Sybert Makes a Calculated Move Against Lame Duck Beilenson

GOP congressional candidate Rich Sybert has retained a professor of statistics to prove, scientifically, that voters in 1994 were led to believe through literature mailed to them by U.S. Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) that Sybert was engaged in illegal conduct.

The poll is key evidence in a lawsuit Sybert has filed against Beilenson and his political consultant, Craig Miller, accusing them of defaming him during their bitter 1994 campaign. This week, Sybert scored a victory when a Ventura County Superior Court judge rejected a motion by Beilenson’s legal team to throw the lawsuit out of court as a meritless political stunt by a disappointed office-seeker.

It will be recalled that Sybert, a Republican attorney and former top aide to Gov. Pete Wilson, came within a gnat’s hair of unseating Beilenson in their ’94 matchup. Although it looked like the adversaries would meet again in 1996, that scenario went bust a week ago, when Beilenson announced that he will resign at the end of his current term.

But Beilenson’s resignation has not derailed Sybert’s lawsuit.

A key part of the suit is a poll of registered voters, taken last month by a Pepperdine University professor, to determine just how voters reacted to mailers attacking Sybert’s integrity that Beilenson sent them in the last week of the 1994 campaign. Sybert, the mailers noted, had earned $140,000 from the private practice of law while working as an aide to Wilson. The mailers went on to characterize such moonlighting as a “serious conflict of interest and breach of public trust.”

According to the poll by William H. Bluell, a professor of quantitative methods at Pepperdine, between 72% and 88.3% of the voters surveyed agreed that the mailers accused Sybert of illegal or criminal conduct. “In my opinion, based on the above survey, that’s close to 9 out of 10 voters would clearly and unambiguously understand the statements made . . . to accuse Mr. Sybert of illegal or criminal behavior,” Bluell said in a deposition.

Sybert alleges that the Beilenson camp knew these attacks were spurious because they knew Sybert had gotten a clearance from the state Fair Political Practices Commission for his extracurricular legal work while he was on the government payroll.

Michael Harris, Beilenson’s attorney, said Thursday that he believes the survey was flawed and the allegations made in his client’s campaign flyers were truthful and constituted a fair exercise of free speech rights.

Academic Question

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Last week, renowned USC law professor Erwin Chemerinsky spoke to the Valley Jewish Business Leaders Assn. about thJ. Simpson trial. Chemerinsky had been regularly called upon to render lawyerly assessments of the trial’s hallmarks and progress by the news media but never had the professor publicly disclosed his views about the guilt or innocence of the former Trojan football great.

At the close of his business group speech last week, Chemerinsky was asked by Sybert if he believed Simpson was guilty. The unequivocal answer from the legal guru: Guilty.

So much for old school ties.

Chick’s Choice

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Since Beilenson announced last week that he would not seek reelection, speculation has been rampant about who from the West Valley could run to replace him.

Named in that speculation was Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick, who was elected to her first political office only two years ago after a brutal campaign against her previous boss, former council member Joy Picus.

The national Democratic Party, worried that the post may fall into the hands of a Republican, approached Chick, hoping that she would at least consider a run for the job.

While Chick is obliging the party by considering the idea, indications are that she will pass up the opportunity and instead seek a second term on the council, where she has become a force for strengthening the Police Department.

In an interview, Chick said she has been planning to run for a second term, which she feels she needs to continue her efforts to bolster the LAPD and improve city government.

“I still feel that the timing is not ideal,” she said.

Still, Chick added that she owes it to the Democratic Party to consider the Beilenson seat carefully and has given herself until next weekend to make her decision.

“Right now, I’m 99% sure of what I’m going to do,” she said.

The Democrats may not want to bet on that remaining 1%.

Myth Understood

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In an effort to get the good word out about the Los Angeles Unified School District, new spokesman Brad Sales is issuing a press release of sorts designed to tell the real truth about the beleaguered system.

In the first and current missive, Sales offered this “myth”:

“During the past five years, assaults with a deadly weapon and other acts of violence have increased at Los Angeles Unified School District schools and facilities.”

The “buster,” though written on the same page but must be turned over and held up to the light to read, states: “Incidents of assaults with a deadly weapon decreased 37% during the past five years. All other crimes against persons have decreased as well.”

Well, sort of.

Recent school district statistics show that sex crimes have increased over the same five-year period. Robbery and substance abuse increased last year.

Sales explains that he was looking only at on-campus violence and that most of those sex crimes occurred off campus, such as on the way to bus stops.

“I think the general perception is that schools have been less safe since 1990,” Sales said. “I don’t think that’s true.”

The so-called “Myth of the Month” was sent to the news media, district administrators and high school journalism classes.

And stay tuned, Sales says.

“Wait ‘til next month--it’ll be a better one.”

Taxi Dance

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The saga of the San Fernando Valley Checker Cab Co. took another strange twist in the past few weeks. But this latest development had more to do with bad timing than anything else.

The Los Angeles City Council’s Transportation Committee recommended in August that the city revoke Checker’s permit, citing the firm’s failure to provide promised services, such as a computerized dispatching system and wheelchair-accessible cabs.

Checker has been one of only two taxi firms the city allows to operate in the Valley.

But the entire City Council has not been able to vote on the revocation because Checker Cab filed for bankruptcy in August, which created a legal morass and has kept the city from taking action against the firm.

Meanwhile, transportation officials have offered plans to seek a new firm to replace Checker Cab and possibly issue permits for additional firms to serve the Valley.

But those proposals are not going anywhere soon, because the head of the council committee is Nate Holden, who is currently on trial on a sexual harassment charge. The committee has not met since the trial began three weeks ago.

The proceeding is expected to last at least two more weeks. But when it’s over, Holden may want to move as many Transportation Committee items along as he can because he faces a second sexual harassment trial in January in Orange County.