Redistricting Leaves Few ‘Safe’ Havens : Politics: Congressmen Henry Waxman and Julian Dixon should have it easy. But some formerly entrenched allies face tough reelection battles.

Color Rep. Henry Waxman’s new congressional district green.

As in money, lots of it.

From the Gold Coast of Santa Monica to the Hollywood Hills, the newly drawn 29th Congressional District cuts a swath across some of the richest real estate--and most generous political givers--in America. It’s every canyon from Santa Ynez to Nichols, plus the three bounteous “B” neighborhoods: Bel-Air, Brentwood and Beverly Hills.

Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Westwood, Studio City, West Hollywood and Los Feliz round out this gilded district, a fund-raising mecca for politicians from all over the country.

Ironically, Waxman (D-Los Angeles) said he doesn’t need campaign funds, so he will not need to till his new, fertile territory this year. Nor does he plan to open a campaign office. With $800,000 in the bank and a district with 56% registered Democrats and 30% registered Republicans, Waxman is sitting tight.

“I don’t think I’m going to need to raise any money,” Waxman said. “I don’t have a major fight on my hands.”

Waxman has drawn a challenger in the primary, Studio City property manager Scott M. Gaulke, a devotee of Lyndon LaRouche, the political extremist who now is serving a prison term for mail fraud and tax evasion. On the Republican side, attorney Mark A. Robbins, who has no primary opponent, said he hopes to use Waxman’s big bank account as a negative in a year where being a congressional insider is widely regarded as a liability.

If reapportionment has been kind to Waxman, it has been an overall blow to traditionally Democratic congressional districts on the Westside.

The redistricting plan drawn by the Republican-dominated state Supreme Court collapsed four of the five “safe” Democratic congressional districts on the Westside into a single district. It’s as if the Democrats have traded in a four-strand pearl necklace for one very large diamond.

“They took the best parts of four districts and put them into one,” Waxman said.

As senior member of the Westside-based clique of officeholders known as the Waxman-Berman organization, Waxman laid claim to the diamond, though he laments the problems facing political allies who have to compete in less friendly territory.

“I would rather have had less of a wonderful time of it, so there would be an easier time for (U.S. Reps.) Tony Beilenson and Howard Berman,” he said.

Berman (D-Panorama City), who previously represented a small portion of the Westside in Hollywood, is seeking a seat in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) chose not to engage in a bloody primary battle with Waxman. Instead, he is running in what appears to be tough territory for a Democrat, the 24th Congressional District, which is centered in the western San Fernando Valley and also contains Malibu and several Ventura County communities.

Democrats outnumber Republicans 48% to 41% in the 24th District, but because Democrats tend to be less loyal to their party than Republicans, that means it is competitive turf.

“This is the ultimate of marginal districts,” said Republican political consultant Doug Yoakam, who is working for conservative Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), one of a group of Republicans in that district seeking a ticket to Washington.

Other Republican candidates in the 24th include trade consultant Jim Salomon, businessman Sang R. Korman, airline pilot Bill Spillane, businessman Robert Colaco, and attorneys Stephen M. Weiss, Nicholas T. Hariton, Rob Meyer and Harry Wachtel. Salomon and Korman have each lost two previous races for Congress.

“This is the core of suburban conservatism in Los Angeles and Ventura counties,” Yoakam said.

Beilenson sees the district differently, noting that he already represents a little more than half of it, including affluent enclaves such as Woodland Hills and Malibu. The congressman believes he can appeal to voters in the new parts of the district.

Beilenson is likely to emphasize during the campaign his refusal to accept money from political action committees, saying that this demonstrates he isn’t beholden to special interest groups.

“I hope it will help,” Beilenson said. But, he added, that it also makes it more difficult for him to raise money that he will probably need in the general election.

The other secure seat on the Westside belongs to Rep. Julian C. Dixon, (D-Los Angeles). Dixon’s new district is much like his old one. Now called the 32nd Congressional District, it has been moved slightly to the northeast, dropping Westchester, which now is part of a mostly South Bay district.

In the overwhelmingly Democratic (76% of registered voters) district, Dixon has drawn no major-party challengers. “I certainly appreciate that I have what is known as a safe district,” Dixon said.

The congressman said he will nonetheless arrange for his name to be on slate mailers and will send select mailers to his constituents.

Without strong opposition, Dixon and Waxman would appear to be insulated from the burgeoning scandal over overdrafts on checks at the House bank. Dixon said he has a letter from the bank saying he has never written checks without sufficient funds to cover them. But he said that, because of recent disclosures about the bank’s sloppy record-keeping, he cannot be 100% sure until he takes a thorough look at his canceled checks.

Beilenson said he has no reason to believe he bounced any checks, but he also said he would refrain from a certain statement, pending an audit of his books.

A spokesman in Waxman’s office said the congressman is poring over financial records and will make a public statement when the task is complete.

There is no incumbent in a new coastal district, the 36th, a Republican-leaning district that runs from Venice to San Pedro, including Marina del Rey and Westchester.

The primary will be a free-for-all for both parties. There are 11 Republican candidates and eight Democrats.

On the GOP side, the three with the most name recognition are Maureen Reagan, daughter of the former president; Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, and Bill Beverly, son of state Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach).

