Gallegly, TV Station Battle Over Ad Charges : Politics: KADY refuses to refund money the congressman says is owed for unused air time.

Portraying Rep. Elton Gallegly as an “out-of-control” political bully, the head of a local television station has accused the congressman of threatening to spread vicious business rumors and mount a personal smear campaign to get out of TV advertising bills.

“We don’t want to be pushed around by a powerful politician,” said John Huddy, chairman of the family broadcasting company that owns KADY-TV in Oxnard.

The Republican congressman, in turn, said Huddy is leveling false accusations in an effort to intimidate him from reclaiming unused advertising dollars. Gallegly said the broadcaster is trying to turn a simple financial dispute into an embarrassing political fracas.

“I have a reputation of standing up for what I believe in and not letting someone intimidate me by trying to make a political stink,” said Gallegly, a Republican from Simi Valley.

The dispute has been quietly roiling for some months, with the congressman and Huddy, a former political supporter, swapping increasingly testy phone calls and letters.

And there seems to be no sign of letup.

“Mr. Gallegly is known to be rather feisty at times,” Huddy said. “But that is what people say about me. If he wants to meet me in an alley sometime, I’d be happy to do that--after some of the exchanges we’ve had over the phone.”

The argument erupted over about $9,000 of the $16,000 that Gallegly paid the station last October to produce and broadcast two political commercials for his 1994 reelection campaign.

Both men agree the amount of money is relatively small. But they seem to disagree on virtually everything else.

According to Huddy, Gallegly called him at home in October after learning that his Democratic opponent, Kevin Ready, was preparing a television blitz that raised questions about how Gallegly avoided military service during the Vietnam War.

Huddy said that Gallegly wanted to keep Ready’s commercials off the air by purchasing every available advertising time slot during the three weeks leading up to the November election.

He rejected the congressman’s initial request, he said, citing federal broadcasting rules that require TV stations to give equal access to all candidates. Huddy said he agreed to a lesser purchase of air time, and Gallegly personally delivered a check for $16,082 the next day.

A short time later, Huddy said, Gallegly learned that his opponent had not raised the political cash needed for a large-scale TV ad campaign, and the congressman wanted to scale back his amount of air time.

But Huddy said he invoked the station’s four-week cancellation policy, because it was too late to offer the time slots to other candidates or other advertisers.

Gallegly’s version is remarkably different. He said it was Huddy who made the first contact about TV ads. “He initially contacted me to solicit advertising and mentioned that my opponent was buying advertising and that I should too,” the congressman said.

The congressman said he dropped off the large check so he could draw upon it if the campaign needed to increase its air time. “We wanted to make sure we had enough on deposit [in case] we needed a last-minute, 30-second spot and I wasn’t available to sign another check.”

Gallegly has since sought a refund for $9,120, challenging KADY’s figures for producing the ads and air time. In letters from his attorney, Robert Huber, he has threatened to file a lawsuit.

Huddy responded with a letter that criticized Gallegly’s efforts to “bluster his way out of legitimate production and creative-service bills at KADY. . . .”

“Your candidate has promised to wage a smear campaign against me and to damage my company by contacting longtime advertisers,” Huddy wrote in a letter to Huber. “One tactic, I am told, is to spread vicious rumors that KADY-TV is financially insolvent and can’t afford to rebate the money.”

In the June 15 letter, Huddy also complained about Gallegly’s attempts to get Huddy and his wife, Erica, to donate the $3,630 being charged for producing the TV spots. Erica Huddy has donated $1,000 to Gallegly’s reelection campaigns in recent years, according to campaign records.

He also hinted that Gallegly has made threats regarding KADY’s federal broadcasting license. In return, he said, he is filing a formal complaint with the Federal Elections Commission.

“Frankly, Mr. Huber, your client is out of control,” Huddy wrote.

Gallegly said he was astounded when he received Huddy’s letter, which he said is filled with false accusations.

“First I laughed, then it made me a little more than irritated. It was so ludicrous I turned it back to the attorney and said, ‘You handle it.’ ”

Huber declined to comment.

“His tactics seemed like intimidation,” Gallegly said, “trying to make a political issue of what was strictly a matter of money he owed my campaign.”