Rogan Says He’s a School Reformer, Defying Unions

A month after the California Democratic Party began running television ads attacking Rep. James E. Rogan’s record on education, the Republican incumbent launched a cable counteroffensive, portraying himself as a backer of school reform.

The ad was unveiled Tuesday as Democratic challenger Adam Schiff, a state senator from Burbank, announced that he would be unable to attend the first scheduled debate between the two candidates.

Rogan’s campaign will spend $80,000 to run the commercial on the three cable television systems covering the 27th Congressional District, which includes Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and adjacent areas.

The ad’s message: Rogan is standing up to national teachers unions by supporting efforts to hold educators accountable.

“Like you, Jim Rogan wants to put our children first,” the ad’s narrator states. “But not national teachers unions. They oppose merit pay for good teachers and support lifetime tenure, even for bad teachers.”

The narrator states that Rogan supports merit pay for good teachers and an end to lifetime tenure for bad teachers, as well as “safe schools where good teachers teach and children learn.”

The ads are meant to capitalize on the enthusiasm for similar education reforms endorsed by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush during last week’s Republican National Convention, said Jason Roe, a spokesman for Rogan.

The ad does not mention Schiff by name, but takes on some of his major supporters.

The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Assn. have endorsed Schiff in the race, said Parke Skelton, a campaign consultant for Schiff.

“Clearly, he [Rogan] is trying to deflect criticism of his abysmal record on education,” Skelton said.

Last month, the state Democratic Party ran a cable television ad that portrayed Rogan as an obstacle in the fight to reduce classroom overcrowding, citing his vote against legislation to hire 100,000 new teachers.

Rogan’s campaign said the Democratic ad was misleading. The congressman supported separate legislation that provided more flexibility for local schools to use money to either hire more teachers or train existing ones, Roe said.

The ads are perhaps the most visible sign that the campaign for the November election is heating up.

In what is viewed as a key national contest to determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the House, Rogan and Schiff have raised a combined $7.5 million so far, putting them on track to break the $8-million all-time record for spending in a race for the U.S. House of Representatives.

While the two joust in television ads, it appears there will be a delay in the highly anticipated first debate between the candidates.

The two were scheduled to face off Aug. 18 on radio, but Schiff notified the station Tuesday that he would be unable to attend because the Senate has been called into a working session that day.

Ted Osthelder, a spokesman for Schiff, said the senator has already proposed alternative dates to reschedule the debate.