John H. Rousselot, the former California congressman who once was an official of the ultra-conservative John Birch Society, said Friday that he hopes to make a political comeback by running for Congress in northern Los Angeles County.
Since he lost a 1982 congressional reelection bid, Rousselot has worked as a Washington lobbyist and assistant to former President Ronald Reagan.
Rousselot said he rented a home in Lancaster last week and is obtaining political advice from veteran Republican strategist Stu Spencer in preparation for a run in the 25th Congressional District.
Rousselot faces several other conservative Republicans seeking the GOP nomination in the vast district, which covers the northern half of Los Angeles County. Among them are former Los Angeles County Assessor John Lynch, Santa Clarita City Councilman Howard (Buck) McKeon and Assemblyman Phillip Wyman (R-Tehachapi).
Rousselot, 64, was public relations director and West Coast governor for the John Birch Society before resigning in 1979 while gearing up to run against U. S. Sen. Alan Cranston–a move that a Birch spokesman criticized as political opportunism designed to make Rousselot look more moderate.
Rousselot said he quit after the organization’s founder, Robert Welch, charged that former President Dwight D. Eisenhower had been a Communist agent and that Winston Churchill was a traitor to England.
One GOP political consultant said Rousselot has two major political liabilities: low name recognition among voters due to his long absence from local politics and his links to the scandal-ridden savings and loan industry.
First elected to Congress in 1960, Rousselot served seven terms before losing in 1982 to Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park) in a heavily Democratic district stretching from Bell Gardens to Azusa. Rousselot opted to run in that district after his district was carved up in the 1982 congressional reapportionment.
In 1983, Rousselot joined the Reagan White House as a special assistant for business matters. He served as Western states campaign coordinator during Reagan’s successful 1984 reelection drive.
From 1985 to 1988, Rousselot was president of the National Council of Savings Institutions, a Washington-based lobbying group for banks and savings and loans.
In 1989, he headed an investors group that tried to buy troubled Lincoln Savings & Loan from Charles Keating. Keating was convicted in Los Angeles in December of securities fraud stemming from the sale of junk bonds through Lincoln branches.
Rousselot’s attempted purchase of Lincoln fell through after federal regulators seized the S & L in April, 1989, saying its assets were dissipated and it was being run in a financially unsound manner. It was the largest thrift collapse in U. S. history.
Rousselot agreed that his opponents may try to attack him for his S & L ties but said he is “not defensive . . . at all” about them.
“I did nothing illegal, improper or unwarranted during the time I was president” of the savings industry association, he said.
Since 1989, Rousselot has been a Washington lobbyist, representing Bank of America, a California trucking firm, a company that processes Medi-Cal bills, the state of Nevada and other clients.
Paul Clarke, a GOP political consultant who has run campaigns in the San Fernando Valley, said that although he views Rousselot as “the ultimate straight-shooter,” his S&L; background is bound to become a campaign issue.
“Someone artful in campaign mail will say, ‘Well, he had dealings with Lincoln and you know what happened to its president,’ ” Clarke said. “They’ll make the innuendo. Somebody will bring it up, fair or not.”
He also said Rousselot, although he is a well-known political figure and has represented a large part of the 25th District in the past, probably has low name identification among local voters as a result of living in the Washington area for so many years.
Rousselot said he was repeatedly urged to run by Vice President Dan Quayle and local Republican and Democratic leaders.
He said he will emphasize his congressional experience, his support for a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget and for continued production of the B-2 bomber, which is assembled at a Northrop Corp. plant in Palmdale.