Newcomer Goldberg in Ring With Heavyweight

Albert Goldberg decided to run for Congress a day before the deadline in December.

“It was just the events of the news,” he explained. “The need to pass a national hate-crimes law and spread the view of love, peace and understanding through all of mankind.

“Also,’ he added, “I didn’t want to do it without checking with my wife. And I was kind of scared to ask her.”

So with his wife’s permission, Goldberg, 41, a former taxi driver, video cameraman at the Palomino Club western bar and now a Ventura real estate broker, decided to pursue a longshot run for the Democratic nomination in the 23rd Congressional District.

To get there he must get past Michael Case, 53, a founding member of Ventura’s largest law firm and president of the Ventura County Bar Assn.

Case has been running hard since last June, when he assembled a bevy of local Democratic bigwigs to declare that it was time to knock off seven-term Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) and that he had the savvy and stature to do it.

Case thought he would walk through the March 7 primary unopposed. Then came Goldberg.

Now Case figures it will cost him at least $20,000 to make sure voters know who he is when they cast their ballots next month. It’s money he wanted to save for the general election, because Gallegly has nearly $900,000 in the bank and Case has raised just $200,000. Goldberg hasn’t raised enough to declare.

“I will freely admit, I’m not a household name,” Case said. “So I can’t afford to just throw my name on the ballot and play Russian roulette and let people guess about the difference between Albert Goldberg and me.”

So over the next 2 1/2 weeks, Case will mail at least two sets of fliers stating his case for elective office. He won’t mention Goldberg, because he figures he is really running against Gallegly.

“We’re not going to be doing a lot of signs in the primary, because we’ll do that in the general election,” Case said. “But any time you’re running against anyone, you can’t take it for granted. You can’t be quite that smug.”

Goldberg, using his own money, has dropped a mailer himself. In it, he insists he isn’t a Gallegly “plant” encouraged by Republicans to run to siphon money from Case’s coffers. That is what he says Case’s backers accuse him of being.

“I’ve not accused him of anything,” Case said. “But there are people who’ve asked me if this guy is a shill for Gallegly. I’ve said I met him and he seems to be genuine. I just don’t know what he stands for. He doesn’t have any organized campaign or any financing. And he’s not real well known in any circle in Ventura I’m familiar with.”

Yet Goldberg says he is a serious candidate who has worked five or six days a week for two months to get the word out.

An admirer of reformist Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, he says he is taking his campaign in person to Ventura County’s grass roots--its parking lots, flea markets, shopping centers and fast-food restaurants. He says he has distributed more than 25,000 fliers, many pushed under windshield wipers, many titled “Vote Goldberg for Congress. Go Goldberg Go.”

“I don’t have a million bucks like my Republican opponent or a quarter of a million like my Democratic opponent,” Goldberg said. “But I go out six to eight hours almost every day. I meet 200 to 300 people a day. I’ve busted my chops for two months to the point of exhaustion.”

Goldberg likes, in particular, to solicit votes in the drive-through lines at fast-food restaurants. “They’re a captive audience.”

One recent morning, Goldberg took up his position at a McDonald’s in Ventura. Over and over, he repeated the same introduction.

“Hi, I’m Albert Goldberg, not Whoopi Goldberg, the actress, or Bill Goldberg, the wrestler, but Albert Goldberg.”

(Bill Goldberg is a Jesse Ventura-style wrestler, the candidate explained, not an Olympic-style wrestler.)

At the drive-through, some customers declined to roll down their windows. But others heard Goldberg out.

Irene Hendricks, a county worker, didn’t know what to make of him. After Goldberg’s opening spiel, he said, “Tell all your girlfriends that I support equal pay for women. But don’t tell them much because I’m married.”

Hendricks’ response later: “Very odd.”

Goldberg was undeterred, even when a McDonald’s manager came out to the parking lot to find out what was going on.

“They’re going to tell me I can’t do this here, so let’s get out of here,” the candidate said. But when manager Eddie Granados approached, Goldberg said, “Hi, I used to work at McDonald’s. Did everything.”

Is Granados a citizen, a voter? Goldberg wanted to know. Granados said he doesn’t vote. So Goldberg gave him a registration form. And Granados let him stay.

“Tell your buddies to vote for me,” Goldberg said.

Drive-through diner Kevin Wilson, a 29-year-old landscaper, recognized Goldberg and gave him a high-five.

“I saw him at the flea market,” Wilson said. “I like the way he comes off. I’ve run into this guy twice, so it must be a sign. He’s really working. I think I’ll vote for him.”

Goldberg loves it.

“It kind of becomes like an adrenaline rush after a while--how many people can I talk to in a day?” he said.

While Goldberg has worked parking lots, Case has hired a Democratic consultant from Washington to run his campaign. He has hired a full-time assistant. He has hired a direct mail specialist. He has contracted with a polling firm for a survey he will use to plan his run against Gallegly.

And he is doing what seems prudent to deflect Goldberg.

“It’s hard to get a read on him,” Case says. “He says he’s for strengthening education. He says he’d do things to combat hate crimes. He says Congress ought not meet more than seven months a year. Sounds like a Libertarian position to me.

“He is seen around the community from time to time, leaving things under windshield wipers,” Case added. “He tells me he can beat me and beat Elton Gallegly. And we’ll just have to wait until voting day to figure out how he’s going to do that.”

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