An Endorsement He Can’t Fully Endorse

In a typical City Council race, the endorsement of a member of Congress is pure gold.

Which makes Ollie McCaulley, the GOP hopeful in the nonpartisan race for the 7th District council seat, an unusually conflicted candidate.

One of McCaulley’s 30 endorsements from GOP legislators is that of Rep. James E. Rogan of Glendale, one of the party’s leading players in the presidential impeachment hearings.

The problem is that McCaulley wants to represent a district in which 70% of the registered voters are Democrats.

“I’m not going to tout the Rogan endorsement [to everyone],” McCaulley said. “I’m not stupid. There are still a lot of people who have their own views of what he did.”

But the backing from Rogan and endorsements from Republican state lawmakers--including Tom McClintock of Northridge, Scott Baugh of Huntington Beach, Pete Knight of Palmdale and Ray Haynes of Riverside--will very likely be featured in mail aimed at the 7th District’s Republican voters.

“I think it will help me tremendously with a field this size,” McCaulley said. “The other [Democratic] candidates are going after the Republican vote too. It’s important.”

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ROGAN REDUX: State Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) flew into Washington this week with something on his mind--and it wasn’t the art at the Smithsonian.

Schiff met with members of Congress and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to discuss what has been rumored for weeks--his possible run for the 27th Congressional District seat now held by the GOP’s Rogan.

The meetings went well, Schiff said, politely declining to discuss the details. But he has yet to make a decision on whether to enter next year’s race, he said.

“I’m certainly considering it,” Schiff said. “I know a lot of people in the district are looking for a change in leadership.”

Following Rogan’s prominent role in President Clinton’s Senate impeachment trial, numerous politicos have been predicting the Republican congressman will face a stiff challenge from angry Democrats to keep his seat in 2000.

What is less clear, however, is whether Rogan will actually seek reelection. He is pondering a run for a new office next year--the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

Whatever the case, Rogan is apparently keeping an eye on Schiff, an old campaign rival from the days Rogan ran for the Assembly. Rogan spokesman Jeff Solsby said his boss was disappointed Schiff did not drop by for a visit, and took the opportunity to question Schiff’s sincerity in calling for cooperation between the two.

“He said he wanted to work with us, but he seems more interested in campaigning against us,” Solsby said.

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ROCKING ROB: Those who have crossed paths with Rob Glushon, an Encino land-use attorney and elected charter reform commissioner, may find it difficult to picture him undulating to the frat-house ska of Sugar Ray, or bobbing his head to the rap rhythms of the bratty Beastie Boys.

But those people--they don’t know the real Rob Glushon--haven’t seen his FM radio presets. They’ve never seen him ensconced in his car on the way to work, playing air guitar to Lenny Kravitz with a vengeance.

Rob Glushon is hip! He’s down with America’s youth! Indie-rock all the way!

And by the way, make sure you vote for charter reform this June.

In its tireless, and shameless, crusade to market its cause to every nook and cranny of the voting public, the elected charter commission recently dispatched Glushon to the most popular alternative music station on the West Coast, KROQ-FM (106.7).

Never mind that Glushon’s on-air appearance took place at 7 a.m. last Sunday--a time when some of the station’s youthful listeners were probably just tucking into bed following a dance ‘til dawn rave party. Glushon’s teenage daughter, for instance, had just returned home from an all-night showing of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The commission seized the opportunity to highlight changes to the city constitution it believed young people would find the most appealing.

“Fans of alternative rock would probably be impressed with the reforms Glushon and the 15-member charter reform commission put on the new city charter,” a commission publicist said in a news release. “There is a clause in the new charter which says the city won’t discriminate in giving benefits to gay couples.”

Prepared to be quizzed on his musical tastes, Glushon quickly learned the KROQ staff did not care if he was down. He was subjected instead to a straight one-on-one interview that lasted about 45 minutes.

