Area Pulls $65 Million From U.S. Pork Barrel : Spending: Five of six Valley-area congressmen generate federal funds for projects in their districts. But they don’t bring home the most prized ‘bacon.’

Some denounce it, some embrace it, and some say it simply isn’t a priority, but pork-barrel politicking has enabled San Fernando Valley-area congressmen to bring home more than $65 million in federal funds for hometown projects in the past three years.

Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) is proud of his record in helping obtain federal funding to provide medical services for the homeless, group homes for the blind and mentally retarded and recreational facilities in his East Valley district.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), a conservative critic of pork-barrel spending, has brought home no federal funds for projects in his suburban eastern Ventura County and northwestern Los Angeles County district in the past three years.

And Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles), who prefers to focus on national issues, says constituents in his West Valley and West Los Angeles district are generally so well off that they don’t need federal grants. Even so, he has led the annual fight to win money to preserve land in the scenic Santa Monica Mountains.

A review by The Times has found that the $65 million in federal funds has been channeled to the Valley in the past three years through the efforts, at least in part, of the area’s lawmakers. This does not include many millions of dollars that pour into the districts under federal formulas for such things as Social Security and Medicaid benefits paid to individuals, defense spending and educational aid.

The project money is being used for everything from medical services for the homeless in Pacoima to construction of a new post office in Tarzana. In some cases, federal dollars have been augmented by state or municipal funds.

Federal funding of such projects is based in large part on a district’s needs or composition. But interviews and project tallies show that a representative’s attitude can make a difference: The more aggressively he pursues funds, the more he seems to obtain.

“Those that try, get,” said Joseph White, a researcher at the Brookings Institution who specializes in budget and appropriations politics. “Those that don’t try, don’t.”

At the same time, he said, “The things these guys are taking credit for are a relatively small part of the federal budget.”

Faced with the enormous federal budget deficit, competition has become more intense in recent years, as lawmakers spar over a smaller pool of money for domestic spending programs that have been cut or held at levels of the early 1980s. At the same time, the politics that can determine congressional funding of favored projects has become more controversial.

During the period reviewed by The Times, the Valley has not received any of the huge dam or water projects often cited as prize congressional “pork.” Nor has it been the beneficiary of the kind of funding decisions that have invited derision, such as the $6.4 million earmarked for a Bavarian-style ski resort in Idaho or a $4.3-million grant for a museum in Pennsylvania commemorating the Johnstown flood.

The most costly public venture in the region is Metro Rail, the Los Angeles subway system, which receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal mass transit funds each year. Most of the Los Angeles congressional delegation fought for this appropriation.

Within the Valley delegation, there is a striking variation in the six lawmakers’ approaches to bringing home the bacon, as well as wide variance in the funding of projects in their districts since 1987.

Berman and Reps. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale) and Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ojai) are unabashed about seeking dollars for district projects. Each points with pride to his role in a variety of federal funding decisions, which ranged from writing a letter supporting a community group’s funding request to sponsoring a bill to earmark use of the dollars.

Berman’s efforts for his 26th District have included a scheme to pay for restoration of a lake and recreation facilities at Hansen Dam in Pacoima and Lake View Terrace by setting aside profits from silt dug out at the site. Under legislation sponsored by Berman, $980,000 has been appropriated from a federal trust fund to prepare a master plan for the 1,540-acre Hansen Dam Flood Control Basin and to begin construction.

He also assisted in obtaining two loans totaling $628,900 from the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs for the H.E.L.P. Group in Van Nuys, to acquire and rehabilitate four houses as group homes for mentally ill and retarded young adults, and $1 million for seven organizations that provide medical services for the poor and homeless.

Moorhead, whose 22nd District includes Glendale, the Santa Clarita Valley, parts of Burbank and the Antelope Valley, assisted in gaining $4.8 million for an access road to a proposed new terminal at Burbank Airport and nearly $12.7 million for restoration of the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena.

Within the western Ventura County portion of his 19th District, Lagomarsino says, he got $1.5 million in the 1990 budget for dredging in Ventura Harbor, $440,000 for a new harbor breakwater and $300,000 to repair a beach groin that traps sand to prevent beach erosion.

