Case, Gallegly Both Lay Claim to ‘Moderate’ Label

When Ventura attorney Michael Case announced his run for Congress last year, he read his speech word-for-word. All five pages of it. In a monotone. Listeners clapped politely.

But when Case mounted a star-spangled stage at the Democrats’ Labor Day picnic last month, he was passionate and articulate--speaking to loyalists in the audience, not reading to them.

“He is getting better all the time,” said Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) from the back of the crowd.

But if Case, 53, has transformed himself into a candidate who can excite a crowd, he still needs to showcase his skills on a broader stage over the next five weeks to become Ventura County’s next congressman.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) has held the seat since 1986, cruising to reelection six times since upsetting Bob Hope’s free-spending son in a Republican primary 14 years ago--even routing by 12 percentage points a Democratic challenger who outspent him in 1992.

This time, Gallegly, 56, expects to win by even more. A campaign poll taken 10 days ago showed him with a 2-to-1 lead over Case among frequent voters, he said.

“We’re doing very well,” he said last week. “Over 40% of [poll respondents] had never heard of Michael Case.”

Case’s own midsummer poll showed Gallegly leading 37% to 15%, but with 43% undecided. And those 43% are the voters Case is going after in his uphill run to Nov. 7.

In a series of mailers being delivered this week, Case will define himself and spotlight differences between his positions and Gallegly’s.

He believes voters of the 23rd District--which covers Carpinteria and all of Ventura County except the Thousand Oaks area--are moderate, not Gallegly’s stripe of social conservative.

“I’m in this race because I consider myself a true moderate,” Case said. “In an election year, Elton Gallegly likes to call himself a moderate, but the votes he has cast in Congress demonstrate his true beliefs.”

A Fresno County farm boy who grew up to found the largest law firm in Ventura, Case has caught the eye of his party.

Congressional Democrats are targeting his race for money and attention--taking an active roll with advice, resources and voter registration. The party gave Case $5,000 in February but won’t say how much more is coming.

“I think what Michael has done is make it competitive,” said Erik Smith, communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “He’s doing a wonderful job of picking up support in the district. [He has raised] $450,000, and that’s impressive.”

The challenge is to overcome Gallegly. The former cabinetmaker, real estate broker and Simi Valley mayor is a formidable incumbent.

In the March primary, in which voters could cast ballots for any candidate, Gallegly pulled 64% to Case’s 24% in a district evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.

“How do you get 64% when the district is only 41% Republican unless you serve everybody?” he said.

Gallegly has about $1 million tucked away for his push to election day, while Case said he has raised nearly $500,000 and has about $300,000 left to spend.

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Gallegly stays in close touch with his district. He claims a paid membership of 2,000 in his Congressional Club of supporters, which meets regularly. He returns from Washington to his Simi Valley home nearly every weekend.

He is renowned for what he brings home to Ventura County.

He says he has brought thousands of jobs and tens of millions of dollars into the local economy, from the new police station in Simi Valley to a wing of radar planes at Point Mugu.

Indeed, he helped lead Ventura County’s fight to save the Point Mugu and Port Hueneme naval bases during several rounds of base closures in the mid-1990s.

“Every time we’ve needed assistance, he’s come through,” Sheriff Bob Brooks said. “He got us a couple million dollars to help us get computers in all our [police] cars.”

Case’s strategy is to highlight another aspect of Gallegly’s record--his stands on issues that test his social conservatism and are often a litmus test for a candidate. A protege of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Gallegly is a longtime favorite of the National Rifle Assn. and the Christian Coalition, Case said.

“I don’t mind running against the real Elton Gallegly,” Case said. “But what is frustrating is that he’s sent out very blurred statements about who he is and how he’s voted. There are great examples of where his positions today are blatantly inconsistent with his record.”

Notable, Case said, are Gallegly’s statements over the last 15 months that he supports existing federal law that allows abortions. Case points out that Gallegly has stated repeatedly over the years that he opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when a woman’s life is in danger.

“Why doesn’t he just say where he really stands?” Case said.

Gallegly’s response: “My position hasn’t changed at all. But I’ve also said that I respect the law, and the law provides a right to an abortion in the first trimester. I have personal feelings about that, but I don’t vote on that.”

Gallegly said his record is clear--he is a fiscal conservative and more moderate than some of his conservative Republican colleagues on social issues. He said he isn’t running from who he is.

“It’s like [Case] is in a courtroom where he can pick and choose partial truths and paint a picture that isn’t true,” Gallegly said. “It’s certainly not the most ethical campaign. He doesn’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.”

