Sybert a Study in Ambition Unfulfilled

It wasn’t supposed to end this way for Rich Sybert.

A photogenic Harvard Law School graduate and former top aide to Gov. Pete Wilson, Sybert was once considered one of the GOP’s promising young stars.

But after three consecutive defeats--two hard-fought congressional contests, then an Assembly primary last week in which he was trounced by 28-year-old legislative aide Tony Strickland--Sybert says he is through with politics.

If so, the one-time focus of glowing CNN profiles ended his political career in a less flattering light when he was caught on videotape trashing his opponent’s campaign placards.

“I got into it in the first place because I cared deeply about a lot of the issues and had a lot to offer,” said Sybert, a 46-year-old toy company executive who spent more than $750,000 of his own money trying to win public office. “I don’t think I was prepared for the brutality of the political process. When I look back over the last six years, it’s been nothing but heartache for me and my family.”

For some of his former opponents, however, Sybert’s suggestion that he was caught off guard by the rough and tumble nature of politics reeks of hypocrisy.

“Rich Sybert understood all of this very well,” said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), who bested Sybert in 1996 for the 24th Congressional District, which includes portions of the Conejo and San Fernando valleys. “Rich Sybert was never [under any illusions]. He’s certainly run campaigns that included their share of negative elements.”

While condemning Sybert’s recent trashing of Strickland’s signs, some of the GOP loyalists who stuck by Sybert said his decision to leave politics represents a loss for all Republicans.

“It’s just sad that someone with that much potential is not going to be able to use it in politics,” said Bob Larkin, the former chairman of Ventura County’s Republican Party.

Others said it may be too early to assume voters have seen the end of Sybert.

“I’m sorry to hear about his decision, but people can change their minds,” said former U.S. Rep. Robert Lagomarsino, who supported Sybert throughout the sign fiasco this year. “A fellow named Richard Nixon once said something like that. Rich is still a young man.”

“It’s been a very trying experience for both Rich and his wife,” said Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard), who backed Sybert to succeed him. “I think with time, maybe these wounds will heal.”

Described by supporters and detractors alike as an intensely intelligent and driven individual, Sybert put himself through Berkeley and Harvard, and rose to the top of a Los Angeles law firm--only to leave it behind for a life in politics.

“I’m a little frustrated by what I’m doing now, lawyering away in a big firm while trying to satisfy my desire for something more,” Sybert once wrote in a successful 1984 application for a White House Fellowship.

Quitting his firm in 1990 to take a job heading Wilson’s Office of Planning and Research, Sybert spent several years in the highest levels of state government--befriending important political allies, but also ruffling the feathers of many colleagues with his hard-driving approach.

After leaving the job in the governor’s office in 1993, Sybert moved from Pasadena to Calabasas and quickly declared his candidacy for the 24th Congressional District, dismissing charges of carpetbagging.

“He was a bright young guy with a great background in Sacramento and Washington,” said Lagomarsino, who met Sybert during this period. “I thought he would make a great congressman.”

Losing to Democrat Anthony Beilenson by just 3,536 votes in the 1994 election, Sybert proceeded to sue the longtime incumbent for besmirching his reputation in a campaign mailer. The mailer attacked Sybert for collecting $140,000 a year in private legal fees while holding a $98,000-a-year job on Wilson’s staff.

A month after Sybert settled the suit with Beilenson, the 2nd District Court of Appeals issued an opinion ridiculing the case, saying it should have been dismissed earlier by a lower court.

“Hyperbole, distortion, invective and tirades are as much a part of American politics as kissing babies and distributing bumper stickers and pot holders,” Justice Arthur Gilbert wrote in the opinion.

When Beilenson decided not to seek reelection, many local politicos assumed Sybert would win the 24th District seat.

“He’s a Republican’s dream opponent: a tax collector,” Sybert joked to a Times reporter when discussing Sherman, then a state Board of Equalization member.

