ELECTIONS / CONGRESSIONAL RACES : GOP Contest to Challenge Beilenson Is a Tight Race

Ventura County voters on June 7 will cast ballots in two congressional primaries, including a competitive race in the Republican primary for the seat held by Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills).

In the county’s other congressional district, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) is unopposed in the primary. Two little-known Democrats are vying to face the four-term incumbent in November.

Beilenson, a nine-term congressman, faces a Democratic challenge from Scott Gaulke, a Sherman Oaks businessman who has run as a follower of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche. Five candidates are involved in a combative Republican primary in the same district, which includes Thousand Oaks.

The candidates are Mark Boos Benhard, a one-time aide to former Rep. William Dannemeyer of Orange County; Robert Hammer, a Newbury Park banking consultant; Sang Korman, a Newbury Park businessman; Emery Shane, a commercial real estate broker; and Richard Sybert, a former senior aide to Gov. Pete Wilson.

All five candidates agree on the need to reduce crime, lower taxes, create more jobs and to curb illegal immigration. They also oppose President Clinton’s five-year economic plan and his universal health care program.

Most of the candidates are focusing their attacks not only on Beilenson, but on Sybert, who moved to the district less than a year ago to run for the office.

Sybert is the apparent favorite of local officials, many of whom have endorsed him. And he has the most money to spend, having loaned his own campaign $430,000.

In an effort to distinguish themselves, all of the candidates are emphasizing their personal business or government experience as well as their differing philosophical and social views.

Mark Boos Benhard

Benhard, 29, said he is the most conservative Republican and as such, “I am the only candidate that represents a real contrast to Tony Beilenson.”

Benhard is almost as critical of his Republican opponent, Sybert, as he is of the Democratic congressman. He said both are career politicians who are originally from outside the 24th District.

“I represent the opposite,” Benhard said. “I’ve lived in the district all my life. And I’m a true fiscal conservative.”

Benhard counts among his conservative supporters the California Republican Assembly as well as Rep. Robert K. Dornan and Dannemeyer, both known for their anti-abortion and anti-homosexual views.

If elected, Benhard said he would push to cut the capital gains tax, while providing tax relief to working families, including a $500 tax credit per child.

“This will put an extra $1,000 or $1,500 back in people’s pockets,” he said. “I think they in turn will invest it back into the economy.”

Benhard is also a strong supporter of “Save Our State,” a proposed statewide initiative that would bar illegal immigrants in California from public hospitals and schools.

“We’re spending about $5 billion a year on illegal immigrants,” said Benhard, the San Fernando Valley chairman of SOS. “That money could be used to build new infrastructure, schools and transportation systems.”

His critics say that at 29, Benhard is too young and too inexperienced to be a congressman. But the candidate, who holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA, said the three years he served in Washington as a congressional aide qualify him for the job.

Robert Hammer

Hammer, 44, said his first priority if elected will be to turn back the “tax and spend” policies of the current Democratic administration, while reducing government regulations on business.

As a former business manager at First Interstate Bankcard Co. and now the owner of his own international banking consulting firm, Hammer said he would bring a strong and varied business perspective to the job.

The candidate wants to form a coalition of California’s 52 representatives to help attract new businesses to the state.

“We need to work together as Californians,” he said.

To further stimulate the California economy, Hammer said he would provide incentives for businesses to expand, including tax credits to businesses that buy their supplies locally. “We need to have ‘Made In California’ incentives,” he said.

Hammer said he would also push for a fast-track teacher credentialing program to allow laid-off aerospace and defense workers to teach math and science classes in the public school system.

Sybert has accused Hammer, who holds a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Kansas, of being unfit to serve in Congress because he has been an infrequent voter since moving to California in 1985. Since then, Hammer has voted in five elections, and most were after 1992.

Hammer notes that Sybert has never voted in the district. “What voters ought to be saying is, ‘What have you done in this district?’ ” he said. “I’ve raised a family, and I’ve created jobs.”

Sang Korman

Korman, 56, has not run an active campaign, although he is registered as a candidate in the June primary. He did not return numerous phone calls.