He also helped obtain $20 million over three years for the Freeman Diversion, a project to combat saltwater contamination of Ventura County’s freshwater aquifers by channeling water from the Santa Clara River underground rather than letting it wash into the sea.

Gallegly often echoes former President Ronald Reagan’s claim that pork-barrel spending is a major contributor to the national deficit. The ex-Simi Valley mayor said through a spokesman that, while he fights for his 21st District’s fair share, “as a fiscal conservative, he can’t preach fiscal responsibility and then turn around and seek pork-barrel spending at home.”

Gallegly apparently hasn’t. He did, however, support the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District when the Environmental Protection Agency said it had overbuilt its water reclamation plant and directed it to repay $4 million from a construction grant. The dispute was resolved when the water district agreed to limits on its operation without forfeiting any money.

Beilenson and Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), meanwhile, say that their generally affluent districts allow them to define their roles in broader national terms.

Beilenson, whose 23rd District stretches from the wealthy enclaves of Brentwood, Beverly Hills and Westwood over the Santa Monica Mountains to the middle- and lower-middle-class communities of Reseda and Canoga Park, chairs the House Intelligence Committee and sits on the influential Rules Committee.

In a Washington interview earlier this year, the veteran lawmaker said, “I think in terms of making a difference here. I tend not to think in local terms, which may or may not be good.

“I also feel on the whole that, with some exceptions, the people in my part of California are doing OK.” Beilenson said that where problems exist, such as mass transit, “that’s what local government is for.”

Nevertheless, he leads the annual push by the Los Angeles delegation for funds to buy properties in the Santa Monica Mountains for parkland. The mountains received $12 million in the Department of the Interior appropriation this year.

Beilenson also supported community efforts to persuade the U. S. Postal Service to build a post office in Tarzana. The $9-million facility is expected to be completed next June.

Waxman, as the powerful head of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health and the Environment Subcommittee, is a national leader on health and environmental issues.

“There are some congressmen who see their role substantially as an ombudsman for their district,” said Waxman, whose 24th District includes the Beverly-Fairfax area, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Universal City and parts of North Hollywood and Los Feliz. “We don’t have a district that calls out for the same kind of attention” as do other congressmen.

At the same time, he said, “If I fight for medical improvements or AIDS funding, that affects people in my district more than anything. Or if I work on broad national concerns, like civil liberties” or strengthening the California Clean Air Act.

In contrast, some members who represent less well-to-do communities say they must overcome a perception that California’s booming economy has left their districts without urgent needs.

“The mythology is that the San Fernando Valley is filled with affluent middle- and upper-middle-class people all gainfully employed with above-standard housing,” Berman said.

The reality throughout much of his district, he said, is “large numbers of undocumented workers, large numbers of refugees, new immigrants, housing prices soaring beyond belief, homelessness, overcrowded schools, constraints on health-care funding causing trauma centers to close down and traffic bottlenecks.”

Various members pointed out that representing their district’s interests doesn’t always mean spending federal dollars. Often, it entails intervening with a regulatory agency, going to bat for a defense contractor or aiding constituents who have problems with the government.

Moorhead, for instance, got involved in a proposal to build a federally funded $4.7-million senior housing project in Glendale when the community sponsors were forced to win HUD’s approval of redesign plans. Gallegly interceded on behalf of residents who opposed the Postal Service’s intention to close the historic Ojai Post Office.

Moorhead and Lagomarsino see a contrast between projects funded in their districts and those that are tucked into the massive spending bill by members of the 13 House appropriations subcommittees, often at the 11th hour in the budget process, to win the votes of powerful lawmakers.

“They are not something that, as a member of a committee, I just stuck in,” Lagomarsino said. No Valley-area member is on the appropriations subcommittees.

Not everyone, however, sees such a clear distinction.

“Pork-barrel spending is spending on projects which would not otherwise have been done by the government if it wasn’t for the legislator protecting or advancing some local interest,” said Donald Devine, chairman of Citizens for America, a Washington-based organization founded in 1983 to support Reagan Administration policies.

“One man’s waste is another man’s essential service,” said David L. Keating, executive director of the National Taxpayers Union, a nonpartisan Washington lobby that seeks to limit government spending.

