Jim Rogan

The June 6 letter from Jane Chetron regarding the potential Congressional debates between Adam Schiff and Jim Rogan amused me. Chetron appears to consider the League of Women Voters an unbiased forum for debates, so I took a few minutes to do a little research. While it is true that the league does not endorse candidates, it does endorse ballot initiatives. The Burbank-Glendale League's recommendations matched up 10-for-10 with the California Democrat Party, while agreeing with the California Republican Party on only 3-out-of-10.

I write in response to Albert Abkarian's letter attacking state Sen. Adam Schiff's record on issues concerning his Armenian--American constituents. The most interesting thing to me was nowhere in the letter did Mr. Abkarian mention one word about what -- if anything -- Jim Rogan has accomplished in his many years in office for any of his constituents, particularly Armenian--Americans. One would think that if the leader of an Armenian American Republican group would write a letter in support of Mr. Rogan, he would at least mention some of his accomplishments.

When I think about this I get so mad I have to say something. Jim Rogan told the Republican Convention "My hero is my mother, Alice...who raised four children on welfare and food stamps." The crowd cheered him. At the same time, at the very same time, he was mailing out a letter to thousands of constituents saying, "I was the illegitimate son of a bartender and a cocktail waitress. My father abandoned my mother before I was born; my mother later was convicted of welfare fraud as she tried to raise four children as a single mother."

For months we have listened to Adam Schiff and his wealthy supporters from outside our congressional district blasting the "extremist" ideas of Jim Rogan. And all the while, Schiff helps push through some of the most radical legislation imaginable. The most recent assault on our freedoms is California Senate Bill 402. This bill, co-authored by Assemblyman Jack Scott, passed the Senate by just three votes and is now on Gov. Davis' desk. In a nutshell, it forces cities to submit to binding arbitration if their local police and fire unions refuse to reach agreement.

I applaud Will Rogers for pointing out Jim Rogan's deception about his relationship with the NRA. Once a proud recipient of NRA adoration, Rogan now denies that past. Asked about the NRA's "Defender of Freedom" award that he and only two other California legislators received, Rogan now says it "never happened." (Editor's note: Jim Rogan says that as an assemblyman, he did receive the award from the local NRA chapter in 1995.) For the record, Rogan has voted against banning Saturday night specials and assault weapons, and he opposed the Brady Bill, which has kept thousands of guns out of criminals' hands by requiring waiting periods when buying a firearm.

Tim Rosales' double-barreled diatribe ("Community deserves better than Will Rogers," Nov. 16) on James Rogan's political demise was a valuable lesson on the double standard. Rosales asserts that Rogers engages in "cheap and classless swipes" at Rogan and his campaign manager. He rails against his "distortions of the truth" and "self-serving intentions." Rosales, I wish I had saved half of the hundreds of mailers your campaign staff sent me over the past many months.

I feel compelled to add my voice to the excellent letters (Nov. 20) by Gary Durrett and Sharon Nasella responding to Tim Rosales' commentary, "Community deserves better than Will Rogers." What an astoundingly "bitter and malicious" and "classless" diatribe against Rogers. There are 22 printed column inches in his irrational attack, within which he provides only one specific disagreement with Rogers' commentary. All the rest is irritating smoke. I not infrequently disagree with Will Rogers, but the utter tripe that Rosales writes about him is totally indigestible nonsense.

We want to voice our praise for Congressman James Rogan and his vote to eliminate the Marriage Tax. We have been married for many years and know the toll these unnecessary taxes take on the family. In today's world, we should be offering every encouragement to young couples entering into marriage. The Marriage Penalty Tax was an unnecessary discouragement to young people wanting to get married and start families. As seniors and a married couple, we feel blessed to have Jim Rogan in Washington voting to reduce taxes on families.

Josh Kleinbaum Dave Boucher pulled his car to a stop in the middle of Rossmoyne Avenue, drawn by a collection of 31 campaign signs adorning a front lawn. "It's like Christmas decorations," Boucher said through the car's open window. "Is that everybody that's running?" No, Jim Perkins' lawn does not have campaign signs for everybody who's running in Tuesday's municipal election. In fact, only a few current candidates are displayed in Perkins' frontyard ode to elections.

