bills that passed the Legislature but were vetoed by Deukmejian.

One bill would require that cities include school officials in developing their general plans so that need for new schools would be considered in future planning. The other bill, she said, is designed to help school systems and counties better coordinate programs to lower school dropout rates.

The voters also returned Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) to office with a 58% to 36% margin over Democrat Ginny Connell. McClintock could not be reached for comment yesterday.