Redistricting May Pit Longtime Ally Against Ally : Politics: Incumbents in Congress and the state Legislature consider changing residences, seeking higher office and other steps to stay in office.

Proposed new electoral districts forced some San Fernando Valley politicians to think the unthinkable Tuesday--running against incumbents in their own parties.

As longtime allies in Congress and the state Legislature contemplated running against each other in fratricidal contests, other veteran lawmakers calculated their chances of winning higher office and a prominent ex-congresswoman pondered a comeback.

If adopted, the districts could drastically rearrange the Valley’s political geography. They would create two new Valley-based congressional seats, boost the percentage of Republican voters in several districts and remove the homes of at least two local politicians from the areas they now represent.

“I think it’s a real mess because it dislocates a lot of districts and it’s going to lead to a lot of confusion in the elections,” Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) said of the new districts, which were unveiled Monday by three special masters appointed by the state Supreme Court.

Waxman, a leader of the powerful Waxman-Berman political organization and who represents part of the East Valley, would face the unpleasant possibility that he may have to run against Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson, a fellow liberal Democrat whose district includes portions of the West Valley and Westside.

Whether there would be such a clash could depend on whether Beilenson chooses to run for reelection in a newly created Westside district or one in the southwest Valley that runs north to Thousand Oaks and west to Malibu. Voter registration in the Valley district favors a GOP candidate, while the Westside district is solidly Democratic.

Waxman said he has no desire to run against Beilenson, but he has “only one district I can run in which encompasses the area I’ve been representing for the past 17 years” on the Westside.

Although the new southwest Valley district would be less-likely reelection turf for Beilenson than the Westside one, he said he is “comfortable with people on both sides of the hills.”

Beilenson said he intends to seek reelection, but he expressed reluctance to run against Waxman.

“It may sound immodest, but I happen to think Henry and I are very valuable congressmen and good people to have in Washington and I don’t want to lose either one of us,” Beilenson said.

The southwest Valley seat, where voter registration is almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, also drew immediate interest from three conservative Republicans, including former Rep. Bobbi Fiedler of Northridge, who lost her seat when she unsuccessfully ran for the U. S. Senate in 1986.

Others expressing interest were Assemblyman Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks and Calabasas businessman Sang Korman, who has lost two previous bids for a congressional seat that covers much of the same area.

Fiedler said she might run instead in the second new Valley-based congressional district, which includes the Antelope Valley and portions of the Santa Clarita Valley and Northridge. Another potential candidate for that district is Assemblyman Phil Wyman (R-Tehachapi), who now represents much of the Antelope Valley.

The new districts also raised the possibility of a primary battle between two GOP allies, Reps. Elton Gallegly of Simi Valley and Robert J. Lagomarsino of Ventura. The homes of both congressmen would be in the same district under the redrawn boundaries.

Lagomarsino said he intends to run again in the district he lives in, which covers most of Ventura County. He argued that it would be easier for Gallegly to move so that he could run in the southwest Valley district than for Lagomarsino to move so that he could run for a congressional seat in a new district covering most of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Asked if he envisioned running against Lagomarsino, Gallegly said he hoped that that would not be necessary, but as of now, he plans to seek reelection in the Ventura County district.

“I have a base in Ventura County, my home for 25 years, and I have deep roots here,” he said.

While placing some incumbents’ homes in the same district, the new boundaries cut the homes of others out of districts they now represent. Among those facing that problem are state Sens. David Roberti, a North Hollywood Democrat, and Republican Ed Davis of Santa Clarita.

Davis’ top aide, Hunt Braly, said his boss’s home was removed from the 19th District, which he now represents, and placed in the new 17th District, which stretches east into the Mojave Desert and contains much territory that Davis does not now represent.

The new districts would pose an even more severe political dilemma for Roberti, the powerful Senate president pro tem. Roberti’s Los Feliz home would be in a GOP-leaning district where Sen. Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale) now lives.

In an interview, Roberti said he has not ruled out a run against Russell. But he said a “more traditional, orthodox” move would be to seek election in either the new Westside district that includes the turf of Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles), a close ally, or the all-Valley seat vacated by Alan Robbins, who resigned from the Senate last month after agreeing to plead guilty to federal racketeering and tax evasion charges.

However, if he runs in Robbins’ old district, Roberti could find himself up against one or more well-known politicians. Among those who have indicated interest in the race are Assemblymen Terry B. Friedman (D-Los Angeles) and Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) and Los Angeles school board member Roberta Weintraub.

The new districts could also pose a problem for rookie GOP Assemblywoman Paula Boland of Northridge.

The new lines place the homes of both Boland and GOP Assemblywoman Cathie Wright of Simi Valley in the same district, raising the possibility that the two friends and fellow conservatives would have to fight it out in a primary election next year.

Wright, a five-term incumbent, said she does not want to oppose Boland, but would “if that was my only option.”

However, she said she may be able to run for an open Senate seat if Davis retires or chooses to run in the 17th Senate District.

A Boland aide said the lawmaker had examined the new maps but “is not taking them too seriously until they are officially adopted.”

Jack Cheevers reported from the San Fernando Valley and Alan C. Miller from Washington.

After Reapportionment: Congressmen Weigh Options

Congress

* Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City): Present district loses liberal, affluent areas of Hollywood Hills, Studio City and Sherman Oaks and pushes deeper into the floor of the San Fernando Valley. New district would be more conservative but still include Democratic East Valley.

* Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles): Present district divided between highly Democratic West Los Angeles stronghold and a Republican-leaning southwest Valley district that runs to Thousand Oaks. Must decide whether to oppose Rep. Henry A. Waxman in Democratic primary in Westside district or run in conservative West Valley district that is removed from his traditional Westside base.

* Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley): Present district divided into three--a GOP-dominated Ventura County district, a Republican-leaning West Valley district and a heavily Republican district including parts of Northridge, Santa Clarita and Antelope Valley. Maintains that he will run in the Ventura seat--even though it could pit him against veteran Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) in the GOP primary.

* Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale): Expected new district retains heavily Republican Glendale-Pasadena-Burbank base.

* Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles): Present Hollywood-based district largely incorporated into a new West Los Angeles district. Plans to run in this new district.

Source: New congressional maps and interviews.