Korman, who spent more than $800,000 of his own money in three previous Republican congressional bids, apparently had not spent more than $5,000 by mid-March, because he did not file a required finance statement.

A Korean American immigrant who made a fortune building shopping centers, Korman has said in the past that he would like to serve in Congress to help resolve U. S. trade problems with Far East nations.

Emery Shane

Shane, 37, said he is the most qualified to help bring jobs to the 24th District because of his experience as a commercial real estate broker.

“I know the tax incentives that are needed,” he said. “I know the regulations that need to be changed. I know what companies are looking for when they decide to relocate.”

To make Southern California more attractive to business, Shane said government must first get a handle on crime. Himself a victim of an armed robbery, Shane said if elected he would push for federal funds to put more police officers on the street and to increase gang prevention programs.

“We have to stop crime first if we want to stop businesses from leaving California and our schools from going down as well,” he said.

Like his opponents, Shane said he supports tough legislation that would deny medical and education benefits to illegal immigrants.

“I want to fight a system that gives a welfare check to illegal immigrants, but makes potential employers wait years to get the proper permits to build,” he said.

Shane holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of California and has been in the real estate business for 15 years. He is currently employed with the firm of Marcus & Millichap in Encino.

While his critics point out that Shane has no government experience, he sees this “as an advantage.” He said his business background is all the experience he needs to serve in Washington.

Scott Gaulke

By contrast, Beilenson’s race in the district’s Democratic primary is low key.

Gaulke, a 37-year-old LaRouche supporter, has run unsuccessfully for Congress three times. A property manager, he proposes to nationalize the Federal Reserve Board in order to extend $600 billion worth of credit to the public and private sectors to create new jobs by building schools, transit systems, waterways and other infrastructure.

“We’re in a depression, and we have to build our way out of it,” he said.

Gaulke said he believed that illegal immigrants were being made “scapegoats for our economic collapse.”

“Illegal immigration is not what shut down our steel industry or our aerospace industry,” he said, adding that Beilenson and others have tried to exploit the immigration issue.

He blamed the bad economy on banking and credit institutions. “When you control the credit of the country, you control industry,” he said.

On other issues, Gaulke said he opposes gun control and abortion--except in cases where the mother’s life is threatened.

With no money and little name recognition, Gaulke said it doesn’t matter if he loses the primary because his campaign is part of a larger movement by like-minded Democrats around the country to “take back the Democratic Party.”

Richard Sybert

Sybert, 41, has impressed party regulars and local officials with his government experience and his willingness to use his personal wealth in the race. An attorney, Sybert previously served for three years as director of the governor’s Office of Planning and Research and is now president of Lanard Toys of California.

Sybert’s campaign has raised $473,000, including his large personal loan. Among his rivals, Hammer has the most money to spend, after loaning himself $61,160 of his $70,367 in contributions, according to statements filed in March.

Sybert, a supporter of the death penalty, said crime is the No. 1 issue in the race. He proposes using military police to help patrol crime-plagued cities.

“The first duty of government is to provide safety for its citizens,” he said. “Without it, nothing else will follow.”

A supporter of the proposed “Save Our State” initiative, Sybert also proposes reforming the country’s legal immigration laws to strictly limit new residents.

The candidate says his experience is unmatched by opponents. A Harvard Law School graduate and former partner in a Los Angeles law firm, Sybert was a White House Fellow and special assistant in the U. S. Department of Defense in 1985-86; an assistant law professor at Loyola Law School from 1982 to 1990, and as state planning director from 1990 to 1993.

Sybert describes himself as a moderate Republican, one who is conservative on fiscal issues but with a “strong libertarian streak” on social issues. Along with Hammer, he is the only Republican candidate who supports abortion rights.

Although his wife, Greta, is a former resident of Thousand Oaks, Sybert’s opponents say he is vulnerable as a “carpetbagger,” since he has lived in the district for less than a year. The former Pasadena resident now lives in Calabasas.

“This has no relevance as to who is best qualified to represent this district,” Sybert said. “I was walking precincts in Los Angeles County for Ronald Reagan when Bob Hammer was still living in Kansas and before Mark Benhard was old enough to vote.”

