S.D. House Members Pass Very Few Bills : Politics: The four Republican representatives say being in the political minority is to blame and that their real power lies behind the scenes.

In more than 32 combined years in Congress, the current four-man San Diego delegation has passed only seven bills or resolutions under its members’ names--five of those “commemoratives,” such as “National Medical Transcriptionists Week.”

One was a “private” bill to compensate a retired San Diego developer for losses he suffered in a federally sponsored Puerto Rican housing project.

The other was a bill to obtain federal land for an expansion of a museum near Ocotillo in Imperial County.

This is not a record of grand lawmaking accomplishment.

But “bill introduction” is only one gauge of legislative productivity. Not reflected in this accounting is the myriad of chess-like moves--in committee rooms, in hallways, on the phone, on the House floor--that the members, and even their critics, say are a far more realistic measure of how they operate.

The first thing to consider, the congressmen quickly remind, is that they’re in the minority party--by a morale-bashing 100 seats. Forced into end-runs, diversionary tactics and solemn denunciations of the ruling party, the House Republicans’ legislative style is largely defensive. They wield real clout by helping sustain President Bush’s vetoes, but by and large they have to play according to Democrat rules.

So to the question, “What have you done for me lately?”: They answer, it’s in the details.

Here is a look at the legislative profiles of the four congressmen that represent San Diego County, based on their law-making history and interviews with colleagues, staff members, lobbyists and other officials.

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R-CORONADO):

Headstrong and certain of his opinions, the six-term Hunter is the rhetorical heavyweight of the delegation. And last week, he picked up another, unwanted superlative: He had sunk deepest into the House Bank swamp.

Two days before the House voted to disclose all 355 members and former members who had written overdrafts, Hunter confessed to having written approximately 160. On Friday, after his office pored over his records more carefully, the the number grew to 407, totaling more than $129,000. By week’s end, Hunter was leaving for Coronado to map out his political recovery strategy.

Part of process will be re-emphasizing his legislative stature.

Among the four members, Hunter’s lawmaking initiatives are the most numerous and diverse, and all spring from uncomplicated conservative views.

Intermingled with bills seeking annuities and educational programs for veterans, Hunter has pursued a number of issues with an international flavor. He has pushed legislation to thwart Libya’s chemical weapons program, condemn Soviet suppression of news from Afghanistan and cut off aid to Malaysia and Hong Kong for their refusal to accept Vietnamese boat people.

The ex-Army lieutenant is a hard-liner on defense matters and has used his seat on the Armed Services Committee to oppose (vigorously but unsuccessfully) the sale of telecommunications equipment to the former Soviet Union.

An unabashed protectionist, one of his most frequent legislative targets has been Japan. During his first term in 1981, he sought a resolution calling on Japan to “build, equip and operate a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier group.” Over the years, he has submitted more than a dozen bills aimed at lowering Japanese trade barriers or slapping fees on imported cars.

Last year he sponsored a bill to have Japan pay the U.S. for Gulf War costs in proportion to the percentage of oil it imported from the Middle East.

His House testimony in 1990 on tax avoidance by U.S. subsidiaries of foreign-controlled corporations named names, to the discomfiture of the IRS. One of those companies, Toshiba, had earlier received some of Hunter’s most punishing attention when he sought to halt imports of its products after it had sold equipment to the Soviet Union to mill submarine propellers.

His pugnacious style contrasts with the more cautious approach of many of his House colleagues, who carefully build a consensus before taking controversial stands. Hunter tends to act first and admire the ripples afterward.

While his minority status virtually prohibits him from winning passage of major legislation, Hunter has a reputation for persistence that can change the nature of the debate. His ideological foes, be they in the administration or across the aisle, “know he won’t go away,” a staff member said.

His fifth-ranking position in the House GOP leadership gives him special access to the administration and usually provides him with quick answers to his questions. As one staffer said, “The answer may be ‘no,’ but they have come to understand they better have an explanation ready.”

Perhaps his most dramatic legislative episode was his call for the military to take the lead in drug interdiction on the border. The House approved a similar amendment in 1986, but it died quickly in the Senate. Two years later, it passed both chambers.

Other prominent accomplishments are the reinforcement of the Mexican border fence and battling Tijuana’s exported sewage problems, an issue the delegation has teamed up on.

Those who look to Hunter for backing must come prepared.

“With him, if your views differ, you’re in for a heck of a sales job,” said one lobbyist. “His views are paramount, almost adversarial, and he seems to need a higher threshold to support something. But if he’s working on your problem, he can be very effective.”

