Primary Seen as Bellwether for Rogan, Schiff

The matchup between Rep. James E. Rogan (R-Glendale) and state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) has all the makings of a great political fight.

Two hard-nosed former prosecutors, each a rising star in his party, are going head-to-head for a seat in Congress.

More than $4 million has already been raised. Schiff’s $1.1 million is the largest war chest amassed by any Democratic congressional challenger in the nation, even though the general election is months away.

Many see the contest for the 27th District seat as a referendum on the impeachment of President Clinton and Rogan’s key role as a House prosecutor. Each candidate is backed by powerful national political interests, with stakes much higher than who represents Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena in Washington.

“It’s going to be one of the most hotly contested and closely watched Congressional races in the nation,” said GOP political strategist Allan Hoffenblum.

Each candidate is running unopposed in his party’s upcoming primary. Even though neither has spent much or debated the issues, both see the March 7 open primary as an important test of voter preferences that might help them plan their showdown in November.

Libertarian Ted Brown is also uncontested in the primary.

The Democrats enjoy more than a 6% lead in voter registration in the district, and Rogan said he hopes to stay at least that close to Schiff in the voting next month. If he can, Rogan said he will have the chance during the next six months to aggressively court independent and undecided voters.

“This is going to be a precursor of what will happen in November,” Rogan said. “If he beats me by 15 points, 10 points, I will be in trouble.”

Schiff said Rogan could benefit from a tight contest for the Republican presidential nomination, which would probably bring out more conservative voters.

In fund-raising appeals, Rogan has stated that he needs $800,000 to make a strong showing in the primary, but in an interview said he is planning a more bare-bones primary campaign. Schiff said he will spend less than $200,000, “and save our resources for November.”

What has drawn the national spotlight to the race so early is Rogan’s role in the impeachment and Senate trial of President Clinton. That made him a lightning rod for Democrats throughout the country who have helped Schiff become the leading fund-raiser among Democratic challengers.

“[Rogan’s seat is] a top target for Democrats,” said John Del Cecato, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which plans to weigh in heavily with financial support after the primary. “It’s very winnable.”

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Rogan is “a rising star in the Republican party,” said Jill Schroeder of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “It’s the top incumbent race in the nation.”

Rogan has watched the demographics of the district shift from one that was bedrock Republican more than a decade ago to a more ethnically diverse district in which Democrats are in the majority. Fifty-five percent of voters in the district cast a ballot for Clinton in 1996.

A former deputy district attorney, Municipal Court judge and assemblyman, Rogan first won election to Congress in 1996, but with only 50% of the vote and a margin of victory of 7 percentage points over Democratic challenger Doug Kahn. Rogan’s margin of victory narrowed in 1998, when he won reelection by four percentage points over Democrat Barry Gordon.

Schiff, a former federal prosecutor who lives in Burbank, represents a state Senate district that overlaps Rogan’s, so he is well-known to voters.

Among issues that divide the two candidates:

* Schiff is favors legal abortion, while Rogan opposes the use of taxpayer dollars for abortions.

* Rogan, a recipient of the National Rifle Assn.’s Medal of Freedom, said he has supported reasonable restrictions on firearms, including instant background checks and a ban on the import of high-volume ammunition clips, as well as a juvenile Brady Bill to keep guns out of hands of minors.

Schiff said he supported a ban on assault rifles and Saturday night specials, and said Rogan has not done enough to control firearms.

* Schiff said Clinton’s actions leading to impeachment were “deplorable and immoral,” but Congress “violated the Constitution to punish him.”

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Rogan said he is proud of his role in the impeachment.

“The president committed perjury,” Rogan said. “He obstructed justice. It was my obligation to defend the Constitution.

“I knew it was going to hurt when I did it, but my obligation was clear,” Rogan said.

Hoffenblum, the GOP strategist, said Rogan faces a difficult battle.

“It’s a tough seat for a Republican, regardless of his actions, to hold on to, because it’s trending Democratic,” Hoffenblum said. “Rogan has to turn it into a race that is based on personality, while Schiff has to turn it into Democrats versus Republicans.”

Rogan, 42, noted he has beaten Schiff twice, in races for a California Assembly seat in the early 1990s.

In addition to a national fund-raising campaign that has netted him nearly $3 million, Rogan said he is counting on his record of fiscal conservatism and what he called his closeness to his district.

“I think everything comes down to who has served this community,” Rogan said. “I have served this community as a gang-murder prosecutor, as a judge, as an assemblyman and as a congressman.”

To Schiff, Rogan is a radical right-winger who has slighted the district in order to gain the national political spotlight.

“The main reason I’m in this race is that for years he has ignored the district and only used it as a platform for his national, partisan ideological crusade,” Schiff said.

Schiff, 39, served as a federal prosecutor for six years before he was elected to the state Senate in 1996.

Rogan’s story is now well-known. A former high school dropout whose mother was on welfare, he worked as a bouncer at a theater that provided X-rated entertainment before going on to graduate from UC Berkeley and UCLA Law School.

Despite the overarching issue of impeachment, many feel that traditional constituent concerns will be the major factor in the outcome of the race.

Schiff cited his work to promote the Pasadena light-rail project, to preserve from development the 238-acre Oakmont property through $5 million in state funding, and to provide $500,000 for computerization of Burbank schools.

Rogan mentioned his role in blocking the unpopular extension of the Long Beach Freeway to Pasadena, his work to save jobs at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and an appropriation he secured for an appraisal of the Oakmont property.

The 27th District race has the highest profile of several congressional contests in the San Fernando Valley this year. Incumbents Brad Sherman, (D-Sherman Oaks) and Howard Berman (D-Mission Hills) are unopposed in their respective primaries, while 25th District Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) is expected to have an easy time against fellow Republican Hal Brent Meyers.