Local Elections : LEGISLATIVE SEATS : Beilenson, Sybert Close; Gallegly Is Easy Victor

Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson and Republican challenger Rich Sybert were locked in a tight race to represent Thousand Oaks in Congress after early returns, while Rep. Elton Gallegly won an easy victory over a little-known Democratic opponent .

“It’s kind of a humbling experience to have such a strong level of support,” Gallegly said of his lead, also noting the Republican landslide nationwide. “At the very least, this should be a wakeup call for the President. People in this country want change.”

In the west county’s two open seats in the state Legislature, Democratic Assemblyman Jack O’Connell built a comfortable lead over Republican Steve MacElvaine for the state Senate, and Republican Brooks Firestone was easily outpacing Democrat Mindy Lorenz to replace O’Connell in the Assembly.

“The secret to our success has been our strong bipartisan support,” said O’Connell, who had a strong showing in traditionally conservative absentee balloting.

Incumbent lawmakers were apparently headed for victory in the county’s two other Assembly districts.

Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) appeared on her way to handily defeating Democratic opponent Josh Arce, a 19-year-old UCLA student, in the 38th Assembly District that covers Simi Valley and Fillmore.

And Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard) surged far ahead of his Democratic challenger, Dorothy Maron, an old adversary from his years in Oxnard city politics. Takasugi represents the 37th Assembly District that stretches from Oxnard to Thousand Oaks.

“We’re pretty confident we’re going to come through victoriously,” Takasugi said. “We didn’t feel it was going to be much of a race.”

Of all the county’s races, Beilenson’s bid for a 10th term in Congress attracted the most attention and political donations from across the nation.

Sybert, a former planning director for Gov. Pete Wilson, lent his campaign more than $400,000 to kick-start his first bid for Congress. He attacked Beilenson as “weak on crime, weak on defense and tough on taxpayers.”

Unlike many of his congressional colleagues, Beilenson did not shrink from supporting President Clinton. The congressman told voters that despite Republican claims, the Democratic-controlled White House and Congress have made progress, passing a crime bill, national gun-control law, family leave plan and deficit-reduction program.

Furthermore, Beilenson criticized Sybert for “ripping off” California taxpayers by moonlighting as an attorney while he was on the governor’s payroll, and characterized him as “PAC-Man” for accepting at least $60,000 from special interest political action committees.

Beilenson refuses PAC donations--a campaign theme that he broadcast to the 24th District’s voters in the San Fernando Valley and Thousand Oaks.

In the neighboring 23rd Congressional District, Democratic challenger Kevin Ready complained that Beilenson and statewide Democratic candidates siphoned off all the available campaign donations.

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Ready, an attorney and former Army and Navy officer, attacked incumbent Congressman Gallegly for waffling on anti-crime legislation, refusing to support Clinton’s decision to send troops to Haiti and even how Gallegly avoided the draft nearly 30 years ago.

But Ready’s cash-starved campaign was never able to deliver his message to the voters in a district that includes most of Ventura County and Carpinteria.

As for Gallegly, he mostly ignored his opponent. He said he spent less time and money on this race than any of the previous four reelection efforts.

“There is no question we could have spent more money,” Gallegly said. “But our objective was to win the election and have some money left in the bank for the next time.” He predicts his campaign will end up with $150,000.

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In the 18th Senate District race, Assemblyman O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) ran a $1.1-million race against MacElvaine, a former San Luis Obispo County supervisor. The district covers Ventura, Santa Paula and the Ojai Valley as well as all of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

MacElvaine went on the offense early in his nearly half-million-dollar campaign, hammering O’Connell in political mailers and television commercials as a tax-and-spend Democrat. He maintained that O’Connell, as one of Assembly Speaker Willie Brown’s top lieutenants, should shoulder part of the blame for the state’s economic troubles.

But some conservatives quit channeling political donations to MacElvaine after he announced his opposition to Proposition 187 and its ban of health and education benefits to illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, O’Connell unleashed television ads that attacked MacElvaine for supporting offshore oil drilling along the district’s coastline while he was a member of the California Coastal Commission.

But most of O’Connell’s campaign was focused on touting his achievements, especially how he has helped constituents cut through knotty problems with the state bureaucracy. And he intensified his effort by taking his campaign in person to the voters’ doorsteps.

“I voted for Jack O’Connell,” said Don Essig, who moved to Ventura in August. “He came by my house and I was impressed with him.”

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In the 35th Assembly race, both Firestone and Lorenz spent considerable time walking precincts to personally contact voters. They also engaged in one of the county’s nastiest and most expensive campaigns, trading blows in radio and TV ads and in a blizzard of political mailers.

Firestone, who owns the Firestone Winery in northern Santa Barbara County, fired off the first hit-mailer. It featured a large picture of a color-changing chameleon, intended to draw attention to Lorenz’s history of switching political parties.

Later, Firestone issued mailers that accused Lorenz of being a political extremist who wants to legalize such drugs as cocaine and heroin.

Lorenz struck back with a mailer that accused Firestone of being involved in a voter fraud case against two women who submitted the names of dead people as newly registered Republican voters.

In the 37th Assembly District, Takasugi spent minimal effort defending his seat against Maron, a former Oxnard councilwoman. It was not the first time Maron had challenged Takasugi for his job. Four years ago, she tried, but failed, to unseat him as mayor of Oxnard.

During the campaign, Maron criticized Takasugi for doing little to curb crime and joblessness during his first term in the Legislature.

Takasugi dismissed Maron’s criticism as the rabble-rousing of a desperate politician. He said he has already helped business by joining in successful legislative efforts to pass tax credits for manufacturers and reform workers’ compensation laws.