ELECTIONS : Outside Funds Become Focal Point in Races for Congress : All of the leading money-raisers have tapped sources away from their districts. Opponents say the tactic will backfire on the candidates.

Outside Money.

That nefarious-sounding term has begun resonating in two of the South Bay’s hardest-fought political races after the release last week of congressional campaign finance figures.

In the Carson- and Compton-based 37th Congressional District, Democrat Lynn Dymally--that contest’s leading fund-raiser with $137,020 from Jan. 1 to March 31--is drawing fire for tapping donors outside the district.

So are Republican Maureen Reagan and Democrat Jane Harman, whose respective raising of $166,764 and $86,975 in the same three months make them the top money-gatherers in the coastal 36th Congressional District.

All three campaigns dismiss the flak as sniping by rivals who would happily accept the same donations if they could get them.

“The fact that they are saying this is clear evidence that I’m the front-runner,” said Harman, a former congressional staffer and deputy secretary to the Cabinet in the Carter White House. “It also means I’m the one putting together the organization and support to win in the general election.”

But competitors say that candidates who rely heavily on out-of-town donations risk distancing themselves from the district and provoking a backlash in the June 2 primary elections.

“This is a volatile election year, and when people get slick mailers, they’re going to say, ‘Oh, it’s another one of these buy-the-election types,’ ” said Ada Unruh, one of Harman’s Democratic rivals in the 36th District. “It’s going to backfire.”

One of the most lopsided fund-raising leads in this year’s South Bay political races is occurring in the 37th District, which in the South Bay includes Wilmington and Carson.

In the first three months of the year, Dymally, a Compton school board member, raised nearly $100,000 more than Compton Mayor Walter R. Tucker III, the second best-financed candidate in the contest.

Dymally’s rivals in the district, which drew no Republican candidates, complain that she simply cashed in on the fund-raising connections of her father, Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton).

The incumbent surprised South Bay politicos Feb. 10 by announcing he would not run for reelection and was endorsing his daughter for his seat. Lynn Dymally acknowledges that her donations from January through March, a quarter of which were from out of state, came in many cases from supporters of her father.

But these people, she said, have also followed her own political career and have shown genuine interest in her candidacy, a fact that became clear on a recent East Coast fund-raising trip.

“On that tour I raised more money and had more response than my father ever had,” Dymally said. “People are not writing $1,000 checks because they’re loyal to someone’s father. They like my message; they like what I represent.”

But Dymally’s opponents cite the sizable amount of out-of-state money as a sign that as a congresswoman she would be beholden to the interests of donors outside the district.

“Usually when money comes from outside people there are more strings attached,” said Joe Mendez Jr. of Wilmington, a pipe-fitter at Mobil’s Torrance refinery and one of five Democrats running in the 37th District.

Added Mendez, who reports raising less than $5,000: “Our problem in Washington is we send people there with too many IOUs. They have to take care of the contributors before they take care of their constituents.”

A similar debate resounds in the 36th District, which hugs the coast from San Pedro to Venice and also includes Lomita, Lawndale and Torrance.

Among the Democratic contenders, the clear target is Harman, who is dramatically outpacing her six rivals, all of whom reported receiving less than $5,000 from January through March.

Out-of-state donors provided more than three-fourths of the donations reported by Harman. Opponents say such figures demonstrate that Harman, who moved to Marina del Rey this year from Washington, is unfamiliar with the 36th District’s South Bay and Westside turf.

“She doesn’t know the people in the district, let alone the names of the streets in the district, so how can she represent us?” said Unruh, the daughter-in-law of the late state treasurer, Jesse Unruh. “She is a bona fide Washington insider.”

Harman, an attorney, says she has focused her fund-raising efforts on East Coast colleagues and acquaintances because competition for funds is intense in Los Angeles County, with its myriad political races.

She says she has always had close ties to California. She lived in the state until 1970, served as chief legislative assistant to former Democratic Sen. John Tunney in the 1970s, and said she kept up with matters relating to the state and visited here regularly during the 1980s.

“There is not an issue at all about carpetbagging,” Harman said.

Unlike Harman, Republican Maureen Reagan has some stiff fund-raising competition from rivals for her party’s nomination in the 36th District.