Flores is seeking to position herself as a self-made woman who rose from the steno pool to the City Council, in contrast to Reagan and Beverly, who were born to political families and, she says, are running on the strength of their fathers’ names.

In her unsuccessful 1990 race to unseat secretary of state March Fong Eu, Flores said she garnered 57% of the vote in the district she now hopes will send her to Congress.

“My polls show I’ll do very well if I can get my word out,” Flores said.

She and Reagan both say that the critical issue for the district is the perilous health of the aerospace industry, the South Bay’s biggest employer.

Reagan, who said her famous father is helping her raise money, is planning an aggressive grass-roots campaign and already has people out knocking on doors. She describes the district as 17 small, definable areas, 12 of them separate towns. The ocean is visible from all but two of them, she says.

Another prominent name in the Republican primary is Bill Fahey, a federal prosecutor married to embattled Superior Court Judge Joyce A. Karlin. Karlin is fighting a recall effort sparked by her decision to place a Korean grocer on probation after the grocer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the death of a black teen-ager.

The rest of the field includes business executive John Barbieri, manager Don Karg, aerospace engineer Wayne T. McDonald, lawyer-businessman John (Scott) Stevenson, inventor Wayne Westling, Redondo Beach school board member Bart Swanson and actor Parker Richard Herriott.

On the Democratic side, attorney-activist Jane Harman is expected to have the money to mount a serious campaign. She is general counsel to Harman International Industries, a manufacturer of audio and video products founded by her husband, Sidney.

In the primary, Harman will compete with seven others, including another bearer of a famous political name, Ada Unruh. She is the daughter-in-law of the late Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh. The other contenders are community college educator Paul P. Kamm, economics teacher Bryan W. Stevens, writer Colin Kilpatrick O’Brien, author-scientist Gregory Stock, airline pilot Bob Konop and registered nurse Charlene A. Richards.

Most handicappers, however, say that, considering the Republican Party’s 46%-41% registration edge, any Democrat running in this district is going to be No. 2 come November. As Flores consultant Allan Hoffenblum put it, “If we started losing seats like this, it would be like seeing the Republican Party fall off a cliff.”

24th Congressional District

Where: Mostly in Western San Fernando Valley; extends across the mountains to include Malibu.

Registration: 48% Democratic, 41% Republican

Demographics: 78% Anglo, 13% Latino, 6% Asian, 2% black

Candidates:

Democrat --Anthony C. Beilenson, U.S. Representative Republican --Tom McClintock, Assemblyman --Bill Spillane, airline/fighter pilot --Robert Colaco, businessman --Jim Salomon, national trade adviser --Nicholas T. Hariton, attorney-businessman --Stephen M. Weiss, attorney, business consultant --Sang R. Korman, independent businessman --Rob Meyer, attorney/Navy reservist --Harry Wachtel, attorney Peace and Freedom --John Paul Lindblad, environmental health care architect

29th Congressional District

Where: Santa Monica-Pacific Palisades to Hollywood and Los Feliz, including the Santa Monica Mountains and Hollywood Hills.

Registration: 56% Democratic, 30% Republican

Demographics: 76% Anglo, 13% Latino, 7% Asian, 3% black

Candidates:

Democratic --Scott M. Gaulke --Henry A. Waxman, United States Representative Republican --Mark A. Robbins, attorney Libertarian --Felix Tsvi Rogin, rabbi and accountant Peace and Freedom --Maggie Phair, retired social worker --Susan C. Davies

32nd Congressional District

Where: Mar Vista, Palms, Culver City, Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw.

Registration: 76% Democratic, 15% Republican

Demographics: 40% black, 30% Latino, 24% Anglo, 7% Asian

Candidates:

Democratic --Julian C. Dixon, member of Congress Libertarian --Bob Weber, motion picture technician Peace and Freedom --William R. Williams, retired truck driver * (demographic percentages sometimes add up to more than 100% because census may count some Latinos in racial categories)

36th Congressional District

Where: Along the coast from Venice to San Pedro; includes Marina del Rey and Westchester.

Registration: 46% Republican, 41% Democratic

Demographics: 69% Anglo, 15% Latino, 12% Asian, 3% black

Candidates:

Democratic --Jane Harman, lawyer/businesswoman --Paul P. Kamm, community college educator --Bryan W. Stevens, government economics teacher --Colin Kilpatrick O’Brien, writer --Gregory Stock, author, scientist --Ada Unruh, president, nonprofit organization --Bob Konop, airline pilot, economist --Charlene A. Richards, registered nurse Republican --John Barbieri, independent business executive --Don Karg, manufacturing management --Bill Beverly, board member, El Camino Community College District --Bill Fahey, corruption/narcotics prosecutor --Wayne T. McDonald, aerospace engineer --John (Scott) Stevenson, international lawyer/businessman --Joan Milke Flores, Los Angeles city councilwoman --Maureen Reagan, businesswoman --Wayne Westling, inventor --Bart Swanson, member, board of education Parker Richard Herriott, actor Green --Richard H. Greene, environmentalist, international consultant Libertarian --Marc F. Denny, businessman/attorney Peace and Freedom --Owen Staley, college instructor