Beilenson, Sybert Reach Settlement Over ’94 Suit

Thick in the battle of this year’s congressional race, Republican candidate Rich Sybert on Thursday announced he has resolved an old score with his political nemesis from his ill-fated 1994 campaign.

Sybert released a joint statement with Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) saying they had settled a libel lawsuit that had prolonged their political fight for more than 16 months after Beilenson won the election.

No money changed hands in the settlement.

“I’m very pleased that the case settled,” said Sybert, who faces two opponents in Tuesday’s Republican primary in the 24th District that stretches into Thousand Oaks.

Beilenson, who is retiring from Congress after 20 years in office, was unavailable for comment.

Sybert sued Beilenson in August, alleging he besmirched Sybert’s reputation in campaign brochures.

The mailers attacked Sybert for collecting $140,000 in private legal fees while holding a $98,000-a-year job as the governor’s director of planning and research from 1991 to 1993. One flier cited in Sybert’s complaint proclaimed “Rich Sybert Ripped off California Taxpayers.”

Sybert had approval from the state officials to continue his private law practice while on the governor’s staff. His suit claimed the mailers accuse him of “criminal conduct and personal dishonesty.”

Sybert continued to press the lawsuit after Beilenson’s decision in November to retire after this term.

And Beilenson counter-sued in January, alleging that Sybert libeled him in mailers that falsely accused Beilenson of accepting PAC money and voting against penalties for businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

The case was resolved Thursday before a mediator. Both sides agreed to a joint statement, which said Beilenson “did not intend to allege or imply that Richard Sybert engaged in any illegality or dishonesty while serving as a State of California official.”

It continued: “Richard Sybert did not intend to allege or imply that Congressman Anthony Beilenson has accepted direct financial contributions from political action committees (PACs).

“Mr. Sybert also states that his campaign made a research error that led to an incorrect statement that Congressman Beilenson voted against employer sanctions for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

“To the extend that the parties’ campaign mailing in the 1994 congressional race raised or made any statements, allegations or implications contrary to the above, they are hereby retracted.”