Gallegly Says Opponent Tried to Keep Him Out of Oxnard Festival

The race between Rep. Elton Gallegly and Anita Perez Ferguson for a Ventura County congressional seat took a rancorous turn Wednesday as the incumbent accused his rival of using her clout to try to shut him out of an Oxnard parade and festival this weekend.

“It’s obvious that Anita Perez is concerned about me gaining more support than I already have in the district,” said Gallegly, a three-term Simi Valley Republican.

Perez Ferguson called the allegations outrageous.

Fiestas Patrias official Patricia Lopez said she took the charges in stride, calling the election period “the silly season.”

But another fiesta official, Mena Rios, was less diplomatic. She called Gallegly’s campaign manager, Chuck Jelloian, who first made the allegations, “very pushy, as if I was the one trying to keep Gallegly out.”

“People being that demanding, it’s bothersome,” she said.

Gallegly, 48, and Perez Ferguson, 43, are running in the newly drawn 23rd Congressional District, which includes Carpinteria and all of Ventura County except most of Thousand Oaks.

For the first time, Gallegly must woo voters in all of heavily Latino Oxnard. Perez Ferguson moved to Oxnard this year from Santa Barbara after an unsuccessful congressional bid in 1990.

The brouhaha began when Jelloian, Gallegly’s campaign manager, alleged Tuesday that Perez Ferguson “has been trying hard to keep Gallegly out of a parade he’s enjoyed being in in the past.”

What’s more, Jelloian charged, Perez Ferguson succeeded in putting pressure on Latino officials sponsoring the event to keep Gallegly from having a booth in Oxnard’s Plaza Park, where there will be live music and crafts on display. Gallegly will take part in the parade.

Contacted in Washington on Wednesday, Gallegly characterized Jelloian’s allegation as “a reasonable statement” with the caveat that it might have been a member of Perez Ferguson’s staff who made the effort to keep him out of the weekend festival.

“It’s obvious Anita Perez is concerned about me gaining more support than I already have in the district,” he said.

But Gallegly said he had no proof to back up Jelloian’s allegation, adding that “I’m certainly not going to make a big deal out of this.”

Perez Ferguson countered that if a member of her campaign had made similar allegations about Gallegly, she would fire that person.

“It’s just outrageous that a staff member wouldn’t be reprimanded for this instead of being backed,” she said Wednesday.

As for Gallegly’s comments, “he’s reacting the same way George Bush does when he sees the polls,” she said. “He’ll do anything to get elected--even coming out with a lie like this.”

Festival official Lopez, who called the Jelloian allegations “completely false,” said she got a call from him Tuesday complaining that Gallegly didn’t get an application to ride in the Saturday parade.

“We don’t send applications to political candidates,” she said. “I told him we would accommodate him.”

And Rios said no politician will have a booth in Plaza Park.

The weekend parade and festival commemorates Mexican independence from Spain. The showcase event is the parade, starting at noon Saturday at 8th and C streets, with floats, bands and equestrian units.

Sam Rodriguez, Perez Ferguson’s campaign manager, said his candidate never tried to block the congressman from participating in the festivities.

On the contrary, he quipped: “We wanted him in the parade so people can boo him.”