McClintock’s Bid Ignites a Scramble

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) officially announced Thursday that he is running for Congress, setting in motion a scramble among Republican candidates who want his seat in the state Legislature.

Alan Guggenheim, an international finance consultant in Newbury Park, immediately declared his candidacy in the 37th Assembly District that encompasses Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Camarillo, Oxnard and Port Hueneme.

Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi said he is “looking most seriously at the Assembly race” and will make a decision in the next few days. Former Ventura County Supervisor Madge Schaefer, who has been lining up supporters for an Assembly bid, said she will make an announcement Monday.

Oxnard Councilman Mike Plisky and Moorpark Councilman Scott Montgomery also are considering the race.

“Tom’s announcement affords an opportunity for people like myself to serve at a higher level,” Montgomery said. “It is inevitable I will run for a seat in the Assembly, state Senate or Congress. The question is whether now is the right time.”

Steve Rubenstein, who attended the gathering at which McClintock made his announcement, said he has decided that this is not the proper time for him to run for the Assembly.

Rubenstein, president of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the campaign and the schedule in Sacramento would take too much time away from his family.

So far, only two Democrats have expressed interest in running in the open Assembly district, which favors GOP candidates because 10,000 more voters are registered Republican than Democrat. Moorpark City Councilman Bernardo Perez and Roz McGrath, a farm manager and schoolteacher in Camarillo, have said they are considering it, but they are far from committed at this point.

McClintock, a five-term assemblyman, said he may make an endorsement in the race after the campaign develops and all of the candidates have emerged.

McClintock declared his candidacy in the new 24th Congressional District in a speech Thursday afternoon to about 50 supporters in Agoura Hills. The new district, approved last month by the state Supreme Court, lumps McClintock’s hometown of Thousand Oaks with western portions of Los Angeles County.

“I intend to make this election a referendum on the damage that Congress has done to our country,” McClintock said. He vowed to confront “those who have consistently voted to raise our taxes, increase our nation’s debt and impose virulent anti-business regulations.”

McClintock focused most of his attack on Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson, a liberal Democrat who moved into the district to avoid a primary battle with another Los Angeles Democrat. “Tony Beilenson is the formidable opponent, and he is the one I will be directing my campaign message toward,” McClintock said.

Before McClintock can run against Beilenson, he must survive a June 2 primary against a growing field of Republican candidates. The most prominent and well-financed of those are Sang Korman, a Calabasas businessman, and Jim Salomon, a Beverly Hills international trade consultant. Both have run for Congress twice and lost.

McClintock said he believes that he will defeat those two and other GOP opponents by a rather sizable margin. “I have a track record of 10 years of leadership in these issues in Sacramento,” McClintock said. “That is a record that both of them lack.”

Other Republicans in the race include Robert Colaco, a Van Nuys businessman; Stephen M. Weiss, a Calabasas attorney, and Jon Lorenzen, a Reseda mortuary owner.

McClintock said he has about $100,000 to begin his congressional campaign.