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One recent Friday, Case took his Democratic campaign to the Ojai Rotary Club, a bastion of business and boosterism meeting on a hilltop at Soule Park Golf Course.

“I think Elton has done really well for us,” Rotary President Allan West said before Case’s luncheon address. “I think he has tried to help the agricultural community and address the immigration situation.”

Case’s task, he said before the speech, was to be clear about his positions, “so when they leave they don’t think I sandbagged them.”

So for the next 30 minutes, the tall, gentlemanly candidate in a dark blue suit--his wife, Jean, seated nearby--offered up a short version of his campaign message.

Speaking firmly and with conviction, Case told about 60 Rotarians that he had set aside his thriving law practice this year to give voters a real alternative to Gallegly.

He recounted his humble beginnings: how his father hitchhiked from Arkansas to the San Joaquin Valley to pick fruit in the broiling sun; how Case himself became the first in his family to graduate from college and went on to found a Ventura law firm that has grown to 17 lawyers.

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He noted the support of three of the last four presidents of the Ventura County Farm Bureau (“not exactly a hotbed of Democratic politics”), seven of the 10 city mayors in the 23rd District, the Sierra Club and teachers groups.

“I’m not here to pound the table on the evils of Elton Gallegly,” Case said. “But I think you need to know his record.”

Case said he wanted to rebuild the nation’s system of education but that Gallegly had voted to reduce student loans, to abolish the federal Department of Education and not to hire 100,000 more teachers. Case said he opposes Proposition 38 because the school vouchers initiative would take $3 billion away from public education. Gallegly has refused to state his position on the measure.

Case said his top priorities are paying down the national debt to eliminate the federal government’s annual $250-billion interest payment on loans, and shoring up Social Security and Medicare. “I don’t want any tax overhaul until we take care of these three things,” he said.

He described himself as a fiscal conservative--a business lawyer involved in property issues--who opposes “the land rush” [by Republicans] to determine “how much we get back in tax reform.”

He said that while Gallegly voted to end the inheritance tax, a costly bill that was essentially a tax break for the rich, the congressman opposed an increase in workers’ minimum wage.

And he mentioned two issues that he said always come up before groups--abortion and gun control.

“I believe that women should have that choice,” he said. “And I am concerned with the high level of injuries and death from guns.”

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A National Rifle Assn. member as a youth, Case said he is a strong believer in gun safety and would back licensing and registration of handguns, actions opposed by Gallegly. And he noted that Gallegly voted to repeal a federal ban on the sale of assault weapons.

Audience reaction was mixed.

“I would not support him,” said Ojai businessman Larry Mulholland. “He misstated the reality [on school vouchers]. He doesn’t have an independent thought.”

But several members, including some Republicans, said they were impressed.

“I think he’s definitely the strongest candidate to challenge Mr. Gallegly,” said West, the club’s president.

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It was sweltering for Camarillo, but on this Saturday afternoon about 35 volunteers--including numerous senior citizens--turned out to knock on doors and hand out fliers for Elton Gallegly.

Gallegly told the troops if any voter has a question for him, take a name. And if anyone looks on him unfavorably, take a name. He will call them all personally.

“I’ve walked in every campaign for 21 years, and there’s nothing that gives you a better idea of what’s on people’s minds,” said Gallegly, dressed in tan shoes and pants and a striped brown shirt tucked around his belly.

Door-to-door canvassing--even in a district with 300,000 registered voters--is still the way he keeps in touch.

Every weekend, he and wife Janice, a full-time campaign worker, lead the parade.

At the corner of Quailridge Drive and Summerfield Street, Elton takes one side of the street and Janice the other. At the first door, Linda Piper, 45, greets Gallegly with, “I know who you are!” She is just the kind of voter Gallegly is looking for--independent.

“I don’t vote party lines,” Piper says later. “I vote for who I like best. And I always vote for Gallegly. Every time I see him he’s got a family-oriented message. I don’t know Case. So I’ll vote for somebody I know something about.”

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That is the way it goes for Gallegly in this neighborhood. A retired Point Mugu civil servant says he likes the work Gallegly has done to save the Navy bases; a county health-care worker is frustrated when Gallegly won’t take a position on the local Measure O tobacco money initiative but says he still supports the incumbent; an 18-year-old who has never voted takes a registration card from Gallegly and says she will vote for him.

“We like his conservative views,” says Joy Ritchie, a 16-year Camarillo Republican. “He’s strongly pro-family. We’re definitely pro-life.”

And in a rare Democratic household, Gallegly faces the test of two voters who know of both candidates.

