Election ’94 : 26TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

U.S. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), 53, has been in Congress since 1982. The former state assemblyman and labor lawyer is married and has two children.

Republican challenger Gary Forsch, 43, is a manager in his family-owned hardware store. He is married and has one child. Forsch also ran against Berman in 1992.

The 26th District is home to the most active member of the political organization led by Berman and U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles). Although two of its members lost key elections in 1992, the Berman-Waxman machine still shows signs of vigor.

This year, for example, one of its charter members, state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles), is poised to win a San Fernando Valley Senate seat. (He has previously represented the Westside.) That would further deepen the Berman-Waxman group’s presence in the Valley.

Politics aside, Berman’s legislative activities during the past two years included his vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement. The NAFTA vote required some soul-searching. But in the end Berman broke with his longtime union allies to argue that the trade pact would help, not hurt, efforts to bring high-wage manufacturing jobs back to the Valley.

The Jan. 17 earthquake also put the congressman in the spotlight. He carried the $8.6-billion federal relief bill and beat back GOP proposals to have the measure offset with budget cuts. But Berman failed on one front: His proposal to let residents deduct all their quake losses never got out of committee. Taxpayers now can only deduct losses that exceed 10% of their adjusted gross income. “This is my one big disappointment for the session,” Berman said recently as he vowed to reintroduce the measure if reelected.

Forsch has accused Berman of being too liberal and was poised to nail the incumbent for not living in his own district until he moved to North Hollywood. (In 1992, reapportionment moved the 26th District eastward, away from Sherman Oaks, where the congressman was leasing a home.)

Registration is 60% Democratic, 27% Republican.

Also running is Libertarian Erich Miller, a Reseda small businessman and musician.