Campaigns Cross District Lines to Tap Wealthiest Areas : Politics: Election reform advocates express concern over the large sums candidates take out of Los Angeles areas that they do not represent. The affluent 23rd Congressional District ranks second in the nation for contributions.

Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, raised more money in Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson’s district in the 1989-90 congressional term than the Los Angeles Democrat.

Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) took in more campaign funds in Rep. Howard L. Berman’s East Valley district during the same period than the Panorama City Democrat.

And, incredibly, conservative Sens. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) each raised more in Rep. Henry A. Waxman’s district than the liberal Los Angeles Democrat.

Finally, Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) raised more money in Beilenson’s donor-rich 23rd District, which spans the Westside and West Valley, than Beilenson, Berman and Waxman combined received from their respective constituents.

These disparities reflect the role of the southern San Fernando Valley and the Westside as one of the major sources of “exported” political contributions nationwide. It is also indicative of the extent to which Beilenson’s affluent district dominates the city’s giving.

The patterns are indicative of the extent to which the Beilenson, Berman and Waxman districts--which all include parts of the Valley--as well as Levine’s coastal Los Angeles turf are inextricably linked. Candidates who raise large sums in one district are likely to be among the major recipients in the others.

These findings emerged from a computer-assisted analysis by The Times of federal campaign contributions during the 1989-90 election cycle. The Times’ study, which covered more than 500,000 contributions nationwide, found that individuals in the three districts bridging the Westside and San Fernando Valley gave $10.2 million to congressional candidates and political action and party committees in the two-year period.

Some of the funds came from entertainment and legal sources with a narrow, self-interested legislative agenda. But much of the Los Angeles largess was supplied by individuals concerned about broader policy issues such as the environment, Israel and civil rights, say givers, beneficiaries, fund-raisers and political consultants.

Nonetheless, advocates for campaign reform express concern over the large sums that candidates take out of Los Angeles districts that they do not represent.

“There are two classes of constituents: first, the real constituents, and second, and probably most important, the cash constituents,” said Ellen Miller, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington.

“In today’s political system, which is fueled by money first and foremost, elected officials are more responsive in their overall priorities and issues to the elective interests that fund them than to the people who live in their states and districts.”

A compilation of the survey figures in districts represented by Beilenson, Berman and Waxman also found that:

* Residents of Beilenson’s 23rd District, which extends from the west San Fernando Valley across the Santa Monica Mountains to the Westside from Malibu to West Hollywood, contributed nearly $8 million, or 78% of the three-district total. His district ranks second in the nation--behind Republican Rep. Bill Green’s East Side Manhattan district--as a mecca for campaign contributions.

* Residents of Berman’s 26th District, which extends from south of Mulholland Drive over the Santa Monicas to San Fernando and Pacoima, gave $839,897. And residents of Waxman’s 24th District, which includes Universal City and North Hollywood as well as Hollywood, Hancock Park and Los Feliz, contributed $1,428,822.

* Levine, a close associate of Waxman’s and Berman’s who is running for the U.S. Senate this year, raised the most money by far from the three districts. Levine took in $655,616; 85% came from residents of Beilenson’s district, parts of which Levine has previously represented in the state Assembly.

* Bradley was second among recipients with $461,890. He was followed by unsuccessful Senate candidate Harvey Gantt, who ran as a Democrat in North Carolina, $281,792; Levin, $213,955, and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), $200,360. Each candidate garnered 82% to 88% of these funds from Beilenson’s district, except for Gantt, whose figure was 71%.

* Beilenson raised 70% of his $231,386 total from his own district. Berman, in contrast, raised just 6% of his $510,538 total from within his less affluent district and Waxman took in only 1% of his $500,847 total from his district, which mixes wealthy enclaves with lower-class neighborhoods.

Most of the major recipients from the liberal-dominated Westside and Hollywood Hills in the Valley were Democrats. Moreover, these candidates tend to be strongly pro-Israel and favor abortion rights and environmental protection--litmus-test positions for many active givers.

Some Republicans, nonetheless, made inroads. Former Sen. Rudy Boschwitz (R-Minn.), a key advocate for Israel, raised $134,400 from the three districts surveyed. Helms, whom Gantt opposed, took in $41,914, including $9,209 from Waxman’s district. Texas Republican Gramm, meanwhile, raised $44,150; he took in $9,750 from Waxman’s turf.

Although Los Angeles donors gave twice as much money to Democratic congressional candidates as they did to Republicans in 1989-90, Republicans still raised far more money in Los Angeles than they did in Orange County, a GOP stronghold. Indeed, the Republican National Committee and the GOP’s Senate and House campaign committees took in $1.4 million in the city of Los Angeles.