“We’re both Democrats,” says Gerald Garmon, 61, a data processing specialist. “We’ve always voted for Gallegly. He stays in touch. He’s a hard worker. And I feel he’s willing to tackle the sticky issues like illegal immigration.”

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Voters seem to remember Gallegly’s record.

For years, he grabbed headlines for his tough stance on illegal immigration. He wanted to deny them public health and welfare benefits. He wanted increased patrols at the border. He wrote a constitutional amendment that would have denied citizenship to babies born here to illegal immigrants. But he also favored laws increasing the number of legal immigrants allowed into this country.

He has been outspoken in his opposition to abortion in nearly all circumstances, and voted repeatedly against federal funding for it. But he says debates about abortion lead nowhere except to ill feeling, since the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on its legality.

Gallegly has staunchly supported Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms, opposing a variety of gun-control bills, including current proposals to register and license handguns. But he has also voted for some gun controls, including the Brady bill and for bills requiring trigger locks, limits on bullet clip sizes and requiring background checks for purchases at gun shows.

This year, although refusing to take a position on the state school voucher initiative and maintaining his support for public education, Gallegly said vouchers may be the answer if public schools don’t provide a safe, “decent” education.

“There are a lot of kids who are not getting an adequate education,” Gallegly said. “And if vouchers are the best answer, then that’s how it should be.”

Last year, as both Republicans and Democrats elbowed for the political center, Gallegly described himself as a “moderate conservative” on social issues. Last month, he said he is a fiscal conservative. “But, according to some of my conservative friends, I’m way too moderate on social issues.”

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The National Journal, a magazine specializing in Washington politics, says that in 1999 Gallegly voted more liberal than 35% of his House colleagues on social issues, and more conservative than 64%.

Among special interest groups that rate House members, Gallegly consistently scores high with business, conservative Christian and farm groups. He scores low with labor, civil rights, environmental and women’s groups.

Among his biggest campaign contributors and local backers are home builders and real estate interests. He is also backed by law enforcement groups, including police unions in every major local city, most local police chiefs, Sheriff Brooks and Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury.

If Case is painting Gallegly with a right-wing brush, the congressman says his challenger is tinged with a liberal hue.

Gallegly notes, for example, Case’s support for legalization of domestic partnerships for gays and lesbians, a move Gallegly thinks goes too far.

Case is direct in his support.

“I do think it’s appropriate to recognize unions between same sexes,” Case said. “It’s the same affection [as married heterosexual couples]. And when they’ve made that commitment and joined together, I think those benefits ought to flow.”

Three minor party candidates are also on the county’s congressional ballot: Ventura physician Cary Savitch, 51, of the Reform Party; Libertarian Roger Peebles, 50, an electronics engineer from Simi Valley; and Stephen Hospodar, a 57-year-old computer consultant from Santa Barbara, running on behalf of the Natural Law Party.

23rd Congressional District

The 23rd Congressional District--which covers Carpinteria and all of Ventura County except the Thousand Oaks area--has 300,000 registered voters. Four candidates are trying to unseat the incumbent Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley).

Michael W. Case

Party: Democrat

Age: 53

Residence: Oak View

Occupation: Attorney

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science, Fresno State College, 1968; law degree, Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, 1971. Admitted to State Bar, 1972

Background: Student body president, Fresno State College, 1967-68; prosecutor, Fresno County district attorney’s office, 1971-72; captain and lawyer, U. S. Air Force, 1972-76; attorney, business and real estate, 1976-79; attorney, civil law, 1979-82; founding partner of firm named Ferguson, Case, Orr, Patterson & Cunningham, 1982-present; Ventura County Bar Assn. officer, 1993-present and current Bar president; member, Board of Governors, State Bar of California, 1993-96; member, State Judicial Council, 1998-present; board member, local chapter American Cancer Society, 1980-present.

Issues: He would use the federal budget surplus to pay down the national debt and shore up Social Security, and opposes repeal of the federal inheritance tax because he says it favors the rich and marriage-penalty tax because of cost. He opposes student vouchers because he says they drain money from public education. He favors registration and licensing of handguns. He wants to expand medical coverage for the working poor and poor children. He would work to improve teacher pay. He favors legalization of domestic partnerships.

Personal: He has been married to Jean Ann Case, a former accountant and office manager, for 18 years, and has two grown children.

