U. S. Rep. Elton Gallegly U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (RSimi Valley) shocked the county's political community with his announcement last week not to seek reelection for the 24th District's Congressional seat-a post he's held for 10 terms and nearly 20 years. But he changed his mind yesterday.

Gallegly said his initial decision to withdraw was made due to health problems. His withdrawal from the race, however, turned out to be short-lived.

In a press release on Monday Gallegly said, "If the remedies I am currently seeking do not resolve my concerns, I will look for input from my family, my supporters and the party leadership as to what further options may be viable to ensure fairness to the voters of the 24th Congressional District."

Because Gallegly made the announcement at the end of business hours on Fri., March 10-the deadline for filing-no additional candidates could submit their names for consideration. Gallegly's name will appear on the June primary ballot despite his earlier attempt to withdraw from the race.

"I am unilaterally reopening the process," Gallegly said in yesterday's press release. "Those who wish to run for the 24th Congressional District seat . . . have two years to gear up their campaigns. I fully intend to run a vibrant campaign to win reelection in June and in November, and will represent my friends and neighbors for the next two years. . . . I will not, however, seek reelection in 2008."

Gallegly said he initially decided against seeking reelection because of an undisclosed medical problem for which he had taken medical tests.

"Unfortunately, I did not receive results before the filing deadline," he said in yesterday's press release. "Not wanting to begin a race with such uncertainty, I moved on removing my name from consideration."

According to earlier reports, Gallegly knew for two weeks before his public announcement last Friday that he planned to withdraw his candidacy. During that time, he reportedly informed both his aide Brian Miller and Simi Valley Mayor Pro Tem Glen Becerra of his decision, giving both the chance to run for his seat. Gallegly formerly served on the Simi Valley City Council.

Before he knew that Gallegly had reversed his reelection decision, Becerra said it was tempting to run, but the time it takes to commute between California and Washington, D.C., would have been too much for him and his family.

"It's no secret that the Congressional seat was something that I had been looking at a long, long time, but I also have always said that the timing had to be right both politically and for my family to make a decision like this," Becerra said. "It may have seemed like the perfect time politically, but it wasn't the right time for my family."

Becerra is married and has two children-Elizabeth, 10, and Nicolas, 7.

Gallegly's last-minute decision last week frustrated several highprofile area Republicans who might have challenged for the seat if they'd known earlier of his intent to withdraw.

"If he would have just communicated with the district that he wasn't going to (run), there would have been a lot of people who would have stepped forward," said former state Assemblyman Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks).

Strickland said he was in Riverside campaigning for state controller when he heard the news. His wife, Assemblywoman Audra Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks), attempted to draw candidacy papers for him from the county clerk's office at the last minute, but she wasn't able to do so.

"(Assemblywoman Strickland) couldn't take papers for (Tony Strickland) because he's already a candidate in another race, and he couldn't withdraw from the race that he was candidate for," Ventura County Clerk Philip Schmit said.

Although there were reports that Assemblywoman Strickland asked to draw papers for herself, her husband said, "My wife . . . has no interest whatsoever in running for Congress."

Gallegly said he made the lastminute decision to withdraw not because he wanted to keep candidates from filing, but because he thought the filing period would be extended.

"I'd been assured by legal counsel that upon my withdrawal, the filing period would be extended for other candidates to file," Gallegly said in the press release. "That was confirmed by the county clerk on Friday morning. Later on Friday, when I formally asked for my name to withdrawn, only then was I told by the county clerk that he'd made a mistake."

Schmit disputes that claim.

"I'm not going to get into a 'he said, she said' argument with him, but I never spoke with Elton on Friday," Schmit said. "I don't know if any of my staff down in the Election's Office did, but I'd made a phone call to the person that had called me originally within . . . an hour, an hour and a half, and I told that person it was erroneous information and that he could not withdraw."

Officials in the Election's Office said they hadn't spoken to anyone in the congressman's office on Friday regarding whether or not his withdrawal would result in a five-day filing extension.

As it stands now, Rev. Jill Martinez, a Presbyterian minister from Oxnard, is the only Democrat on the ballot.

Michael Tenenbaum, 37, an attorney and T.O. resident, is the other Republican candidate running for the Congressional seat. Tenenbaum said he was shocked by Gallegly's initial decision not to run. He must have been equally surprised by Gallegly's most recent decision that he will, indeed, seek relection after all.