Schiff Probes Political Weakness in Rogan’s Financial Muscle

ADDING IT UP: Campaign finance reports released this week show that Democratic challenger Adam Schiff has still not let state Assemblyman James Rogan (R-Glendale) run away with the campaign fund-raising honors, but the gap is widening.

Rogan had raised $256,968 for his reelection race as of Sept. 30, according to the reports, while former Assistant U.S. Atty. Schiff had raised $162,029.

But during the last reporting period, from July 1 to Sept. 30, Schiff raised only $65,669, while the incumbent garnered $147,717 in contributions, including a $25,000 loan at 10% from Galpin Ford, the huge San Fernando Valley-based auto dealership owned by Bert Boeckmann.

News of Boeckmann’s sizable loan prompted a cry of “Eureka!” from the Schiff campaign, which hopes to oust Rogan largely on the basis of his right-wing ideological and financial ties.

Boeckmann, the Schiff folks quickly noted, was a key California supporter of TV evangelist Pat Robertson’s 1988 presidential bid.

Previously, the Schiff campaign, sensing that radical right-wing views are in disfavor in the 43rd Assembly District, has gloated over Rogan’s support for teaching creationism in the public schools and the contributions--albeit relatively minor--that he has received from a group called Allied Business PAC and its principals.

Allied was founded by a small group of Christian conservative businessmen, and it has been a major donor to California politicians.

“Once again the radical right is trying to buy a legislative seat in California,” said Schiff political consultant Parke Skelton. “But we anticipate the most Allied money to come in the final weeks of the campaign, because it’s a liability for them to take the money, according to our research.”

“We know their own poll has asked voters if it would be a liability for Rogan to take $50,000 from a fundamentalist religious PAC,” Skelton added. He also noted that the Church on the Way, the Van Nuys-based congregation to which Boeckmann belongs, will be the venue for an Oct. 14 candidate forum being hosted by Robertson’s group, the Christian Coalition.

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5TH DISTRICT FOLLIES: Could Barbara Yaroslavsky’s bid to keep the Los Angeles City Council’s 5th District seat all in the family cause a divorce? That’s what some Los Angeles police union officials warned this week.

As a phalanx of Police Protective League officials Wednesday endorsed Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino for the seat now held by Zev Yaroslavsky, they also pledged to protest loudly if Mayor Richard Riordan endorsed Zev’s wife for the job.

Relations between the league and the mayor--which began auspiciously with the league endorsing Riordan’s mayoral bid and refusing to budge even after the mayor’s drunk-driving record came to light during the 1993 campaign--were shaken during last summer’s police-city wage talks.

And they could end up in divorce court, warned PPL director Bill Harkness, should Riordan fall for Barbara Yaroslavsky’s candidacy. But Dennis Zine, another league member, said such talk is premature. “We hope we have enough rapport with the mayor that we can prevail on him not to endorse Yaroslavsky,” Zine said.

Reports of an imminent Riordan endorsement have been circulating since mid-August, when Barbara Yaroslavsky publicly threw her hat in the ring.

Some members of Riordan’s City Hall staff have reportedly advised him to be neutral. But it is believed that the Yaroslavskys also have adherents within the Riordan circle.

As for the official word from the mayor’s office: “The mayor likes Barbara a great deal, and the district has a wealth of great choices, but the mayor is not focused on that race right now,” said Deputy Mayor Robin Kramer.

It was also revealed this week that another 5th District candidate, former Los Angeles school board member Roberta Weintraub, tried to persuade the league to endorse both D’Agostino and herself. But too late.

STILL IN THEIR SIGHTS: In the eyes of the gun lobby, state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) may be just about gone, but he is far from forgotten.

The senator, who is about to retire from his office because of term limits, is still very much on the minds of the group that gleefully takes credit for his political defeat.

Angered over his assault-weapon ban, the gun lobby depleted Roberti’s resources in an April recall battle, preventing him from waging much of a campaign for state treasurer in the June primary. Now, for the first time in 28 years, Roberti will have no public office to occupy once his term ends in December.

It’s enough to make the gun lobby cocky.

A flyer inviting supporters to attend a Long Beach fund-raising dinner tonight to help defeat Assemblyman Bob Epple (D-Cerritos) calls the event “The First Annual David Roberti Memorial Dinner . . . held in memory of the man who became known as the ‘godfather’ of political crime.”

The $100-per-person event is co-sponsored by the National Rifle Assn., the California Rifle and Pistol Assn., Gun Owners of California and Citizens Against Corruption.

“Be among the first to see the Anti-gun Hall of Shame,” the flyer says, adding: “The cuisine is Italian (what else for Mr. Roberti). There will be a special Roberti Roast, as David is remembered. . . . You could win quality home defense firearms known to Mr. Roberti as ‘Assault Rifles.’ ”