POLITICS : Big Loss Doesn’t Deter Waxman Challenger

Armed with a signed copy of the Republicans’ “contract with America,” Paul Stepanek is off and running for Congress in 1996. The problem is, he’s trying to sell the policies of Newt Gingrich and company in an unlikely spot--the solidly Democratic Westside.

Stepanek has his eye on the 29th Congressional District, which spans the Westside from Santa Monica to Hollywood, passing through such upscale enclaves as Brentwood and Beverly Hills. Among registered voters in the district, Democrats outnumber Republicans 59% to 26%.

Moreover, the heart of the 29th has been the exclusive territory of Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) for 20 years.

While Republicans were being swept into office all over the country last November, Waxman soundly defeated Stepanek, racking up 68% of the vote without a visible campaign.

None of these obstacles fazes Stepanek, who sees opportunity where others might see an impossible dream.

“I think we’ll be able to run a campaign that has never been run here before,” said Stepanek, who promised to put $100,000 of his own money into the effort. “Henry Waxman does not have a stranglehold on the district.”

The Westwood resident, who owns LaPorte Inc., a firm that does advertising, marketing and public relations, is already hard at work establishing himself in the district.

Stepanek, 34, said he is appearing at local homeowners groups, service clubs, convalescent homes and other organizations to talk up the “contract with America.”

The contract, he said, is “not mean-spirited. I like to think of it as a very compassionate program.”

Furthermore, Stepanek insists, the Republican agenda resonates with Westsiders, especially on the topics of welfare reform and crime.

Stepanek says Waxman is “clearly out of touch with the district” because he spends too much time on one subject--the tobacco industry--and too much time away from the district in Washington.

“There’s a void,” Stepanek said. “He’s neglecting the local level and the kind of programs we need here.”

Stepanek said he believes many aspects of welfare reform can be accomplished at the local level, through job training programs, one of which, Fresh Start, he is helping launch as a pilot project.

“If there is one generic political stereotype I wish I could change, it would be the perception that in general Republicans don’t care about social issues,” Stepanek said. “I am out to change that image.”

Interviewed by phone from his district office, Waxman said he was surprised to learn of his former opponent’s flurry of political activity, saying Stepanek had been a stealth candidate last November.

“I offered to debate him on Century Cable,” Waxman said. “He was a no-show. That seems to me very peculiar.”

The host of the Century Cable show, Bill Rosendahl, confirmed that Stepanek turned down an offer to appear with Waxman--an unusual thing for an unknown candidate to do.

Stepanek said he passed on the chance for free television exposure with Waxman because he was invited at the last minute. Also, Stepanek asserted, the television show was the wrong format for a discussion of issues because it did not allow for participation by district voters.

An Indiana native, Stepanek worked for the national Republican Senatorial Committee after college, making the kind of Washington connections that he hopes will help him take on Waxman in 1996.

Waxman, a powerful Congressional player and unrepentant liberal, represents the antithesis of the current Republican agenda in Washington. But, Waxman said, that may work in his favor once the public catches on to the Republican’s true agenda--”special treatment to interest groups at the expense of the middle class.”

“I think by 1996 most Americans will see the so-called contract Republicans put forward as a public relations scam embodying concepts they can’t fulfill,” Waxman said.

Political consultant Parke Skelton agrees with Waxman. “By 1996, people are going to be very nostalgic for a Democratic Congress,” Skelton said.

Even if they are not, Skelton, who is well-versed in Westside demographics, said Waxman has no worries. “He cannot be driven out under any circumstances.”