Schiff Announces Intent to Run for Rogan’s House Seat

State Sen. Adam Schiff announced Friday he was running for Congressman James Rogan’s seat, kicking off a campaign with potential national interest as a referendum on the Republican-controlled House attempt to impeach President Clinton.

In his widely anticipated announcement, the Burbank Democrat made clear that his campaign would focus at least partly on Rogan’s role as one of the House managers who pursued Clinton’s removal from office. Top Democratic party officials have targeted Rogan and pledged to support Schiff’s run.

Schiff said Rogan’s pursuit of impeachment blinded him to the needs of constituents.

“The record shows that persistent local needs have never held much interest for our local congressman,” Schiff said. “They’ve never been able to compete with the lure of being seen with [former House leader] Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde,” the chief House manager.

Rogan has not yet announced whether he will run again, though he has expressed an interest in running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Dianne Feinstein. His spokesman defended Rogan’s record on local issues, pointing to a new, $2-million science center jointly run by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Glendale Community College as one accomplishment.

As to impeachment, the spokesman, Jeffrey Solsby, said Rogan realized early that his advocacy might result in his own removal from office.

“He knew it was something that could cost him his seat and he did it anyway,” Solsby said. “It’s one thing to lose office, it’s another to compromise your conscience.”

Schiff’s announcement also fueled political intrigue on the state level. The two Assemblymen who represent the area, Jack Scott (D-Altadena) and Scott Wildman (D-Los Angeles), are both interested in running for the seat.

The men are political allies and neither wants a divisive primary between Democrats. The two spoke last week about brokering an agreement to avoid such a race, but came to no decision.

Wildman showed up unannounced at Schiff’s news conference on Friday, but declined to comment on whether he had made a decision to run for office, promising to say more “in a couple of days.”

Scott said he is seriously considering a run for office, and said he hoped to have more conversations with Wildman and other top state officials about the best candidate to run for Schiff’s seat.

While Scott’s seat and Wildman’s seat each make up half of Schiff’s larger Senate district, Scott noted that his district has a slight edge in the number of registered voters.

“Obviously, we work together well and we want to continue to work together well,” Scott said. “ I feel I’d be a very strong candidate.”