Joining her above the $100,000 mark was Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, who raised $118,149. Flores’ total included more than a dozen $500 and $1,000 contributions from some of City Hall’s most powerful lobbyists and representatives of two controversial harbor-area scrap yards, Hugo Neu-Proler Co. and Hiuka America Corp.

Although most of Reagan’s donations are from California, the bulk are from communities outside the 36th District.

Reagan’s husband and campaign spokesman, Dennis Revell, acknowledges that her donor list reflects fund-raising help from her father. The former President has appeared at small fund-raisers for his daughter and on April 10 mailed a letter on her behalf to 20,000 donors.

The assistance, Revell says, will only enhance Maureen Reagan’s appeal to 36th District Republicans.

“At one of our fund-raisers the President said, ‘Maureen is my kind of Republican,’ ” Revell said. “I’ll let that speak for itself.”

Opponents say local voters are getting a different message about Reagan, a former talk show host and Republican activist who recently moved to Westchester from West Los Angeles, which is outside the newly created 36th District.

“There’s a certain resentment by people who live here,” said Torrance attorney Bill Beverly, one of 11 GOP candidates in the district and the son of state Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach). “It’s based on seeing someone come in with money from out of the area to buy a congressional seat that looks comfortable.”

Said former Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Fahey of Manhattan Beach, another Republican in the race: “Most people perceive Maureen as a carpetbagger. I was precinct-walking in Westchester and a number of people said, ‘Oh, she’s the candidate who moved into our community to run.’ ”

Campaign Fund Raising

Here is a listing of the money raised by candidates running in South Bay congressional districts. The figures cover funds raised from Jan. 1 to March 31. 35th Congressional District

(Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena, South-Central Los Angeles)

Democratic

Roger Young: $ 10,755

Maxine Waters (incumbent): under $5,000

Republican

Nate Truman: under $5,000

Libertarian

Carin Rogers: under $5,000

Peace and Freedom

Alice Mae Miles: under $5,000

36th Congressional District

(El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Lawndale, Lomita, Palos Verdes Peninsula, San Pedro, Venice, Westchester and Marina Del Rey)

Democratic

Jane Harman: $ 86,975

Colin Kilpatrick O’Brien: under $5,000

Charlene A. Richards: under $5,000

Bryan W. Stevens: under $5,000

Gregory Stock: under $5,000

Ada Unruh: under $5,000

Paul P. Kamm: unavailable

Republican

Maureen Reagan: $166,764

Joan Milke Flores: $118,149

Bill Beverly: $ 98,444

Bill Fahey: $ 43,606

John Barbieri: $ 12,056

Parker Richard Herriott: under $5,000

Don Karg: under $5,000

Wayne T. McDonald: under $5,000

Bart Swanson: under $5,000

Wayne Westling: under $5,000

John (Scott) Stevenson: unavailable

Green

Richard H. Greene: under $5,000

Libertarian

Marc F. Denney: under $5,000

Peace and Freedom

Owen Staley: unavailable

37th Congressional District

(Wilmington, Carson, Compton, Lynwood)

Democratic

Lynn Dymally: $137,020

Walter R. Tucker III: $ 39,192

Vera Robles DeWitt: $ 10,730

Lawrence A. Grigsby: under $5,000

Joe Mendez Jr.: under $5,000

Peace and Freedom

B. Kwaku Duren: under $5,000

38th Congressional District

(San Pedro, Long Beach, Lakewood, Downey)

Democratic

Evan Anderson Braude: $ 40,963

Peter Mathews: $ 9,997

Bill Glazewski: $ 7,000

Clarence Gregory: under $5,000

Ray O’Neal: under $5,000

Republican

Steve Horn: $ 60,813

Andrew J. Hopwood: $ 39,507

Tom Poe: $ 24,215

Jerry Bakke: $ 7,990

John Carl Brogdon: under $5,000

Sanford W. Kahn: under $5,000

William A. Ward: under $5,000

Dennis Brown: unavailable

Libertarian

Blake Ashley: unavailable

Peace and Freedom

Paul Burton: under $5,000

Source: Candidates and reports filed with Federal Election Commission