But Sybert wound up losing the race--by a much larger margin than in 1994. He blamed Bob Dole for conceding to Bill Clinton too early, keeping local Republicans at home.

Political observers, however, said Sherman had cleverly capitalized on a gaffe by Sybert: putting out brochures urging voters to “Join General Colin Powell” in supporting his candidacy, without having Powell’s formal endorsement. Powell later sent Sybert an encouraging note and $250, but never offered his endorsement.

“I just don’t know why he felt the need to do that,” said a former Sybert supporter, who requested anonymity. “He had so many other endorsements. Those are the kind of mistakes that Sybert made. They made no sense.”

Last year Sybert decided to pack his bags again and move to Thousand Oaks, a GOP-rich area that had supported him in both elections. Once again he faced charges of carpetbagging from home-grown Republicans.

But this time Sybert had his sights on a less lofty perch: the 37th Assembly District seat about to be vacated by Takasugi due to term limits.

Right away, he faced adversity: His campaign manager from the 1996 congressional election, John Theiss, penned a letter to former Sybert supporters urging them to back Strickland, a conservative young aide to Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge), in the primary.

Theiss argued Sybert would be perceived as a “desperate” politician who would do whatever necessary to get elected.

But it was the carefully conceived one-two punch by the Strickland campaign earlier this year that may have dealt Sybert his final blow.

Strickland notified the press in April that a 19-year-old volunteer from Pepperdine University had seen Sybert tearing down Strickland placards in Thousand Oaks. Sybert immediately ridiculed the charges in a Times interview, saying, “I checked with my wife, and she’s pretty sure the guy next to her Monday night was me.”

The following day Strickland released the video, which showed Sybert scurrying in the darkness, ripping down several signs on different nights in Camarillo and Thousand Oaks. Sybert quickly admitted he had lied, and said he was “embarrassed and ashamed” of what he had done.

“I think a man would have called me up and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a tape of you, knock it off,’ ” a weary-voiced Sybert said in an interview last week. “But instead, he called CNN and set me up.”

Sybert spent the final weeks of his campaign seeking to draw attention away from the sign incidents and toward the young age of Strickland, his main challenger. He succeeded for the most part in keeping his biggest endorsements, including that of Takasugi. But despite outspending his four primary opponents--chipping in more than $150,000 of his own money into the race--Sybert suffered a crushing defeat last Tuesday, receiving just 7% of the popular vote.

Sybert quickly announced his political career was at an end. Several people close to Sybert said his wife, Greta, was extremely distraught over the barrage of negative press her husband had generated.

“I want [the media] to leave myself and my family alone,” Sybert said. “This is exhibit No. 1 one on why good people don’t get involved in politics.”

And while Sybert refused to throw his weight behind Strickland, calling him a right-wing extremist who “can’t put two sentences together,” he acknowledged his own actions may have cost him the race.

“I’m a human being, and it’s impossible to not say ‘could’ve, should’ve, would’ve,’ ” he said. “I’ve asked myself that question so many times.

“I don’t know any human being who has led a blameless life. Yesterday’s gone.”

Sybert said that despite his loss, “No one can call me a quitter,” priding himself for fighting until the end.

Giving up the spotlight won’t be easy for someone as ambitious as Sybert, said Herbert Gooch, a political science professor at Cal Lutheran University.

“It’s like going to Hollywood,” said Gooch, who has known Sybert for years. “Once bitten, you never want to leave. That may be Rich’s approach to politics. But Rich Sybert’s political incarnation is done. People get reincarnated sometimes, but not in this town.”

Gooch hopes others will look to Sybert as a case of political ambitions gone awry.

“I don’t think he should have been elected,” Gooch said. “But boy, I have to feel for him. A few stupid mistakes and it’s all over. If Tony Strickland really wants to grow up and learn a thing or two about politics, he should consider looking into the soul of Rich Sybert right about now.”