24TH DISTRICT : GOP Stars Give Boost to Sybert

Republican congressional challenger Richard Sybert got a helping hand from GOP heavyweights Jack Kemp and William Bennett last week at a fund-raiser that grossed $75,000 for Sybert’s campaign against Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills).

Kemp and Bennett, both leading lights of the GOP’s right wing and possible 1996 presidential candidates, praised Sybert and attacked Beilenson, President Clinton and the Democrat-controlled Congress before about 300 Sybert boosters at the Warner Center Hilton Hotel on Wednesday.

Sybert, a Woodland Hills attorney and former state planning chief under Gov. Pete Wilson, is running hard against Beilenson, who is seeking to hold onto his seat representing the 24th Congressional District, which stretches from Newbury Park to Sherman Oaks.

The $150-a-head fund-raiser helped Sybert, 42, top off his campaign war chest as his race against Beilenson enters the final seven weeks. According to the most recent campaign reports, released in late July, the two men had roughly the same amount of cash on hand, with Beilenson reporting $135,852 and Sybert $122,759.

Kemp, former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, predicted that Sybert, if elected, would not fall into the trap of excessive partisanship that some observers claim has paralyzed the current Congress.

“He’s going to represent this district and Buffalo, N. Y., and Motown and Chi-town and East Harlem because he understands that this is a country that cries out for equal opportunity,” Kemp said.

By contrast, Bennett barely mentioned Sybert in his speech. The former federal drug czar and secretary of the Department of Education instead attacked the “religion of governmentalism,” which he said is contributing to the decline of morality and family values.