Davis Stumps for Democrats in Area Races for Congress

Pressing hard on the health care reform themes espoused by fellow Democrats, Gov. Gray Davis is campaigning for Adam Schiff and Jane Harman, challengers in two of the Los Angeles area’s--and the nation’s--most fiercely contested House races, those in the 27th and 36th congressional districts.

The governor’s presence helped kick off the final, frenetic week of campaigning in the two high-spending contests that will help decide which party controls the House of Representatives.

The Republican incumbents, Reps. James E. Rogan of Glendale and Steven T. Kuykendall of Rancho Palos Verdes, remained stuck in Washington for the end of the congressional session. But their campaign aides made sure the Democrats’ volleys did not go unanswered. They showed up at Davis’ press appearances, armed with rebuttals.

Davis on Tuesday enthusiastically backed Schiff, a state senator from Burbank, who is challenging Rogan in the 27th District.

“Adam Schiff has proven he can work in a bipartisan environment to craft legislation that helps patients. . . . He’ll be a great congressman!” Davis told a crowd of mostly senior citizens outside a Glendale recreation center. He credited Schiff with writing and pushing through a new law that allows patients independent, legally binding reviews if their HMOs turn them down for payment of treatments. Rogan, Davis said, voted against the main, broadly supported “patients’ bill of rights” proposal in Congress this year.

The day before, Davis joined Harman for a news conference at a San Pedro medical office to boost her campaign against Kuykendall in the South Bay’s 36th District.

Davis alleged that Kuykendall undermined patients’ and others’ privacy rights, citing his initial refusal to support an information restriction bill in Congress. Kuykendall later supported it. The governor also cited a measure that Kuykendall sponsored when he was a state assemblyman that would have allowed private firms access to personal salary information and that Davis later blocked. Harman, he said, has a strong record of fighting for privacy rights.

“A clear difference is in how Jane Harman would treat your medical records and how Steve Kuykendall would treat them,” Davis said in urging voters to return Harman, of Rolling Hills, to Congress.

Harman held the seat for three terms before giving it up in 1998 to run unsuccessfully against Davis for the Democratic nomination for governor.

The governor is not the only party luminary to help Harman this week. On Thursday, President Clinton is scheduled to be in Los Angeles and will be the top attraction at a fund-raiser, his second for Harman this year. (On Friday, Clinton will be special guest at a fund-raiser for attorney and nurse practitioner Gerrie Schipske, who is challenging Republican Stephen Horn in the Long Beach-based 38th District).

The Republican incumbents missed the GOP’s final-week kickoff Monday--a Burbank rally with their candidate for president, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

But Rogan and Kuykendall have campaigned with a blitz of political mailers, television and radio ads and party stars stumping on their behalf. Kuykendall had to cancel yet another candidates’ forum appearance--by the Torrance Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday--and Rogan released a long list of “bipartisan” accomplishments he says he helped Congress achieve.

On Monday, Kuykendall campaign aides Adam Mendelsohn and Sean Bonyun squeezed into the San Pedro medical office with reporters and Harman supporters, listening intently to the governor’s remarks. Then Kuykendall’s aides distributed a press release that described Harman’s characterization of Kuykendall’s privacy record as “trying to give voters a good old-fashioned scare” and said she had missed an opportunity to vote on a privacy bill when she was in Congress.

On Tuesday, Rogan campaign aides arrived at the Schiff news conference ahead of Davis and gave reporters copies of a thick volume of more than 500 bills that Schiff had supported and that the governor had vetoed.

“These approximately 540 bills show Adam Schiff to be out of step, not only with our moderate Democrat governor, but also with the people of California,” Rogan campaign spokesman Jeffrey Solsby told reporters.

But, asked about that during the news conference, Davis cautioned against reading much significance into the vetoed bills. He said he signed more than 2,000 bills from the last legislative session and vetoed about 600.

“Let me assure you that I don’t have any stronger ally in the Senate than Adam Schiff,” Davis said, citing several anti-crime bills Schiff helped pass, as well as his “major role” in a broad package of health care coverage reform measures that the Legislature passed and the governor signed into law.

Also this week, the Schiff campaign launched a television advertising campaign with a spot about HMO reform and prescription drug coverage, while the Harman and Kuykendall camps began airing their second spots of the campaigns on broadcast stations throughout the vast--and extremely costly--Los Angeles media market.

All four campaigns have been using the more narrowly focused--and considerably less pricey--cable stations to air commercials.

Rogan spokesman Solsby said the campaign is considering whether to buy broadcast time.

Spending in the Rogan-Schiff contest is expected to reach at least $10 million and may well set a record for House races. Kuykendall and Harman are expected to spend at least $4 million.