Three pieces of legislation sponsored by Hunter have actually made it into law. One arranged the transfer of federal land near Ocotillo to Imperial Valley College to expand a museum. The two others were commemoratives, one praising yachtsman Dennis Conner for his America’s Cup victory in 1987, and the other establishing “National Medical Transcriptionist’s Week.”

The issue of commemoratives is a sensitive one for House members. Many groups seek such recognition, and congressmen must walk a fine line between promoting those with a strong constituent backing and turning away dozens of other requests. As with the rest of the delegation, Hunter’s general rule is to say no to most groups.

REP. RON PACKARD (R-OCEANSIDE)

Hunter’s aggressive style would not play well in the offices of Ron Packard, Congress’ only Mormon dentist.

An advocate of the low-key approach, the five-term Packard sees only peril in confrontation and is more comfortable working behind the scenes, where his avuncular manner operates to greatest advantage. One on one, Packard gives the impression that he actually wants to listen, a rare disposition on ego-driven Capitol Hill.

“With Packard, you get receptivity,” says a San Diego-area lobbyist. “If (the idea) enhances San Diego and if makes sense politically, he wants to help. You don’t feel you have to go through the third degree to get his attention.”

This deliberate, cautious approach leads to a leaner legislative agenda. His office produces relatively fewer bills than his two veteran colleagues on the hill, Hunter and Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego), and all are well within the mainstream political thinking of his conservative district.

There are few forays into the international realm (although early in 1991 Packard did call for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the Baltic states). For the most part, Packard has kept his gaze steadfastly on regional issues.

While the Armed Services Committee seats occupied by Hunter and freshman Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-San Diego) are of major importance in the region, Packard’s seat on the Public Works and Transportation Committee gives him a more natural relationship to projects and issues of interest to local officials.

Because of his personality and committee seats--he is also assigned to the Science, Space and Technology Committee--Packard’s office is among the first contacted when San Diego officials need congressional assistance on a local problem.

He helped get funds earmarked for the widening of California 78 and has pushed for studies on water reclamation and new desalinating techniques. He has been a strong supporter of the huge Santa Ana River flood control project and NASA’s space station program.

With his help the Oceanside sand bypass project was approved.

And he has joined his delegation colleagues in the fight against Tijuana sewage fouling San Diego property and beaches.

Perhaps Packard’s most noteworthy legislative accomplishment was his push--in the wake of the 1986 Cerritos air disaster--to tighten requirements for collision-avoidance equipment on passenger aircraft. He has also advocated for more thoughtful long-range planning for the nation’s airport system.

In this session, Packard has again submitted a bill to eliminate the Social Security earnings test and plans to call for the reinstituting of the annual $2,000 IRA deduction, which was done away with in the 1986 tax reform law.

Last week he submitted legislation on a major reform to the trucking industry’s rate structure.

During his second term, in 1985, Packard sponsored a commemorative bill to establish a “National Day of Fasting to Raise Funds to Combat Hunger.” It is the only piece of legislation that has passed under his name.

On Friday, Packard became entangled in the House Bank controversy.

He revealed he had written four bad checks totaling $1,963 in October, 1990. Packard had insisted, since last fall, that he was untainted by the bank scandal.

Packard had asked for, and received, a letter from the House sergeant-at-arms confirming his account was “clean.”

In a statement, Packard said, “It appears that my error was due to a simple bookkeeping mistake.”

“I am extremely embarrassed by this news.”

REP. BILL LOWERY (R-SAN DIEGO)

Like others in the county’s delegation, Lowry has been touched by overdraft troubles.

Although he admitted last fall that he had a “handful” of overdrafts, he said he learned late Friday that his bad check total actually totalled 300 checks for $103,968.

Over the weekend, Lowery returned to San Diego and held a press conference in his Scripps Ranch headquarters, saying that he apologized for his role in the scandal.

As for his work in Washingtion, Lowery’s seat on the Appropriations Committee gives him a unique vantage point among the delegation to bring home important allocations and projects to the San Diego region.

As his aides are eager to remind, virtually every piece of legislation--bold or routine--requires money to make it work. And to get that money a deal must be struck in the Appropriations Committee.

Democrats outnumber Republicans 37 to 22 on the panel, which Lowery joined during his third term in 1984, and the role of a mainstream minority member is to espouse the partisan position--then bear down on getting the most for his territory.

In this quintessential congressional arena, Lowery is considered a nimble and knowledgeable combatant.

