The Talk at Teamsters’ Picnic Focuses on Politics and Economy : Labor: Some union members back Democrat Bill Clinton for President and Republican Elton Gallegly for Congress.

When area Teamsters Union members gathered in Oxnard on Sunday for their annual picnic, the talked turned predictably to economic hard times and the need for change in Washington.

Less predictably, several of the rank and file also talked of splitting their vote in November by supporting Democrat Bill Clinton for President but favoring conservative Republican Elton Gallegly of Simi Valley for reelection to Congress.

The split didn’t surprise Dennis Shaw, secretary of Teamsters Local 186, which draws most of its members from Ventura County.

“There are some very conservative people here,” said Shaw, who supports the Clinton ticket. “A lot of them vote on local issues and don’t look at the big picture. I try to show them the national picture.”

Several Teamsters said they like Gallegly because he supports the National Rifle Assn.’s battle against gun control and backs stiff controls on illegal immigration.

Gallegly’s Democratic opponent, Anita Perez Ferguson, backs a ban on assault weapons and a two-week minimum waiting period to get a license for any firearm. She attacks the incumbent’s proposed immigration reforms as prejudiced and divisive.

Gallegly was not at the picnic. But Perez Ferguson worked a long line of Teamsters and their families waiting for barbecue under a hot summer sun at Oxnard’s College Park.

Jack Eichman, 55, a Ventura truck driver, was one of those who challenged Perez Ferguson as she worked her way down the line.

“I belong to several gun clubs,” he said, citing his constitutional right to bear arms.

Another truck driver, Doug Lugtig, 58, said he is backing Gallegly because the congressman supports the NRA. “It’s the man himself I vote for, not the party.”

But many other Teamsters said they back Perez Ferguson.

And the candidate said she is not dismayed that some traditional union Democrats may support Gallegly because of his stance on one or two issues.

“I only need 51%” to win in November, said Perez Ferguson, who received major financial support from several union committees in winning nearly two-thirds of the vote in the June primary.

Perez Ferguson conceded that she might lose some votes because of her gun-control position. But the bottom line in a time of recession is jobs, she said, and her plan for recovery should help her defeat Gallegly.

“There are bigger concerns--family and keeping one’s job with an adequate standard of living. And for that, they’ll put away their guns,” she said.

But Gallegly also drew some support for his proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit children born to illegal immigrants from automatically becoming U. S. citizens.

“It has some merit,” Eichman said. “We’re going to have to put a stop somewhere to people coming into the country illegally.”

Two other Teamsters--one an immigrant from Britain, the other a Mexican-American--said they liked Gallegly’s proposed amendment as well.

“I don’t want to sound prejudiced, I’m not. But our system is stretched to the limit” with illegal immigrants, said Arthur Burns, 46, a Santa Barbara bus driver and native of Liverpool, England.

Dolores Telles of Oxnard, a food processor, said she does not think that Gallegly’s amendment is based on prejudice, as some critics have charged.

She said she supports it because illegal immigrants “get too many privileges” that should go to needy Americans.