Anthony C. Beilenson

Beilenson, 61, who is in his 18th year in Congress, said he knew little about Gaulke and did not feel obliged to respond to “his nonsense.”

Although he believes that illegal immigration is one of the most serious problems facing California, Beilenson said he does not support the proposed state measure that would ban essential benefits to illegal immigrants.

Instead, he supports legislation that would provide money for more border guards and equipment and that would require the federal government to reimburse states for the cost of imprisoning illegal immigrants. He also backs a proposal to deny automatic citizenship to illegal residents’ children who are born here.

Beilenson said he supports Clinton’s crime bill that would provide 100,000 additional police officers.

Unlike Gaulke, Beilenson is pro-abortion rights and has been supportive of some gun-control laws, such as the Brady bill, the new federal law requiring a five-day waiting period to purchase a handgun.

Beilenson’s Republican opponents believe he will be vulnerable in the general election in November. They point out that the 1990 reapportionment of his district thrust the Westside-based Democrat with some liberal positions into a San Fernando Valley-based, mostly Republican district.

But Beilenson surprised many Republicans by easily defeating former Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), an arch conservative, in 1992 to retain his seat.

Elton Gallegly

In the Ventura County-based 23rd district, Gallegly, 50, is unopposed in the Republican primary.

Although he spent $862,061 to win reelection in 1992 in a hard-fought campaign against Democrat Anita Perez Ferguson, Gallegly has predicted that President Clinton’s defense cuts will boost Republican candidates’ chances in 1994.

“It’s an off-election year, and President Clinton has done a great deal to help the Republican Party,” Gallegly said earlier this year.

Gallegly, who was first elected to Congress in 1986, has already stockpiled $133,073 in contributions for his campaign in the fall.

The incumbent will face either Ventura resident Kevin Ready or Frank Stephenson, a college placement consultant from Ojai, in the fall general election.

Kevin Ready

Ready, 41, a Santa Barbara County deputy county counsel, describes himself as a moderate Democrat who strongly supports both Clinton’s economic and health care programs. Ready said he does not support the proposed California initiative to cut benefits to illegal immigrants.

“This is literally going to throw hundreds of thousands of kids out on the street,” he said.

Instead, Ready proposes a crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers. “We have good laws now,” he said. “We’re just not enforcing them.”

On crime, Ready said the government needs to streamline the appeals process to make it tougher for prisoners to file frivolous appeals and lawsuits. “Thirty-three percent of our cases in federal court come from people already in prison,” he said.

Ready graduated from the University of Denver College of Law. He has worked as a federal prosecutor and as an executive vice president of a petroleum exploration firm. He has also managed his own law practice.

Ready has received the endorsements of Ventura County Supervisor John K. Flynn, Santa Barbara County Supervisor Naomi Schwartz and several labor groups, including the California chapter of the AFL-CIO.

Critics say he has neither the money nor the name recognition needed to wage a serious campaign against an entrenched incumbent like Gallegly.

But Ready, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Iowa in 1984, said he believes he can raise enough money for the general election to wage an aggressive campaign focusing on the “ultra-conservative” voting record of Gallegly.

Frank Stephenson

Stephenson, 53, said he wants to redirect government efforts to assist the children of poor families. He said society is wasting its time and energy building prisons when it should be improving the living conditions and education of children.

“We’ve got to start at the beginning,” he said. “Our economy, our crime rate, our welfare state, it’s all a result of this.”

Stephenson proposes taking money from public schools and universities to develop public boarding schools on military bases throughout the state to help change the lives of at-risk youths.

“Civility is the foundation of civilization,” he said. “We’ve got to teach kids to respect and love each other, not kill each other.”

Stephenson agreed that the way to control illegal immigration is to fine employers and beef up border patrols.

Stephenson holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Colby College in Maine. Now a college placement consultant, he previously worked as the director of alumni relations at Colby College and director of admissions and financial aide at the Thacher School in Ojai.

Neither Stephenson nor Ready had raised more than $5,000 when finances were last reported. Despite a lack of name recognition and major endorsements, Stephenson said he believes he can get his message out by continuing to attend forums and by campaigning door to door.

“To me this is beyond money,” he said. “If I can get out my message of hope and decency, we will win.”