“You have to recognize that the Democrats rule with an iron fist, and once the spending allocation is set you have to be willing to reach across the aisle,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands), a fellow Appropriations Committee member and third-ranking member of the House GOP leadership.

“I’ve always been surprised how few people recognize how important it is to be a good salesman . . . particularly on the subcommittees, where the results can be dramatic,” said Lewis, who shares with Lowery the view that compromise with Democrats is a necessary part of the process.

More rigidly conservative members like Hunter view this accommodating style with disdain and prefer to highlight how the parties disagree on broad issues. But the realities of the Appropriations Committee often encourage cooperation over inflexibility.

Rep. Bob Traxler of Michigan, the Democratic chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Environmental Protection Agency, has worked closely with Lowery on border pollution issues.

“Because of limited budgets, we have to make terrible choices,” Traxler said. “There is a divergence of opinion . . . but very few highly partisan issues come before the committee. In this process Bill has been rational, logical and a gentleman.”

The committee seat gives Lowery a chance to get his fingerprints on a wide variety of issues.

He is the acknowledged leader in barring oil drilling off the California coast and has played a prominent role in obtaining appropriations to design and build the border treatment plant to process regular overflows from the overburdened Tijuana sewage system.

Similarly, he has shepherded funding for the San Diego sewage plant on Point Loma.

Last summer he, along with Rep. Jim Chapman (D-Tex.), was credited with restoring full funding for the space station program after it been virtually eliminated earlier by the Appropriations Committee.

As the ranking minority member on the military construction subcommittee he has directed millions of dollars into the region for military housing. According to his aides, Lowery has overseen $1 billion in such military construction appropriations since 1985.

In his more than 11 years in Washington, only three Lowery-sponsored resolutions or bills have traveled the difficult route to passage.

Two were commemorative resolutions to establish “National Alzheimer’s Week” (later to become Alzheimer’s month), a cause that Lowery has pursued vigorously in every term.

The other success was a “private” bill to reimburse a retired La Mesa developer, Benjamin B. Doeh, for financial losses suffered in a Puerto Rican housing program during the 1970s. Doeh claimed the Farmers Home Administration had forced him to build the homes.

According to Ben Haddad, former Lowery aide and now director of Gov. Wilson’s Washington office, the bill had been originally submitted by Lowery’s predecessor, Bob Wilson.

Private bills are for the benefit of an individual--many for immigration-related matters that have reached an administrative impasse. And like commemorative legislation, the requests for sponsorship are many, and decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

In Doeh’s case, the “paper trail” backing up his complaint was convincing enough, and a 1984 bill was signed awarding him about $100,000, Haddad said.

REP. RANDY CUNNINGHAM (R-CHULA VISTA)

The first-term Cunningham confronts the usual newcomer predicament: zero seniority and minimal clout. But the great leveler among freshmen is that everyone starts at the same point. Diligence and hard work generally substitute for significant legislative contributions, and the power of personality can be a decisive factor.

In Cunningham, House Republicans have found a feisty arm-twister whose powers of persuasion work best in one-on-one situations.

He has been loquacious on the House floor and has worked “the doors”--catching members as they file in for votes, hoping to convert the fence-sitters to his point of view.

While still developing the particulars of his own legislative scheme, the folksy Cunningham is pro-defense and fiscally conservative. He stands on the right side of the Republican spectrum and counts Hunter as his political mentor.

He has seats on the Armed Services, Merchant Marine and Fisheries and, recently, Education and Labor committees.

As a much-decorated Vietnam fighter pilot, he voted for the Persian Gulf war resolution but said the decision was a painful one.

Along with other members of the delegation he successfully fought the closing of two San Diego military commands, the San Diego Naval Training Center and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

His first piece of legislation was a resolution to award the Bronze Star to Navy and Marine Corps personnel who served on Corregidor Island during World War II. Last month, Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett II issued such a directive.

He also submitted a bill to defray the costs of advanced placement tests for low-income people.

Cunningham has also sought government easements on private property along the Mexican boundary to improve enforcement by the Border Patrol.

One lobbyist said what Cunningham lacks in experience, he makes up for in “zeal.”

“He may not have the connections of the veteran members, but he’ll work hard on an issue and his door is always open,” the lobbyist said.

As for his role in the overdraft scandal, Cunningham has confirmed he has only one overdraft, a $15,000 check for a new car that a Pennsylvania car dealer neglected to hold for week, as Cunningham had requested.