“Every project has some merit,” he said. “The question is: Does it have enough merit to be funded? Do the benefits exceed the costs? And, even if the benefits exceed the costs, is it a priority compared to other things that might be funded? Or, what else should be cut to pay for it?”

Under any circumstances, the value to lawmakers is undeniable. Federal funding of a district project produces grateful constituents and possibly campaign contributors, and becomes fodder for press releases, newsletters and campaign mailings. This may be the case even if the lawmaker had little to do with securing the funds but takes credit.

“Projects are an identifiable good that they can do in a system where there is very little that they can take credit for on their own,” said White of Brookings.

Devine, who served as director of the Office of Personnel Management under Reagan, said these projects add up, pointing specifically to defense spending aimed at protecting jobs rather than defending the nation. But he acknowledged that not all pork is budgetary fat.

“One could even argue that the function of the House of Representatives is to make sure they take care of district interests that wouldn’t otherwise be taken care of,” Devine said. “It’s not the worst evil in the American system.”

FEDERALLY FUNDED PROGRAMS

The following is a list of projects for which San Fernando Valley-area congressmen say they helped obtain federal funds in the past three years.

Their roles may have involved sending a letter supporting a proposal, contacting a federal regulatory agency, lobbying colleagues or sponsoring legislation.

The projects, in the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County, do not necessarily represent a complete list of federally supported programs in each district.

* 19th District (Santa Barbara County and western Ventura County):

Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ojai)

A total of $20 million over the past three years for the Freeman Diversion, a concrete stabilizer that will divert water from the Santa Clara River underground to recharge the ground-water basin in the Oxnard Plain and reverse the intrusion of saltwater.

In the 1990 budget, $1.5 million for dredging in Ventura Harbor, $440,000 for a new harbor breakwater and $300,000 to repair a beach groin that traps sand to prevent beach erosion.

* 21st District (eastern Ventura County, parts of the western and northern San Fernando Valley and Santa Catalina Island in Los Angeles County):

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley)

None.

* 22nd District (Glendale, part of Burbank, parts of the San Gabriel Valley, the Santa Clarita Valley and the Antelope Valley):

Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale)

Federal grants totaling $4.8 million for an access road to a proposed new terminal at Burbank Airport.

* 23rd District (Tarzana, Reseda, parts of Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Northridge and West Hills, and part of the Westside):

Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles)

A total of $24 million over the past three years to buy land for preservation in the Santa Monica Mountains (lawmakers in other districts that include the mountains within their borders also have testified in support).

Construction of a $9-million post office in Tarzana.

* 24th District (Beverly-Fairfax area, Hollywood, Silver Lake, Hancock Park and Universal City, and parts of North Hollywood, Los Feliz and Hollywood Hills):

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles)

A $24,850 grant for Better Valley Services in North Hollywood to counsel low-income residents seeking to rent apartments or buy a home for the first time.

* 26th District (The eastern San Fernando Valley and part of the Hollywood Hills):

Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City)

A total of $980,000 over the past two years to help pay for plans to restore a lake or lakes and recreational facilities, and begin construction at Hansen Dam in Pacoima and Lake View Terrace.

In the 1990 budget, $1 million for medical services for the poor and homeless to be distributed to seven organizations through the Northeast Valley Health Corp. in Pacoima.

Two loans totaling $628,900 for the H.E.L.P. Group in Van Nuys to acquire and rehabilitate four houses as group homes for mentally retarded, mentally ill or autistic young adults.

A $60,000 grant for the United Cerebral Palsy-Spastic Children’s Foundation in North Hollywood to buy three vehicles to transport multihandicapped clients with severe behavioral disorders.

A $656,000 grant for the Valley Village in Northridge to acquire and rehabilitate four community homes for the mentally retarded.

A $328,000 grant for the Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind in Reseda to acquire and rehabilitate two group homes for the blind.

In each of the past two years, a $24,850 grant for Better Valley Services in North Hollywood to counsel low-income residents seeking to rent apartments or buy a home for the first time (supported along with Waxman).

In 1988, a $47,000 grant to the Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles Aviva Project to acquire and rehabilitate a shelter in Panorama City for homeless boys.