CONGRESS : Democrats Revel in Primary Wins but Look Ahead

The Westside congressional delegation smoothly sailed through Tuesday’s primary, but two of the incumbent Democrats are expected to face tough Republican challenges in the November general election.

Rancho Palos Verdes Councilwoman Susan Brooks’ bitterly fought victory over millionaire businessman Ron Florance pits her against first-term Rep. Jane Harman (D-Marina del Rey), who had no opponent in the primary.

“The real job is ahead of us,” said Brooks, who narrowly defeated her Republican rival in the coastal 36th District, which stretches from Venice to the South Bay.

Meanwhile, Rich Sybert, a former aide to Gov. Pete Wilson, easily won the Republican nomination in the 24th District, which includes Malibu, for the right to face veteran Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) in the general election.

Sybert, who trounced four rivals, said he will run as a centrist candidate in the fall and immediately derided Beilenson as “a classic, off-the-shelf liberal.”

Beilenson, facing token opposition, collected 87% of the vote to whip his Democratic challenger.

The two other Westside incumbents, both Democrats, are expected to get by their GOP challengers with few problems.

In the 29th District, which covers much of the Westside, powerful Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) garnered 80% of the vote to defeat his lone challenger, Jon Rappoport, a free-lance writer.

Waxman, a champion of health reform who has taken on the tobacco companies, is widely considered to be a shoe-in for an 11th term in November in the solidly Democratic district.

In the 32nd District, veteran Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles) also figures to have little difficulty as he seeks a ninth term in the fall.

Dixon garnered 90% of the vote, squashing two challengers--businessman Peter J. Duvall and retiree M. Gordon Yaker--in the district that stretches from Baldwin Hills and Culver City to near Los Angeles International Airport.

But pundits predict that the Harman-Brooks contest will be quite a battle.

In Brooks, who won the 36th District primary with 51.5% of the vote over Florance, a former Palos Verdes Estates councilman, Republicans see a good chance to unseat Harman.

Although there are slightly more registered Democrats than Republicans in the district, analysts believe the race may be close because Republicans tend to have better voter turnout.

After an especially rancorous campaign, however, Brooks faces some political fence-mending.

Florance, in a sharply worded concession speech, said that he was not ready to support Brooks, calling her attacks on his character and business practices “despicable.”

“This was a campaign of smear and character assassination that is beyond reproach,” he said.

Brooks used extensive research on her opponent’s litigation history, which included more than 40 lawsuits over the past nine years that named him or one of his companies as a defendant. She portrayed Florance as a tight-fisted millionaire with a “tainted business background.”

Throughout the race, Brooks defended her tough campaigning. “People think this is a high tea here,” Brooks said last week. “This is politics. I’m not running for Jackie Kennedy’s job.”

Some Republicans worry that the lack of harmony could hurt the party’s hopes of beating Harman, who already has a hefty campaign war chest and has lined up support among top executives of the district’s aerospace companies.

In what may foreshadow the battle to come, Brooks on Monday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, contending that Harman and Hughes Aircraft Co. improperly raised funds for Harman’s campaign. Harman and Hughes denied the charges and have produced campaign receipts to refute the allegation.

In the 24th District, Beilenson, the third-ranking Democrat on the influential Rules Committee, faced only nominal opposition in Sherman Oaks businessman Scott Gaulke, who had run previously as a follower of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche.

Republicans, who blamed George Bush’s poor showing in California for helping Beilenson to win 56% of the vote in the newly drawn swing district in 1992, are eager for another crack at the veteran Democrat.

The sprawling district stretches from Malibu to Sherman Oaks and includes Republican strongholds in Thousand Oaks and the west San Fernando Valley.

Sybert is the president of a small Santa Barbara toy company. He was Wilson’s director of planning and research until last year, when he moved to Woodland Hills.

Sybert made a splash earlier this year by loaning his campaign $430,000 of his own money.

On Tuesday, he far outdistanced his closest challenger, Robert K. Hammer, a Newbury Park investment banking consultant. Newbury Park businessman Sang Korman, who spent more than $800,000 of his own funds in three previous unsuccessful congressional bids, finished a distant third.

Times staff writers Ted Johnson and John Schwada contributed to this story.