Elton Gallegly

Party: Republican

Age: 56

Residence: Simi Valley

Occupation: Congressman

Education: Attended Los Angeles State College, 1962-63

Background: Cabinetmaker, 1963-65; regional sales representative for lumber company, 1965-1969; owned real estate brokerage firm in Simi Valley, 1969-86; councilman, Simi Valley, 1979-80; mayor, Simi Valley, 1980-86; member, Moorpark College Foundation Board, 1980-86; member, Congress, 1987-2000; only non-lawyer on Judiciary Committee, 1993-present; chairman, Native American Issues and International Territories and Insular Affairs, 1994-96; chairman, Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of Committee on International Relations, 1996-present; member, Resources Committee, 1986-present.

Issues: He favors shoring up Social Security and Medicare, then using 90% of the remaining surplus to pay down the national debt. He also favors elimination of inheritance tax and marriage-penalty tax, believing those costs can be covered by remaining 10% of surplus. He opposes student vouchers in general, but would favor their use in urban areas where children cannot find a safe and “decent” public school. He opposes licensing and registration of handguns. He opposes government spending for abortion, but says he supports the law that allows abortions. He opposes legalization of domestic partnerships.

Personal: He has been married to Janice Gallegly, a former escrow officer, for 26 years. He has four grown children.

Stephen Hospodar

Party: Natural Law

Age: 57

Residence: Santa Barbara

Occupation: Computer consultant

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Kent State University, 1966; master’s degree, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa, 1985

Background: Lieutenant, U. S. Coast Guard, 1967-70; manager, industrial engineering department, U. S. Steel Co., Ohio, 1970-71; salesman, fire alarm systems, 1972; personnel director, state children’s hospital, Ohio, 1972-75; transcendental meditation teacher, 1976-93; candidate, 23rd Congressional District, 1996, receiving 1% of vote though not living in district.

Issues: He said he is running to spread the philosophy of his party. He supports organic farming, opposes genetic engineering of plants and backs the use of herbs, instead of drugs, to fight illness. “I oppose any kind of attack on natural law and nature’s intelligence.” He would end special interest influence of Congress by eliminating political action committees and soft-money contributions. He favors public sponsorship of campaigns and would prohibit lobbying of former public employees.

Personal: His wife, Miriam Hospodar, author of a cookbook titled “Heaven’s Banquet,” also is running for Congress as a Natural Law candidate in the Pasadena-Glendale area. They have no children.

Roger Peebles

Party: Libertarian

Age: 50

Residence: Simi Valley

Occupation: Electronic engineer

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 1973

Background: Served in U. S. Army, 1973-76; engineer, several Los Angeles County firms, 1976-1985; senior project engineer, Micro Memory Inc., Chatsworth, 1985-present; he agreed to run for Congress only after another Libertarian dropped out.

Issues: He would end gun control, pull the U. S. out of the United Nations and abolish presidential use of executive orders to set government policy. He disagrees with President Clinton’s setting up of new wilderness areas in the West. He says the war in the Balkans was carried out unconstitutionally without a declaration of war. He would end the nation’s war on drugs and abolish the Internal Revenue Service. “Basically, we’re losing our liberties because the government is expanding so fast into areas beyond its constitutional authority.”

Personal: Married to Diana Peebles for 10 years. He has three children, ages 3, 5 and 15.

Dr. Cary Savitch

Party: Reform

Age: 51

Residence: Ventura

Occupation: Physician, infectious disease specialist

Education: Bachelor’s degree, UCLA, 1969; doctor of medicine degree, UC San Francisco, 1973; internship and residency, internal medicine, USC, 1973-78; fellowship in infectious disease, UC San Francisco, 1978-80.

Background: Assistant clinical professor of medicine at UCLA, 1982-98; proponent for mandatory, confidential reporting of HIV patients to health departments, and author of a book, “The Nutcracker Is Already Dancing,” a clinical perspective on AIDS; presenter of about 500 lectures to medical, dental, civic, school and church groups on AIDS; president and co-founder of the Beyond AIDS Foundation; board member, Ventura County Cancer Society; member, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War; member, Physicians for Social Responsibility; fellow, American College of Physicians.

Issues: He favors reduction of nuclear weapons worldwide and effective government response to the AIDS epidemic. His top issue is alerting people to the threat of bio-terrorism, which he maintains is the gravest threat to the U. S. today, because so few people have been vaccinated against smallpox. He recommends that smallpox be treated as a public health emergency, and that the entire population be vaccinated against it. The U. S. has not vaccinated against smallpox since 1971, and the disease was eradicated worldwide in 1980. But stores of the virus are kept in the U. S. and the former Soviet Union and perhaps elsewhere, he says.

Personal: Married to wife Pamela Savitch for 21 years. He has three children, ages 15, 18 and 20.