Berman and Waxman say they have raised little in their own districts in part because neither region is as affluent as Beilenson’s Westside district. In addition, both have previously represented parts of the 23rd District, either in Congress or in the state Assembly.

Further, the network of Westside givers is an integral part of the vaunted Waxman-Berman political alliance that has helped the namesakes and their allied political operatives elect like-minded liberals in city, state and federal offices. A veteran Los Angeles political consultant described this area as “the heart of the Jewish, West L.A. giver world.”

Finally, Waxman and Berman faced only token opposition themselves in 1990. This allowed them to contribute large sums to fellow liberal candidates throughout California and the rest of the country who faced tough election fights.

Overall, Waxman, Berman and Beilenson each garnered less money than the average House incumbent nationwide, who raised $621,918.

“I haven’t had a fight, so I haven’t had a need to go and raise money, and I spend as little time as possible raising money,” Waxman said. “It takes a lot of time and effort to raise money from a lot of individuals when the maximum an individual can give is $1,000.”

A political action committee, in contrast, can give as much as $5,000. Waxman said that some PACs will decide to contribute to certain lawmakers without even being asked to do so.

Waxman ranked 78th among House candidates nationwide in receipts from political action committees. His $315,400 in special-interest receipts was 63% of his total. As chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health and environment, Waxman raises much of his PAC money from health and medical interests.

Berman raised $181,500, or 35% of his total, from PACs, especially labor, entertainment and legal interests. He is an attorney who sits on the Judiciary Committee, which handles legal issues as well as intellectual property matters that concern the entertainment industry.

Beilenson was one of 14 lawmakers nationwide in 1989-90 who refused to accept any PAC money, which he contends is corrosive to the political process. House incumbents took in an average of $235,752 in PAC contributions in the past election cycle.

Beilenson faced vastly better-financed opposition than Waxman and Berman faced, but he easily thwarted a second consecutive challenge by Republican Jim Salomon, a Beverly Hills international trade consultant. Salomon was one of just 18 challengers nationwide to outspend an incumbent, and one of 11 to do so and lose. Salomon spent $360,389; Beilenson, $201,404.

Beilenson, historically a reluctant fund-raiser, says that he plans to raise twice as much money in 1992. He has decided to seek reelection in a newly drawn West Valley and western Ventura County district that was created when the state Supreme Court decided to combine the Westside portion of Beilenson’s current district with the core of Waxman’s turf.

Salomon, meanwhile, has vowed to move into the new GOP-leaning district to seek the Republican nomination. Beilenson and Salomon are expected to continue to raise considerable sums from their well-heeled Westside bases.

“They’re relatively affluent Democrats who approve of us,” Beilenson said of the Westside-Valley givers who have helped fund his campaigns as well those of his colleagues. “It’s no bigger secret than that.”

1989-90 Campaign Fund-Raising by Valley-Westside Congressmen

From Own From 23rd Outside Lawmaker District District Calif.* PAC Total Howard L. Berman $31,800 $129,950 $8,100 $181,500 $510,538 (D-Panorama City) Anthony C. Beilenson $161,200 own $3,500 0 $231,386 (D-Los Angeles) district Henry A. Waxman $6,250 $42,250 $16,750 $315,400 $500,847 (D-Los Angeles)

* Figures do not include breakdown of funds raised in California outside of the lawmakers’ own districts and the 23rd District.

Sources: The Almanac of American Politics 1992 and Times analysis of 1989-90 campaign contributions based on Federal Election Commission records.

Top Congressional Recipients of Valley/West L. A. Largesse

Candidate: Amount 1. Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica): $655,616 2. Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.): $461,890 3. Senate candidate Harvey B. Gantt (D-N.C.): $281,792 4. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.): $213,995 5. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.): $200,360 6. Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.): $192,500 7. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City): $189,850 8. House candidate Jim Salomon (R-Beverly Hills): $182,202 9. Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.): $161,450 10. Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles): $155,650 11. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz (R-Minn.): $134,400 12. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa): $120,925 13. Sen. Albert Gore (D-Tenn.): $79,725 14. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles): $78,906 15. Rep. Robert J. Mrazek (D-N.Y.): $72,750 16. House candidate Sang R. Korman (R-Simi Valley): $59,950 17. Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.): $58,650 18. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley): $57,548 19. Sen. Joseph R. Biden (D-Del.): $55,850 20. Sen. J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.): $52,750 Source: Times analysis of 1989-90 federal campaign contributions from four Los Angeles congressional districts, based on Federal Election Commission records.