ELECTIONS 24TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : Beilenson and Sybert Even in Funds for Final Stretch

As their hotly contested congressional race enters its final, three-week stretch, U. S. Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) and his GOP challenger, Rich Sybert, are nearly matching each other dollar for dollar in campaign fund raising.

Campaign finance reports released Tuesday show that the Beilenson campaign had $207,593 on hand as of Sept. 30, while Sybert had $203,840 for their showdown in a district that includes most of Thousand Oaks and portions of the San Fernando Valley.

Despite this parity, the reports show Sybert amassed a campaign war chest this year of $662,000, including $421,000 he lent to his own campaign. With receipts this year of $275,000, Beilenson has raised less than half what Sybert has raised.

Meanwhile, the two men met in a debate Tuesday night before a crowd of about 450 at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, clashing over their finances and other issues: proposals to limit the terms of elected officials, Proposition 187 and whether the federal government should pay for abortions for poor women.

Sybert praised term limits as the best way to get rid of “career politicians,” while Beilenson opposed them, saying such limits would increase the power of entrenched lobbyists.

Beilenson opposed Proposition 187, which denies services to illegal immigrants, as a “naive attempt” to deal with immigration problems, while Sybert said that he supports it as necessary to laying the legal groundwork to challenge existing federal laws and practices.

In the congressional district that covers the rest of Ventura County, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) has amassed nearly $200,000 more to spend in the final stretch of the fall campaign than Democratic challenger Kevin Ready.

Financial statements show that Gallegly had $199,552 in campaign cash as of Sept. 30. He pledged to spend whatever is needed to win reelection. “Complacency is one thing I’ve never been accused of in my life,” the congressman said.

Ready said he has raised several thousand dollars since the Sept. 30 financial statement, which reported only $158 in his campaign account. He said he will have enough to run a credible campaign. “Money doesn’t determine the outcome of elections, voters do,” Ready said.

The 42-year-old Sybert, a former top aide to Gov. Pete Wilson, was virtually unknown in the 24th District that includes Thousand Oaks until he began to wage his campaign to unseat Beilenson last year.

But he has boosted his name recognition among voters with a steady stream of campaign literature issued during the GOP primary in June. Beilenson, 61, now acknowledges that he faces a tough fight to win a 10th term in Congress.

On the financial front, Beilenson--as he has for years--refuses to take contributions from political action committees, or PACS, that usually represent special interests.

Beilenson said he is part of a small group of independent-minded members in Congress who refuse to take such contributions, which he believes are designed only to influence congressional votes. His finance report reflects his total absence of PAC money.

Meanwhile, Sybert has received nearly $40,000 from industry-related political action committees. But he claims the PAC money represents significant business interests showing confidence in his ability to spur economic growth in the congressional district.

The Sybert report shows contributions from three oil company PACs (the UNOCAL Political Awareness Fund, the ARCO PAC, and the Chevron Employees PAC) and several food industry-related organizations (the National Cattlemen’s Assn. PAC, the Food Marketing Institute PAC, the American Meat Assn. PAC, and the National Restaurant Assn. PAC).

He also received money from PACs run by the Los Angeles city police union and by Mayor Richard Riordan’s former law firm.

In individual contributions, Sybert got money from six attorneys from the law firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, where he had practiced business law before becoming the director of Wilson’s office of planning and research. Beilenson also acknowledged that he is still heavily dependent on campaign contributions from residents in the Westside of Los Angeles. Beilenson represented an almost exclusively Westside district before he decided to run for the San Fernando Valley-based 24th District. In the 23rd Congressional District that covers most of Ventura County and Carpinteria, Gallegly raised $94,935 from July to September, leaving him with $199,552 in campaign cash.

About 82% of Gallegly’s most recent donations came from individual contributors, including $500 from former U. S. Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino, $500 from Erica Huddy, a major stockholder and program manager of KADY-TV (Channel 63) in Oxnard, and $1,000 apiece from two “homemakers” in Puerto Rico.

“I don’t know them,” Gallegly said of Isabel F. Rubert and Rosa Fonalledas, who list addresses in San Juan or a nearby suburb. He also said he has no idea why either would donate $1,000 to his campaign, but speculated that they appreciate his efforts to cut the size of the federal government overseeing U. S. territories.

About 17% of Gallegly’s contributions came from PACs. These contributions included money from agriculture, real estate, and banking interests.

In mounting his challenge to Gallegly, Democrat Ready raised $9,000 from July through September, and promptly spent much of it on office expenses. That left his fledgling campaign strapped for cash as of Sept. 30, the close of the campaign finance reporting period.

Many of the largest donations to Ready were actually in-kind contributions from Democratic political consultants and groups supporting his candidacy.

“We are running a very frugal campaign,” Ready said.

Times staff writer Kenneth R. Weiss contributed to this article.