ELECTIONS / 26th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : Berman Foes Say Campaigns Aided by Check Scandal

When the filing deadline for congressional candidates passed two months ago, no one could have known that the congressional check-writing scandal would mushroom and that Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) would be implicated in it.

If they had, more Republican challengers might have entered the fray in the heavily Democratic 26th Congressional District, which includes almost the entire east San Fernando Valley.

But the two GOP candidates who did file to get on the June 2 primary ballot say their campaigns have been invigorated by what they view as Berman’s new vulnerability.

GOP candidates Gary Forsch, a Sun Valley hardware store manager, and Bill Glass, a Sherman Oaks accountant, say that although Berman has easily beaten back Republican challengers in five straight elections, the veteran congressman has exposed himself to defeat by writing 67 bad checks at the now-defunct House of Representatives bank.

Berman, who is unopposed for the Democratic nomination, said his would-be opponents are counting on a voter mood-swing that grows less likely every day.

Initially, a “number of voters called my office expressing concern or asking questions” about the check overdrafts, Berman said.

But even before Los Angeles became engrossed in the riots and their aftermath, those calls had all but ended, Berman said.

Forsch, 41, and Glass, 66, also profess to detect a strong bias among voters against incumbents, from which they expect the GOP nominee to profit.

And Glass predicts that revisions to the district’s boundaries that occurred through reapportionment will also work against the 51-year-old Berman.

“He’s lost a lot of the Jewish voters” because portions of the district between the Ventura Freeway and Sunset Boulevard were given to other districts, Glass said. “And those were his most loyal supporters.”

Berman said he regretted losing “some wonderful and loyal voters” south of the Ventura Freeway.

But he noted that a portion of Burbank, where he was lucky to get half the votes in past general elections, was also excised from the district.

GOP political experts seem to agree with Berman’s reading of the political tea leaves; they find no evidence to suggest that the 26th District will be the scene of a major upset in November.

“The check-writing scandal appears to have just about run its course, unless something new invigorates it,” said Paul A. Clarke, a Northridge Republican political consultant.

“Certainly, it’s been off the front page during the last week.”

Allan Hoffenblum, a Los Angeles Republican consultant, also doubted the effect of the check-writing scandal on the November election because “there just aren’t enough Republicans in the district” and voters tend to become enraged about such scandals only when the perpetrator is from another political party.

“When it’s someone from your own party that’s involved,” Hoffenblum said, “voters tend to be somewhat apologetic or forgiving toward the person involved.”

Since there are 86,660 Democrats and 47,286 Republicans in the new 26th District, giving Democrats a solid edge over the GOP, Berman should largely escape voter wrath on the issue, Hoffenblum said.

Clarke views the district as “Berman-safe, if not Democrat-safe.”

In staking out and publicizing positions on issues that interest his constituents, Berman is “usually right on the mark,” Clarke said.

As for other liabilities that the GOP challengers say Berman will labor under this fall, Clarke said: “Insofar as they exist, it takes money to exploit them and these challengers don’t have that kind of money.”

Indeed, the district is a case study in the value of incumbency in raising funds.

Berman, longtime partner with Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) in running the Westside-Valley liberal political alliance that bears their names, was sitting on a war chest of $330,444 as of March 31, the end of the last filing period.

Berman said almost all of his campaign money was raised at a $200-a-plate dinner in November at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Forsch said last week that he has raised about $9,000; Glass said he has collected $5,000.

Neither candidate said they expected to raise much more before the primary, and neither said they had secured promises of large-scale financial help from outside the district in the general election campaign.

Both are relatively new to campaigning.

Forsch, who calls himself a “rock-solid conservative,” ran unsuccessfully for his party’s nomination for the 26th in 1990, losing to Van Nuys businessman Roy Dahlson, who drew 35% of the vote in the November election.

Glass, who terms himself a moderate on social issues and conservative on fiscal policy, has not run for office before.

The two have not debated publicly, but Glass said that based on his opponent’s public statements, Forsch is “far, far to the right, too much so for this district.” Forsch said Glass is “more like a Democrat than a Republican.”

Glass favors substantial cuts in defense spending, lowering Medicare benefits for the rich, public financing of campaigns and abortion rights--all opposed by Forsch.

Forsch is a member of the California Republican Assembly, a grass-roots conservative group that favors capital punishment and opening up the coastline to oil drilling, both of which Glass opposes.

The two are also at odds over a proposal to give government vouchers to parents to pay their children’s tuition at private schools, with Forsch favoring the plan and Glass opposed.

Forsch supports President Bush’s proposal to cut taxes on capital gains from the sale of stocks and bonds, but Glass is opposed, saying a “better, fairer” system would be to index the cost basis of securities.

Congressional District 26

Overview: Two Republicans are vying for the nomination in the new district, hoping to win the right to run in November against powerful incumbent Howard L. Berman, a Democrat. The district is heavily tilted toward the Democrats, who hold almost a 2-to-1 majority among registered voters. Only 25% of the district’s residents are registered to vote.

Where: The district includes the communities of Arleta, Pacoima, Panorama City, San Fernando, Sylmar and Valley Village, and portions of Lake View Terrace, North Hollywood, Sun Valley, Sunland and Van Nuys. To find out if you live in the district, call the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office at (213) 721-1100.

Demographics Anglo: 34% Latino: 53% Black: 6% Asian: 7%

Party Registration Demo: 58% GOP: 31% Others: 11%

Candidates: Democrat Howard L. Berman, congressman Peace and Freedom Margery Hinds, medical assistant Republican Gary Forsch, businessman Bill Glass, certified public accountant Libertarian Bernard Zimring, contractor