Up in Arms : Congressman Says Town Meeting Crowds Are Getting Angrier About Issues at Home

Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) had come before about 150 of his constituents in Woodland Hills to talk and to listen when a man rose to give his representative an earful.

“You tell us the lousy job that Congress has done,” the man said, getting revved up. “You say the government is out of control. . . .

“Mr. Beilenson, we need a leader in this country. As a voter, I’m forced to give you a job termination notice. I’m thinking pink in 1992. I’m giving you a pink slip.”

Some reacted with boos. One constituent called Beilenson a good man. Another defended most members of Congress as “the hardest-working, most abused people in the United States.”

Beilenson, standing at a lectern in a school auditorium like a professor before his charges, has heard it all before. He witnessed a version of this exchange earlier that day at a similar session in Canoga Park and he will hear another reprise the next day in Tarzana.

“It comes with the territory,” the veteran lawmaker said matter-of-factly. “That’s one of our useful functions.

“It may be the thing we do best is endure punishment.”

In this season of economic distress and political discontent, West Valley residents displayed anger and confusion one recent weekend, all at Beilenson’s invitation. They packed school auditoriums to seek answers, provide input--or simply vent frustration.

They complained about congressional inaction and perquisites, an out-of-control budget deficit, unfair trade practices, the drain of illegal immigration and foreign aid in the face of unmet domestic needs. They wrung their hands over the corrosive influence of special-interest campaign funds, the $500-billion savings and loan debacle, gang violence, skyrocketing health-care costs and a faltering education system.

One man lamented that the presidential race was shaping up as “a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledummer.”

A woman asked why Congress fails to produce leaders today of the caliber of the late Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) and U.S. Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey (D-Minn.).

The residents were participating in town meetings, a ritual that, in one form or another, has been a part of grass-roots democracy in America since the colonists. Beilenson holds up to 20 of these freewheeling forums each year throughout his 23rd District that stretches from the West Valley over the Santa Monica Mountains to the Westside.

Participants in these recent two-hour sessions found in Beilenson--who is known for straight talk and faces a tough reelection race in a newly drawn, Republican-leaning district--a career politician who mirrored their pessimistic mood.

“It’s very hard for me personally to come home and talk to you nice men and women without any truthful assurances that things are going to turn around in the very near future,” Beilenson said in his opening remarks at Hart Street Elementary School in Canoga Park. “We have our job to do in Washington, and we have not done our job well in the last decade or more.

“We have gridlock in Washington,” Beilenson added, setting his navy blazer aside. “It’s the fault, to a certain extent, of the American voters who have been sending Republican Presidents and Democratic Congresses to Washington. Why did the people of this district vote for Ronald Reagan and for me? We didn’t agree on anything.”

Beilenson chose these meetings to inform some of his constituents directly that he, too, was part of the latest scandal undermining confidence in Washington. He acknowledged that he had inadvertently written five overdrafts at the now-defunct House bank for a total of $2,600. He had never been told and didn’t even know of the overdraft protection policy. He said he was a victim of slipshod practices and a badly mismanaged system that, nonetheless, did not cost taxpayers.

“I am an honest and a decent person, whether or not you agree with my politics and my positions,” Beilenson told about 200 constituents at Tarzana Elementary School. “I had no idea I had a problem.”

One man suggested that because “Congress is responsible for passing the nation’s banking laws” its failure to handle its own finances “tends to undermine the public confidence in whether they can do the job.” But, overall, the check brouhaha was mentioned surprisingly little given the enormous amount of publicity it has received.

“I see this whole check-cashing thing as a great smoke screen for people who want to draw attention away from the major issues,” said a woman in Tarzana, prompting applause. “All of us who have jobs have had perks in their work. . . . Yes, there was a little mismanagement on the congressman’s part, on the Congress’ part at large. But I think it’s a minor issue.”

This is not to say that people weren’t fulminating about Congress.

At one point in Canoga Park, Beilenson was listing possible budget savings to pare the $400-billion deficit when a man interjected that congressional salaries should be cut.

“We’re not getting a good return on our investment,” the man growled.

“I think you’re getting a pretty good return from me,” Beilenson replied.

“I don’t think so,” the man said.

“OK,” said Beilenson, testily, “Don’t vote for me.”

In an interview this week, Beilenson said that the crowds generally have grown larger, as well as more ornery, as the focus of the town halls has shifted in the past year from the more distant Soviet threat, which has receded, to a declining standard of living at home.

“They didn’t care before; it wasn’t as relevant to their lives,” said Beilenson, who was first elected in 1976. “People quite obviously are hurting and are more worried about their own livelihood, the quality of life for them and their families. So there’s a more intense and more strongly felt kind of discussion than perhaps we had three or four years ago.”

Beilenson, who has held these meetings for the past 10 to 12 years, said that half to two-thirds of the audience members are repeat participants.

Even as hostility toward Congress has intensified, the sessions remain good politics. Beilenson sends out 15,000 to 20,000 taxpayer-funded cards informing residents in various communities about an upcoming town hall meeting. After the meeting, he sends a follow-up letter letting them know that he had visited their neighborhood and listened to their concerns.

Republican Jim Salomon of Calabasas, who has twice opposed Beilenson and is seeking to do so again in the new 24th District that includes Malibu, parts of the San Fernando Valley and Thousand Oaks, has criticized the lawmaker for using the congressional franking privilege this way. Salomon vows not to use public funds to inform taxpayers of town hall meetings if he is elected.

“Of course, it’s good politically and of course you make friends with people who see you personally and once they see you’re a rational and reasonable person,” Beilenson said. “They may not agree with you on every issue, but they like it that you’re available and come around and talk to them.

“I don’t take it all personally. I only take a little bit of it personally.”