3 Deep-Pocket Districts Help Fuel Campaigns : Politics: They are a major source of ‘exported’ donations nationwide. Advocates for reform express concern over the candidates’ ties to ‘cash constituents.’

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

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

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 Westside and southern San Fernando Valley 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.

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 Berman, Waxman and Levine 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, according to donors, 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 Malibu to West Hollywood and across the Santa Monica Mountains to western San Fernando Valley, 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.

* Sen. Bill 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-income 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 donors 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 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, 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 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 donors who have helped fund his campaigns as well those of his colleagues. “It’s no bigger secret than that.”