Congressional Elections Not Expected to Change the Status Quo

Here’s an Election Day scenario: The budget deadlock is unbroken, and the federal government is in its second week of shutdown. Government payments to just about everyone for just about everything have ground to a halt. Economically, everything is in free fall except gas prices.

If all this were to happen, then maybe, just maybe, the “throw the bums out” sentiment would reach such a point that there might be some election-night suspense in some Westside congressional districts.

The fact is, incumbents don’t come any more entrenched than this crew. The Westside’s Democratic congressmen all have seniority and key committee appointments. Each in his way wields some power and influence in the House.

Furthermore, each incumbent has ample campaign funds, a proven ability to attract media attention, and a district with a decided Democratic advantage in registration.

Republican challengers, in other words, have a decidedly uphill fight.

Here is an overview of local congressional races two weeks before the Nov. 6 election, prepared by Times staff writers Jeffrey L. Rabin and Josh Meyer.

23RD CONGRESSIONAL RACE

Democratic Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson of Los Angeles, seeking an eighth term from his Westside-San Fernando Valley district, is in a rematch with Republican Jim Salomon of Beverly Hills, whom he beat 2-to-1 in 1988.

Beilenson, who has represented the Westside portion of the district in Washington or Sacramento for more than two decades, has run a low-key campaign thus far. But campaign consultant Craig Miller said the incumbent takes Salomon’s challenge seriously, in part because of his rival’s fund-raising, and is planning to conduct a direct-mail campaign before voters go to the polls.

The Salomon camp announced last week that it had conducted a poll indicating that Beilenson’s popularity was low. According to Salomon staffer Paul Fredrix, the challenger would defeat Beilenson by a 3-2 ratio if both candidates’ positions on major issues were explained to voters.

Beilenson’s camp disputed such poll findings.

“We are well aware of the fact that Congressman Beilenson is a very popular and well-respected congressman,” said Miller, “and we do not believe any Republican campaign polls to the contrary.”

The district is notable for its affluence, its liberal leanings and its high percentage of Jewish voters. It has been reliably Democratic, except in the 1984 Republican landslide that gave Ronald Reagan a second term in the White House.

Reagan now is the district’s most famous Republican resident, and he has waded into the contest by endorsing Salomon and appearing in August at a Century City reception on his behalf.

Since then, the campaign has been marked by the disclosure that Salomon has been out of work since June, 1989, when he began running full time, and that he has been involved in a legal dispute with his ex-wife involving child support payments and attorney’s fees.

Although Salomon describes himself in campaign literature as a businessman and international trade consultant, he acknowledged that he has had no income since the middle of last year, has no assets except personal property and is “living solely upon credit.”

In campaign literature and personal appearances, Salomon has questioned Beilenson’s support for Israel and suggested that he is lukewarm in his support for the Jewish state.

Beilenson, who has a strong pro-Israel voting record, has called such suggestions “misleading, deceitful and preposterous” and says he has never voted against aid to Israel.

Beilenson and Salomon also part company on some environmental issues.

The congressman, a champion of protection for the Santa Monica Mountains as a recreation area, took the lead in negotiating a 5,700-acre land swap with Bob Hope. Under the agreement, which has not been finalized, the entertainer would sell 4,600 acres in the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountains to park agencies for $10 million, a figure that proponents of the deal say is well below market value.

As part of the proposal, Hope wants the National Park Service to give up 59 acres of parkland in Cheeseboro Canyon in exchange for 1,100 acres of his adjacent Jordan Ranch. The park service property would be used to provide an access road to a proposed development on the remainder of the Jordan Ranch.

Beilenson praised the package when it was negotiated in June. “There will probably never again be an opportunity to gain so much valuable open space in Southern California at so little cost to the public,” he said.

But Salomon objects to the transaction, saying it is “a very dangerous precedent to start opening up national park land for development.”

The two candidates are in accord on oil drilling off California’s coast: Both are opposed.

A maverick voice in Congress, Beilenson has decried the massive federal budget deficit and taken the politically dangerous route of suggesting tax increases, including a gasoline tax hike, higher income tax rates on the wealthiest Americans, transfer taxes on stock transactions and higher cigarette taxes to help close the gap between revenue and spending.

Salomon favors increases in taxes on alcohol and tobacco to deal with the deficit but opposes higher income tax rates for wealthy Americans.

Beilenson, a longtime advocate of campaign reform, has accepted no contributions from political action committees and no honorariums from special interests. His largest campaign contributions have come from people in the entertainment industry.

Salomon received his largest campaign contribution from the National Rifle Assn. but also has been successful in generating numerous contributions from individuals, including corporate executives, prominent Republicans and some members of the Jewish community.

Peace and Freedom candidate John Honigsfeld is also on the ballot.

23RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT The district: Westside and San Fernando Valley district includes Malibu, Topanga, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Westwood, Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, Century City, Palms, Tarzana, Woodland Hills, Canoga Park, Reseda and Encino.

Candidate Party Anthony C. Beilenson (inc.) Democrat Jim Salomon Republican John Honigsfeld Peace and Freedom

Voter Registration Registered Percent Democrats 156,467 53.7% Republicans 105,043 36.1 Independents 24,525 8.4 Minor Parties* 5,195 1.8 Total 291,230

* American Independent, Peace and Freedom, Libertarian and miscellaneous

Voting History: Beilenson beat Salomon 63% to 33% in November, 1988, and Democrat Michael S. Dukakis also carried the district in that year’s presidential vote, beating George Bush 56% to 43%. The district went for Ronald Reagan, however, in his 1984 landslide win over Democrat Walter F. Mondale, 53% to 46%.