Elton Gallegly

Early life, education, and pre-congressional career

Born in Huntington Park, California on March 7, 1944, Gallegly attended California State University, Los Angeles but did not graduate. He worked as a real estate broker before entering politics. Gallegly is a former member of the Simi Valley, California City Council. He became Simi Valley's first elected mayor in 1982.

Elections

In 1986, incumbent Republican U.S. Congresswoman Bobbi Fiedler decided to retire to run for the U.S. Senate. Gallegy won the primary with 50% of the vote. In the general election, he won with 68% of the vote. He won re-election in 1988 with 69% and in 1990 with 58%. In 1992, he defeated Democrat Anita Perez Ferguson 54%–41%. Since then, he won re-election with at least 58% of the vote, except in 2000. That year, he defeated Democrat Michael Case 54%–41%.

On March 10, 2006, Gallegly announced his intent to retire from the House of Representatives after the 2006 mid-term elections, citing health concerns. He had already filed nomination papers to seek another term, however, and attempted to have his name removed from the Republican primary ballot. California election law, though, makes it clear that a candidate's name can only be withdrawn in the case of their death and, as a result, that Gallegly's name would have to remain on the ballot. The following week, after learning that he could not have his name removed from the ballot and that no new challengers would be allowed to enter the race, Gallegly changed his mind and decided to seek what he said would be his final term. He won re-election with 62% of the vote.

Gallegly won re-election with 58% of the vote.

Gallegly won re-election with 60% of the vote.

The top 5 groups or industries that have contributed cash to Representative Gallegly's 2009/2010 campaign are: (1) Retirees: $39,484 (2) Real Estate: $35,578 (3) Lawyers/Law Firms: $29,374 (4) Pharmaceuticals: $22,500, and (5) Crop Production/Processing $20,179.

Tenure

Gallegly’s activism has focused on the issue of animal rights. Gallegly himself wrote a bill, enacted in 1999, which made it a federal crime to sell videos of dogfights and other depictions of animal violence. However, on April 20, 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States, in an 8-1 ruling written by Chief Justice John Roberts, overturned Gallegly's law on the ground that the law violated the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, and created a "criminal prohibition of alarming breadth."

In his defense, Gallegly argued that the bill he wrote contained "exceptions for religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, and artistic expression [that] may have provided too many loopholes within the legislation. Bob Stevens was convicted of committing animal cruelty as defined by the law, but claimed that his rights to free speech and artistic expression protected him against prosecution." Representative Gallegly objected to Stevens’ defense, claiming that the videos “promote violence and, as such, are not protected by the Constitution.”.

In 2011, Gallegly voted for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.

Committee assignments

Personal life

Gallegly is married to the former Janice Shrader, and has four children. Gallegly is of partial Swiss descent.

A gallery has been named for him at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Countrywide financial loan

In January 2012, it was reported that Gallegly received so-called "VIP" or "Friends of Angelo" loans from troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, in which loans were granted at lower rates than were available to the public. Gallegly and names of other legislators were forwarded to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which begun an investigation into the issue. Gallegly denied knowing that he was part of Countrywide Financial's special loan program.