Beilenson to Seek New Seat, Avoid Waxman Contest : Politics: Congressman’s decision to leave Westside for proposed district in the Valley and Ventura County pleases Democrats.

Veteran Democratic Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson announced Thursday that he will run in a proposed new district in the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County, avoiding a primary battle with powerful Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) on Los Angeles’ Westside.

Beilenson had pondered the decision for weeks after a state Supreme Court-appointed panel proposed new congressional districts last month that carved up his current district. The court is expected to adopt a similar plan this month, although congressional Democrats are challenging it in the courts.

Beilenson’s current district covers parts of the Westside as well as the central and western San Fernando Valley. Many of Beilenson’s constituents would wind up in a heavily Democratic Westside district including the heart of Waxman’s Hollywood-based district.

At the same time, about 55% of Beilenson’s constituents were put in a new Republican-leaning district extending from Sherman Oaks and Canoga Park in the West Valley westward through Malibu and Thousand Oaks in Ventura County.

“Either race would involve a great amount of personal effort and a great amount of money,” Beilenson said during a news conference at the Valley Hilton Hotel in Sherman Oaks.

“When I asked myself whether I preferred to apply all my energy and the help of our friends to defeating a fellow Democrat with whom I agree on so many important issues, or to assuring that my constituents in the San Fernando Valley, Malibu and Topanga continue to have good representation, the decision became clear.”

Later, Beilenson, who has represented parts of the Westside since he was elected to the state Assembly in 1962, said that even if he had prevailed in an uphill primary contest against the politically formidable Waxman, “I’d feel terrible in many respects.”

Beilenson’s decision set off a chain reaction, knocking three potential candidates from this year’s race. Democratic Assemblyman Burt Margolin of Los Angeles and Los Angeles City Council members Zev Yaroslavsky and Joy Picus--all of whom had expressed interest in the new 24th District seat--said they would defer to Beilenson and drop their campaign plans.

Republican strategists said this week that they are still hoping for a prominent figure to emerge as a candidate. International trade consultant Jim Salomon of Beverly Hills and businessman Sang Korman of Calabasas said they will seek the GOP nomination. Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) and former Ventura County Supervisor Madge Schaefer are considering the race.

McClintock, a conservative, maintained that Beilenson’s decision will not affect his plans. But he quickly fired a shot across the liberal Beilenson’s bow.

“He has a lot of explaining to do to middle-class, suburban voters,” McClintock said, citing “16 years of tax increases (and) opposition to liberation of Kuwait” by the U.S. and its allies last year.

Democratic activists greeted Beilenson’s decision with relief. In addition to avoiding a divisive battle between two party stalwarts, it improves the Democrats’ chances of winning a marginal seat that is expected to be a priority for both parties.

“Tony Beilenson and I are allies on most issues, we’ve been friends for over 30 years and the idea of running against each other was a terrible one,” Waxman said. “I’m going to do everything I can to help him get elected and I’m sure all Democrats will unite to make this a priority.”

Waxman, a partner with Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) in a potent Westside-San Fernando Valley political alliance, said he and Beilenson did not discuss any aid he and Berman might provide before Beilenson made his decision.

Beilenson and Berman reiterated this point.

“They knew, too, that I was having a difficult decision to make, and, to their credit . . . they understood what I was going through and they gave me some space and some time,” Beilenson said of his Westside colleagues.