“My wife told me the only people that were listening were probably up all night, and you’re probably going to do them a favor by putting them to sleep,” Glushon said. “I don’t know if it was by design or not, but there were no calls.”

Yet people had been listening, as Glushon soon learned. When he returned home about 9 a.m., he received a visit from his neighbor, a retired county employee in his 60s.

“He said, ‘What in the heck where you doing on KROQ?’ ” Glushon recalled. “I couldn’t believe he’d heard.”

Glushon, it seems, is not the only aging hipster in Encino.

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DATE WITH DESTINY: After years of laboring to wrest themselves from the clutches of Los Angeles, Valley secessionists have a date with destiny: March 15.

It’s not a vote on secession--that won’t come for at least another two years, even if everything breaks just right for the revolutionaries struggling to obtain “Valley independence.”

But it’s the next biggest thing for a secessionist--sort of like the Golden Globes of municipal divorce. On Monday, Valley VOTE, the group pushing for a study of secession, will learn whether it has gathered enough signatures to take the next step toward a city breakup.

Valley VOTE turned in about 202,000 signatures to launch the secession process--many more than the 132,000 or so needed. All the petitions are being examined by county elections officials to ensure those who signed are registered to vote, live in the Valley and did not sign more than once. A full check was required after a random sample uncovered a high rate of duplicate signatures--a potentially deadly finding for the secession movement.

On Wednesday, officials with the Local Agency Formation Commission, the panel overseeing the secession process, announced that county officials are wrapping up that check and will release their findings Monday. LAFCO officials also discussed what would occur if Valley VOTE comes up short.

Under the unusual state laws governing secession, Valley VOTE will have an extra 15 days to collect signatures if its petitions fail to pass muster.

Secessionists had been arguing that before those 15 days begin ticking, they should have a chance to examine the county’s work to determine whether mistakes were made--for instance, good signatures wrongly thrown out--that would thereby reduce the number they would have to collect to put them over the top.

But county lawyers concluded the 15 days begin the minute LAFCO Director Larry Calemine notifies Valley VOTE about the results--a setback for secessionists, who will not have time to check the county’s work and collect more signatures simultaneously.

Valley VOTE leaders said they can live with that decision.

“We hope and we think we’re going to qualify next Monday,” Valley VOTE Chairman Richard Close said. “But we think it will be close, and therefore, we have been planning for the need to get more signatures.”

If it needs more signatures, the group’s main strategy would be to canvass for signatures door-to-door throughout the Valley, Close said.

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TAKING THE PLEDGE: The Los Angeles City Council is so concerned about a recent court ruling allowing anonymous political mailers that it has asked council candidates to voluntarily refrain from the practice.

All six candidates on the April 13 ballot in the 7th Council District took the pledge this week.

“I think sending anonymous mail is deceiving to voters. It hides who you are,” candidate Barbara Perkins said. “It’s the ugly side of politics.”

Alex Padilla and Corinne Sanchez, the front-runners in the 7th District race, also vowed they would identify themselves as the sender in all mailers.

But candidates have powerful supporters, including labor groups and state lawmakers who can legally send mailers independently.

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HIT AND RUN: Anonymous hit pieces have already shown up in other jurisdictions in California, said Jim Knox, executive director of California Common Cause.

“It’s absolutely important that the voter knows who is delivering messages to their mailbox,” Knox said. “Anonymous hit mail is not something that improves the democratic process.”

After two decades of maintaining a presence in Los Angeles, budget problems have forced the political watchdog group California Common Cause to close its office in the City of Angels and consolidate operations in its Sacramento office, Knox said.

“Like most nonprofits, there has been some decline in membership,” Knox said, adding that this has translated into a decline in revenue.

California Common Cause opened its Los Angeles office in the 1980s when Walter Zelman, a resident of the city, was the group’s executive director. During its time in Los Angeles, the group played an important role in the debate over ethics.

The group, which will maintain a Sacramento office, pushed for ethics legislation in Los Angeles.