New Think Tank Seeks to Boost California : Politics: Loss of key federal projects to other states prompts formation of a nonprofit, bipartisan group.

California political leaders Thursday unveiled a strategy aimed at bringing more federal dollars to the state as well as some harmony to their deeply divided congressional delegation.

Members of the California Institute, a newly formed nonprofit research center backed by corporate financing, announced plans to study funding formulas for billions of dollars in federal programs and ensure that the state receives its fair share.

California has more seats in Congress than any other state--reapportionment will increase the delegation by seven seats to 52 after the 1992 election--as well as some of its most influential members. Yet California has lost several lucrative federal projects to other states in recent years while its delegation has been split along ideological lines.

“We have this potentially enormous power and influence here in California to stay competitive with other states (but) we are not using it as well as we should,” said Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose), the dean of California’s House delegation who played a key role in setting up the institute.

It took Edwards and other congressional leaders more than five years to assemble the nonpartisan think tank--an indication of the degree of dissension among California Democrats and Republicans in Washington. Similar research ventures in Washington have operated successfully on a regional basis, winning military facilities and increased federal appropriations for member states.

“The biggest thing that held us up was the fact it took a long time to get the leadership of both parties together,” Edwards said. “There was so much suspicion” between Democrats and Republicans.

The institute has a $300,000 budget funded primarily by California businesses and utilities. They include Pacific Telesis, Southern California Edison, AT&T;, the California Bankers Assn., Pacific Mutual Life Insurance and UC Berkeley, said executive director Janet A. Denton. Eight executives, including Chairman Arthur C. Latno Jr. of Pacific Telesis, sit on the institute’s board of directors.

The business interests, which have felt the sting of California losing key federal projects, regard the institute as a way for the state to regain its competitive edge in industry. In recent years, California has lost both a $4.4-billion superconducting super-collider and a $125-million semiconductor research center to Texas and a $50-million earthquake research center to New York.

To avoid future losses, the institute decided Thursday to get an early jump on endorsing and promoting efforts to locate the proposed “B Factory,” a high-tech facility for front-line physics research, at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The $220-million project is under consideration by the Department of Energy for the Bush Administration’s 1993 budget. The project also is coveted by Cornell University in New York.

The California Institute also has an executive board headed by Gov. Pete Wilson, two prominent Democrats--U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston and Edwards--and two Republicans--U.S. Sen. John Seymour and Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale).

At the least, the think tank is expected to regularly bring groups of congressmen from both California parties together in formal face-to-face meetings on issues that affect the state--something that has not occurred for nearly a decade.

“California Democrats meet for breakfast (in Washington) every week alone. California Republicans meet for lunch every week alone. And rarely do (the two sides) meet together,” said Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego).

A key supporter of the California Institute, Lowery said he is hopeful the research center will “pull together” and “unify” the delegation.

Others are more skeptical.

“I find it beyond my comprehension that somehow this is going to produce an alliance between Bob Dornan and Ron Dellums on a project of importance to California,” said Larry Berg, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. “I just can’t see this happening.”

Dornan, an Orange County Republican, is considered among the most conservative members of the California delegation and Dellums, a Berkeley Democrat, among the most liberal.

The institute’s stated purpose is “to conduct research and to make findings on the economic viability and competitiveness” of California and to monitor public and private projects that may benefit the state’s economy.

Institute officials met Thursday for four hours behind closed doors in the Capitol to choose initial activities and areas of research. One priority will be to “identify in a very clear way” through an economic development survey that California is losing businesses and jobs to other states, Edwards said.

The institute also decided to hold an indoctrination seminar in 1992 for newly elected California members of Congress to inform them of important statewide economic issues outside their districts.

The board also decided to track the impact on California of federal funding formulas--something that is not currently done. According to the institute, California residents pay more in taxes for many federal programs than the amount of benefits they receive.