ELECTIONS / CONGRESSIONAL RACES : Sybert’s Wealth Gives Him a Cash Cushion in 24th District Campaign

Relying heavily on his own funds, businessman Richard Sybert is financially overwhelming his opponents in the race for the Republican nomination for the politically competitive seat held by U.S. Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills).

Sybert, a former aide to Gov. Pete Wilson who moved to Woodland Hills last year, has loaned his campaign $430,000 of the $473,080 he has raised for the June 7 primary, according to campaign reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. These records reflect activity through March 31, the close of the most recent reporting period.

His closest fund-raising competitor in the 24th Congressional District--which includes most of Thousand Oaks--is Robert K. Hammer, a Newbury Park investment-banking consultant who had garnered $70,367. His fund raising has been meager; he loaned himself $61,160 of that total.

“I have necessarily had to pay some attention to my primary opposition, but I don’t consider it substantial and I do expect to win the primary,” Sybert said. “I see my major opponent as Mr. Beilenson in the general election.”

In the other Ventura County congressional contest, the two Democrats seeking to oppose Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) made little initial fund-raising headway. Ventura attorney Kevin Ready, the only Democrat to file a report, had raised only $4,089 and had $635 on hand.

Gallegly, who spent $862,061 to win reelection in the 23rd District in 1992, had a stockpile of $133,073. Representing all of Ventura County--except Thousand Oaks--as well as Carpinteria in Santa Barbara County, he faced a vigorous challenge from Democrat Anita Perez Ferguson two years ago.

In the face of the Southern California recession and pervasive earthquake damage, this appears to be the year of the self-financed (and generally underfinanced) challenger.

The race in the 24th District, which runs from Sherman Oaks through the western San Fernando Valley to Malibu and Thousand Oaks, will be closely watched. Five Republicans, none especially well-known, are squaring off in a low-key contest.

Sybert, who was Wilson’s director of planning and research and is now president of a small Santa Barbara toy company, has racked up many endorsements while pumping large sums of his own money into his first election bid. He said he plans to spend $200,000 to $300,000 on numerous campaign mailings and, perhaps, radio and cable television advertising as well.

Also in the Republican primary, commercial real estate broker Emery Shane of Woodland Hills reported raising $48,631 this year, including $37,436 that he has loaned his campaign.

Mark Boos Benhard of Woodland Hills, who owns a media-relations firm, reported raising $7,081 this year. He loaned his campaign $10,000 in December and another $500 this year.

Newbury Park businessman Sang Korman, who poured more than $800,000 of his own funds into three previous unsuccessful Republican congressional bids, did not file a report. Korman is not waging an active campaign.

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Aside from his own largess, Sybert’s fund raising has been modest as well. He brought in $8,000 from political action committees, including $3,000 from a PAC representing car dealers nationwide and $2,000 from the Lockheed Employees PAC in Calabasas.

Nearly two-thirds of Sybert’s 43 individual contributions and funds have come from outside the district, according to a review of his campaign reports.

Sybert emphasized his fund-raising success relative to the record of his opponents and insisted that many of his contributions came from within the 24th District. And he said he had delayed some fund-raising initiatives in the wake of the Northridge quake.

Still, he acknowledged, “between the earthquake and the new higher tax rates that have really dried up a lot of discretionary income and the Southern California economy, fund raising is like pulling teeth.”

Beilenson cast Sybert’s efforts in a less charitable light: “He’s failed utterly thus far to show he has any real support other than his own.”

Hammer raised only $7,320 in the first three months of 1994 and spent $41,540 during that period. He reported $10,177 on hand as of March 31.

“There’s never enough money. Never enough time. Never enough resources,” said Hammer, who touted his volunteer supporters. “We have made great gains with the resources we have. I think that’s what people are looking for, not someone who’s going to buy an election.”

He said he has sought no PAC money because candidates should not accept contributions from groups whose interests they may vote on. He said that his many years residing in the district--in contrast to Sybert, who moved there last year to launch his candidacy--and activism in Republican circles will overcome his spending disadvantage.

“If you get into six figures, I think you’ll have a credible campaign,” Hammer said. He predicted he’ll be “close to or over that when all is said and done.”

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Beilenson did little fund raising during the first three months of this year. He faces a nominal primary challenge from Scott Gaulke, a Sherman Oaks businessman who has run previously as a follower of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche. No report was available for Gaulke; candidates who raise or spend less than $5,000 are not required to file.

Beilenson, a nine-term lawmaker, reported that he had $62,142 available. His campaign owes him $50,000, which he said he doesn’t expect to be repaid. In addition, he said he has raised nearly $40,000 since the March 31 reporting deadline.

Beilenson, the third-ranking Democrat on the influential Rules Committee, spent $753,415 to win 56% of the vote in 1992--the first time he ran in the newly drawn “swing” district. The congressman, who does not take PAC money, said he was uncertain how much he’ll need for the fall campaign.

“It depends on who wins the Republican primary,” Beilenson said. “It depends on how much he is likely to have. I tend to be responsive.”

The general election campaign is expected to attract a considerable flow of contributions as a nationally targeted race. Sybert has said he would need to spend $1 million to oust Beilenson.

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In the 23rd District, Ready, who is senior deputy counsel for Santa Barbara County, contributed $3,721 to his own campaign, received $300 in in-kind research from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and raised only $67 from other sources. His opponent, Ojai businessman Frank P. Stephenson, had no report on file.

“I hadn’t even been a candidate a month when I filed” the report, insisted Ready, who added that he has raised $4,000 since. “We’ve got enough to deal with this primary. Then we’ll go in earnestly to start fund raising for the general election.”

Ready previously ran for Congress in Iowa in 1984.