Meet James Rogan

Claudia Peschiutta

GLENDALE -- His gait says it all.

As a boy, James Rogan decided he wanted to walk like one of his

heroes, President Harry S. Truman, who he had read took 120 paces per

minute.

Today, Glendale’s 42-year-old Republican congressman keeps Truman’s

confident and hurried pace.

His life is filled with instances in which he envisioned what he

wanted to do and did it, regardless of the obstacles.

At 14, the boy who was then an ardent Democrat but interested in

anything political decided to attend the 1972 Republican National

Convention. So, he lied about his age and used his savings to pay the air

fare from San Francisco to Miami.

At 18, Rogan, who had dropped out of high school his sophomore year,

enrolled in community college to begin working toward the law degree he

wanted. In 1985, the UCLA Law School graduate became a Los Angeles County

deputy district attorney.

At 36, after serving nearly four years as a Glendale Municipal Court

judge, Rogan chose to run for the state Assembly. In May 1994, he took

the 43rd state Assembly District seat.

Rogan is confident his latest endeavor will also be successful and

that, come November, he will once again win the 27th Congressional

District seat he has held since 1996.

PURSUING DREAMS

The congressman credits James Kleupfer, the grandfather who helped

raise him, for many of his achievements.

“Pursue your dreams. That’s what he taught me to do and that’s what

I’ve done,” Rogan said. “His example was get up in the morning work

hard.”

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Terry Green has known Rogan since his

days in the district attorney’s office and said those who know the

congressman aren’t completely surprised by his accomplishments.

“When I see it on paper, I’m shocked,” he said. “When I get to know

him as a person, I’m not.

“He’s a very focused guy who has a lot of talent,” Green said.

Born to a single mom who worked as a cocktail waitress, Rogan spent

most of his childhood living with his grandmother, Helen, and

grandfather, James, a longshoreman.

He later went to live with his mother, who soon after divorced and

moved James and her four younger children to the East Bay area.

The family came to depend on welfare, Rogan said, which was one of the

things that led to his political conversion in 1988.

“What was being passed off as compassion,” he said, made people

“dependent on government forever.”

CHANGING PARTIES

Clint Bolick, once a political rival, couldn’t have been more pleased

by Rogan’s move to the Republican Party.

“It would sort of be like the 49ers landing Deion Sanders,” he said.

Rogan and Bolick, litigation director for the Washington, D.C.-based

Institute for Justice, managed to cement a friendship in the eighth

grade, even though, at the time, they supported opposing parties.

“He was a constant proselytizer for the Democratic Party,” Bolick

said.

Green, a former Democrat who credits Rogan for turning him into a

Republican, said he has always known his longtime friend to do what he

feels is right.

‘I DID MY DUTY’

Rogan’s actions as one of the House managers in the impeachment trial

of President Clinton helped prove that to Green.

“All during this impeachment thing, I would talk to him and say, ‘What

are you doing,’ ” Green said. “He said, ‘Well, if it costs me the

election, it costs me the election.’ ”

Green described Rogan’s attitude as “a real breath of fresh air.”

Rogan, who gained much recognition from the trial, said it was a

difficult to try the man who at a 1978 Democratic midterm Convention

encouraged him, as a college senior, to go to law school.

But the congressman stands by his actions.

“I was called upon to defend the rule of law,” Rogan said. “I did my

duty.”

Fulfilling his duties, which include serving on the Commerce and

Judiciary committees, often keeps Rogan away from his wife, Christine,

and their 7-year-old twins, Claire and Dana.

“I don’t view it as a sacrifice,” he said. “It’s about my children’s

tomorrow.”

If he isn’t reelected, Rogan said he would look forward to having more

time to spend with his family.

“I’m probably the guy least worried about Nov. 7,” he said. “I’m at

peace with whatever may happen.”

THE ROGAN FILE

* NAME: James Rogan, U.S. Representative, R-27th Congressional

District.

* AGE: 42.

* RESIDENCE: Rogan has a home in Washington, D.C., and one in Burbank.

* FAMILY: Rogan and his wife, Christine, have 7-year-old twins, Claire

and Dana.

* TIME IN OFFICE: Rogan held the 43rd state Assembly District seat

from 1994 to 1996. He was elected to the 27th Congressional District in

1996.