Sherman and Hoffman Turn Up the Heat

With the final sprint to the November election kicking off this Labor Day, the political barbs and steady cash flow in the race for the 24th Congressional District promise to make it one of the most contentious political battles in the Conejo Valley.

Even the incumbent’s comb has come under attack.

Thousand Oaks businessman Randy Hoffman, the Republican nominee who is challenging freshman Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), said the combs Sherman hands out as a campaign trinket show the Democrat is more about gimmicks than political substance.

Sherman dishes out combs engraved with his name and telephone number. “You’ll be able to use it more than I can,” the balding incumbent jokingly tells supporters.

Hoffman is not amused. He hands out bookmarks printed with his education agenda.

“I don’t see what relevance a comb has to a campaign,” said Hoffman, founder and former CEO of Magellan Systems, a high-tech San Dimas company that made him a multimillionaire.

Sherman countered that Hoffman’s education platform is so insubstantial, his bookmarks have room to spare.

“You have a guy who refuses to say where he stands on any of the issues, whose entire position can be summarized on a bookmark, and he’s talking about substance?” Sherman said.

The exchange is just the latest round in an increasingly hostile war of words between the two candidates, who have spent most of their summer raising money and rallying the party faithful in the district, which includes Thousand Oaks and the west San Fernando Valley.

Sherman has accused Hoffman of political cowardice, saying the Republican has refused to debate while Sherman was in the Valley over the August congressional recess. Sherman also said the Republican is trying to buy the election by using more than $500,000 of his own money. Hoffman thinks “money is a substitute for political experience,” Sherman said.

On the other side, Hoffman charged Sherman with abusing his congressional mailing privileges by blanketing his district with hundreds of thousands of taxpayer-funded newsletters in early August, which Hoffman contends were thinly veiled campaign mailers. It proves Sherman is a career politician, one “who’ll say anything to get elected,” Hoffman said.

And besides, Sherman has contributed more than $1 million to his campaigns throughout his career, Hoffman said.

As of June 30, Sherman had raised $654,829--with more than $132,000 coming from labor interests. Hoffman had raised $618,218--with more than $500,000 coming from his own bank account, federal elections records show. The Republican Party has declared Sherman to be one of the 10 most vulnerable Democrats in Congress. House Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom Delay, both Texas Republicans, already came to Los Angeles to stump for Hoffman and stoke the political fires singeing President Clinton.

Former GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole is scheduled to arrive on Saturday, and Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich might not be too far behind, Hoffman said.

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri came to Sherman’s aid late last month, headlining a $500-a-plate fund-raiser in Tarzana that helped the Democrat raise nearly $10,000. Sherman, an accountant and former member of the state Board of Equalization, also boasts of endorsements from U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gray Davis.

The district has a slim majority of Democrats. But GOP leaders say they believe that can be overcome, especially with a wounded president.

Armey, who helped Hoffman raise $40,000 at a fund-raiser on Wednesday, said he expects fallout from the Clinton scandal to weaken support for Sherman and other Democrats running for Congress.

“It certainly can’t help,” said Armey, the second-ranking Republican in the House. “My own view is that it’s going to get worse before it gets better. It’s got to have a terribly discouraging impact on them and on prospects for voter turnout.”

Sherman acknowledged Clinton’s admitted sexual indiscretion with White House intern Monica Lewinsky may temper Democratic support, saying “it was not only wrong, but stupid.” But Sherman doubts the president’s misfortune will deliver a crushing political victory for Republicans, in his district or across the nation.

“If the best reason Hoffman has for firing me from my job is that some guy from Arkansas had an affair with some young lady, he’s going to have a difficult time making his case,” Sherman said.

Sherman said that his campaign pollster has determined that Clinton remains popular in the district. Still, Sherman hesitated when asked whether he would want the president to come to the Valley to campaign for him, but said he would welcome Clinton.

Sherman squeaked into Congress in 1996, capturing 49% of the vote to beat Republican Rich Sybert and marking his seat as one of the GOP’s juiciest targets this election.

“Brad Sherman’s victory margin last time around was anything but impressive,” said Todd Harris, spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee. “Brad Sherman was elected in 1996 on Bill Clinton’s coattails in California, and he’s not going to have that this time around.”

Sherman has been in Congress only two years, however, and that gives Republicans a limited political record to pick over and attack.

Harris named only two votes that may hurt Sherman: his vote against a GOP bill to scrap the entire U.S. tax code by 2002, when a new one, in theory, would be put in its place; and Sherman voted for a federally subsidized needle-exchange program for drug addicts.

Armey said the GOP couldn’t ask for a more solid candidate than Hoffman: He has a Harvard degree in business, a net worth of between $2 million and $7 million and the proven management experience to run a successful campaign.

However, high-tech entrepreneurs have a dismal record in recent high-profile campaigns, said political scientist Larry Gerston of San Jose State. Most are political newcomers who have yet to establish themselves as civic leaders, Gerston said.

“We’re not talking about Fords and Du Ponts here. They really haven’t come to terms with the concept of corporate citizen,” Gerston said. “Running for office is more than putting a name out. It’s more than bankrolling. People have to know their values and positions. They have to network, going to clubs, ask people for endorsements.”

In recent elections, successful businessmen like Hoffman also have tried to leapfrog to Congress or other high offices. Even for political hopefuls stocked with money and intellect, however, this is rarely a successful route, Gerston said.

Lower positions on the school board, the city council or state Legislature may be less prestigious, but they are proven steppingstones to the top political jobs. They allow voters to judge a politician’s effectiveness and ideals, and establish a commitment to the community, Gerston said.

“They don’t pay their dues because in their business, they don’t have to pay dues,” Gerston said. “They develop good product and they get it out. It’s immediate.”

However, Hoffman said that scenario does not apply to him. The Republican has served on a governor’s commission on domestic abuse and worked as a teacher at Cal State Fullerton and Coastline Community College.

The Democrats consider Hoffman to be a serious challenger, and are prepared to come to Sherman’s aid if he needs help, said Olivia Morgan, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Still, a poll by the Sherman campaign shows he has more than a 20% lead over Hoffman, which would be difficult for the Republican to erase, she said.

“This is a district that doesn’t allow you to play quick catch-up on TV,” Morgan said.

Hoffman is well aware of the enormous cost and marginal effectiveness of using television advertising for a congressional seat in Los Angeles. So he’s using direct mail instead.

“I’m not stupid.”