Jim Rogan will bare his soul about his transformation from high school dropout to politician at 7 p.m. Oct. 20 the Glendale main library in a presentation on his book, "Rough Edges: My Unlikely Road From Welfare to Washington." The politician, who represented the Crescenta Valley and Glendale in his career as a member of the California State Assembly and U.S. Congress, will tell the stories in the place where he launched his political career. "I love Glendale," said Rogan, who announced his resignation as the presiding judge of the Glendale Municipal Court, now called the Los Angeles County Superior Court, and candidacy to replace impeached Assemblyman Pat Nolan in the city's main library.

Josh Kleinbaum On election night of Jim Rogan's three congressional races, he would always walk through the phone banks, thanking the volunteers who called registered voters, encouraging them to vote. Each year, he'd spot former Congressman John Rousselot working the phones, just another volunteer. "Nobody knew who he was, nobody knew that he had served in Congress," Rogan said. "Most of them were high school or college kids. John was a constituent, and he just wanted to make sure he did everything he could for me, even if it was just calling people on the phone."

Returning after some time off, I realized it's rare a political muckraker can vanish for a few days less than a month before election day without being guilty of having abandoned his duties at the height of the season. But when one considers the astonishing lack of interest and controversy in candidates chasing local seats up for election next month, the truth is that I probably could have taken off another week without missing much. There's been no end to the debates I steer clear of in this space.

Janine Marnien LA CRESCENTA -- Former Congressman Jim Rogan will be the guest speaker Tuesday at a fund-raiser for the Foothills Republican Club. The club is trying to raise money to finance a Republican headquarters in La Crescenta. The headquarters would be active from August until Election Day 2002. Refreshments and a no-host bar will be included at the event. The fund-raiser is from 6 to 9 p.m. at the University Club of Pasadena, 175 N. Oakland Ave., Pasadena.

Apparently, Robert Kneedler (Community Forum, Sept. 7) and Robert Morrison (Community Forum, Sept. 3) have a problem with the dissemination of information about a public servant. The distribution of the TRIM (Tax Reform Immediately) bulletins has nothing to do with Oakmont View V, and everything to do with the voting record of Adam Schiff. Whether or not the Gregg family develops their property is not a federal issue. However, pilfering $5 million-plus from the public is. And as to the cries of partisanship on the part of the John Birch Society, TRIM bulletins were distributed in a similar manner for then Congressman Jim Rogan.

More than a few readers, supporters and critics alike, read a letter to the editor this week from Jason Roe, manager of former congressman Jim Rogan's unsuccessful reelection campaign, then asked me some version of, "What the heck brought THAT on?" Actually, there is a story behind Roe's letter. If you didn't see the letter, published Monday, Roe declared that my reports about his boss are motivated not by facts, or even by partisanship, but by jealousy.

Jason C. Roe With Jim Rogan now out of elective office, spending time with his wife and twin daughters 3,000 miles away and about to join President Bush's administration, Will Rogers must be going through depression. I once naively thought his ranting hatred for Jim Rogan was due to political differences. Now I see it for what it is -- envy. Here was Rogan by age 40: L.A. County gang murder prosecutor; named one of the most effective DA's in California; youngest state court judge in California; elected presiding judge of the court; member of the state legislature; named No. 1 in integrity and effectiveness as Glendale's assemblyman; elected majority leader of the Assembly in his freshman term; member of Congress; prosecuted the first impeachment of a president in 130 years.

The recent analysis of Jim Rogan's defeat are baseless and devoid of political substance. Rogan brilliantly participated in the impeachment of the real person who was responsible for scuttling the genocide resolution in Congress. President Clinton, in scuttling the resolution, was also the same individual that many Armenians naively supported in the 1992 and 1996 elections. The Armenians were duped into thinking that Adam Schiff was going to be more beneficial for the Armenian cause in Congress.

Name: Allen E. Brandstater Profession: Business owner/publicist Years living in Glendale: 51 Education: Attended Columbus Elementary School, Glendale Union Academy, Glendale College and School of Journalism at USC Community Participation: I have been involved in local, regional, statewide and national political campaigns as a professional consultant for more than 30 years, including those of Ronald Reagan,...