ELECTIONS CONGRESS : Lagomarsino Is Missing but Not Forgotten

An empty chair, symbolic of the absence of Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura), became a hot seat for the veteran congressman Friday during a television debate between his two challengers.

“If you’re offended by the fact that your congressman is still in Washington, please vote,” said KADY-TV executive John Huddy, referring to the empty chair while moderating the debate between Democratic candidate Anita Perez Ferguson and Mindy Lorenz, a Green Party write-in candidate in the 19th Congressional District.

An aide to Lagomarsino, who is in Washington working on the budget deadlock, blasted the Oxnard television station for the suggestion that the congressman, who is seeking his ninth term in Congress, is not doing his job.

“Counter the image of an empty chair with the image of an empty chair in Congress with an absent mark next to his name. Is that to be preferred?” asked Lagomarsino aide John Doherty.

“Pete Wilson caught royal hell because he left Washington for his debate with Dianne Feinstein. Bob has not left here since Oct. 1. He is right now on the floor of Congress,” Doherty added.

Huddy, president of Riklis Broadcasting, which owns KADY, said after the League of Women Voters debate that his reason for making an issue of the empty chair was not based solely on Lagomarsino’s absence at the debate on Friday.

“The issue is that we have said we would put a debate together any date, any time, and he has declined to appear under any circumstances. . . . How can the democratic process work if he is in hiding in Washington?”

Doherty said Lagomarsino “would love to be there . . . but the voters sent Bob here. It’s a specious argument.”

Dot Engel, advocacy chairwoman for the League of Women Voters, said her organization did not expect Lagomarsino to be at the debate.

“One of our league members has been in constant contact with Lagomarsino’s office since Sept. 25. . . . His staff was using every reason they could think of to explain his absence,” Engel said.

During the debate, Huddy chose not to read a statement from Lagomarsino that apologized for his absence. Instead, he opened the debate with a comment about the importance of images, referring first to the photograph of the Chinese youth standing in front of a tank after the 1989 Tien An Men Square massacre.

“There is another image, a painful image. It’s an empty chair. While I will try to be fair and not tell you what I really think . . . Congressman Lagomarsino has said he is too busy to be here because of the budget crisis in Washington.”

Ferguson and Lorenz sparred gingerly over the budget, the Persian Gulf crisis, the economy and the environment but joined in attacking Lagomarsino.

Lorenz, a dark horse who is the first national candidate to represent the Green Party, which focuses on environmental issues, is further left ideologically than Ferguson. Lorenz said she supports a 50% cut in military spending, but Ferguson called that far too extreme. “Our district is very dependent on the military, with Port Hueneme and Vandenberg,” Ferguson said.

Lorenz said the cut is not extreme and called for an economic conversion of the defense industry.

The two candidates differed in their stands regarding nuclear weapons. Lorenz pointedly asked Ferguson if her plan for diversifying the economy includes nuclear weapons.

“At this point, no,” said Ferguson. “We should keep the missiles at Vandenberg.”

They both attacked Lagomarsino for not appearing at the debate. But Ferguson pressed the matter more forcefully, since her campaign is aimed primarily at the incumbent. The congressman is out of touch with the district, she said, adding, “He has no vision, no leadership”

The debate will be shown on KADY at 11:30 a.m. this morning.

SUPERVISORS: Two candidates find more to agree on than to disagree on during their debate. B3