ELECTIONS / 24TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : McClintock Aims to Oust Beilenson, Take Anti-Tax Fight to Washington

The way Assemblyman Tom McClintock tells it, he was first drawn to politics by his mother’s tears.

The Thousand Oaks Republican recalls that about 25 years ago he saw his mother crying after she figured the family’s federal income taxes.

“All of her savings essentially were eaten up by an unexpected tax bill,” McClintock says.

“The tears and just utter frustration she felt are something I’ll never forget. It was as if everything she had worked for had gone up in smoke.”

It was a defining moment for McClintock, who has turned revulsion to higher taxes and bigger government into the linchpin of his fight for a staunchly conservative agenda.

Now, he seeks to carry his anti-tax crusade to Washington.

In the Nov. 3 general election, McClintock is battling liberal Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) for the newly drawn 24th Congressional District, which stretches from Sherman Oaks to Malibu and north to Thousand Oaks.

“This is a highly competitive district,” McClintock said. “The outcome will be close . . . and every vote will count; secondly, there’s a very clear choice.”

The contest is a classic conflict between one of the Assembly’s most conservative lawmakers, who is a proven vote-getter, and a highly regarded veteran liberal who faces his toughest race in years.

A sampling of McClintock’s stands on issues reflects his philosophy.

McClintock emerged as a vocal critic of a 1991 budget accord, which included tax increases aimed at raising $7 billion. Even before last summer’s budget impasse, McClintock warned that the 1991 agreement was leading to “the worst fiscal disaster in the state’s history.”

As long as environmental safeguards are met, McClintock supports oil drilling off the California coast. He seeks tougher anti-crime penalties but opposes gun controls. He opposes virtually all abortion-rights legislation, especially government funding for abortions.

After a decade in Sacramento, McClintock’s votes and views evoke strong sentiments from friends and foes.

McClintock, 36, is described by colleagues as a bright, likable, thoughtful and independent voice. He displays the fervor of an evangelist as well as a self-deprecating humor.

Detractors fault McClintock as an aloof, strident and self-righteous ideologue who in 10 years has failed to learn the art of compromise. They say he is too close to the business community, which has provided most of the contributions to his campaigns.

As a Republican lawmaker in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, McClintock starts off with built-in disadvantages. Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) assigns committee chairmanships, which generally go to fellow Democrats.

Even without a chairmanship or a big staff, McClintock has managed to turn his back-bench status into an asset.

From his desk in the back row of the ornate Assembly chamber, McClintock challenges his enemies; introduces legislation (at one point during last summer’s budget deadlock, pushing for about 50 budget amendments); and peppers Democrats on points of order.

He also regularly bashes leaders of his own party, especially on fiscal and tax issues. Earlier this year, for example, he asserted that Gov. Pete Wilson’s budget was “based on literally absurd revenue projections.”

McClintock ranks among the Legislature’s top naysayers. In the two-year legislative session that ended last month, McClintock cast more “no” votes on the Assembly floor--1,838--than any other lawmaker, according to Legi-Tech, a computerized information service.

His admirers cite his votes as a demonstration of McClintock’s willingness to break ranks with his party. Rep. John Doolittle (R-Rocklin), a fellow conservative who served in the Legislature with McClintock, says McClintock stands out because other lawmakers may dislike Wilson “but won’t risk offending him.”

Of McClintock’s combative style, Doolittle says: “If you get to be a big enough pain in the neck, they eventually try to accommodate you.”

His critics acknowledge that McClintock, a onetime newspaper columnist, knows how to attract publicity by issuing pithy sound bites for the nightly TV news but fault him for failing to find common ground with other lawmakers. Says one GOP legislative staffer: “You may get headlines but you won’t get things done.”

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) says that McClintock’s views are on the ideological fringe but that his colleague is not a knee-jerk reactionary. “He’s a true believer who does his homework and comes to positions based on heartfelt belief and research and a true sense of history from his perspective,” Katz says.

But Katz predicts that McClintock will be hurt because voters in the congressional district generally favor abortion rights.

Along with his high-profile stance opposing 1991 state tax increases, McClintock’s views on abortion rights, crime and the environment make up four domestic issues that paint a portrait of the lawmaker’s agenda.

In 1991, McClintock published a list of $14 billion in possible savings, ranging from such modest proposals as ending regulation of barbershops and beauty parlors to such sweeping proposals as replacing the system under which education is financed with a $4,000 voucher for all pupils to spend at the public or private school of their choice.

On abortion, McClintock opposes public funding, supports parental consent for teen-agers seeking abortions and opposes the federal Freedom of Choice Act, which would forbid states to impose restrictions on most abortions and overrule limits set down by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1989 Webster decision.

The National Right to Life Committee Inc. said that in 1991 he sided with the group on all seven measures the group identified as “pro-life.” By the same measure, the California Abortion Rights Action League says that in 1991 McClintock voted against six of seven abortion rights measures in the Legislature. The one measure he supported was a bill to make it a misdemeanor to intentionally block an individual from entering or leaving a health-care facility by obstructing access.

One of McClintock’s major anti-crime accomplishments, signed into law earlier this year, gave California Death Row inmates the right to select lethal injection as a method of execution.

On other law-and-order issues, McClintock, who previously was the lead Republican on the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, took strong stands to stiffen penalties for criminals.

Mike Pinkerton, former chief counsel for the committee, says McClintock is “basically interested in putting people away” in prison to prevent them from committing more crimes.

He opposed legislation outlawing assault weapons. His stand helped him draw a perfect rating from the National Rifle Assn. in 1990 and the group’s support this year.

On the environmental front, he believes strongly in property rights and opposes government’s limiting the use of property for any purpose. Calling himself a free-market conservationist, McClintock supports efforts to acquire parkland through voluntary sales of open space.

But he opposed a bill by his political mentor, Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita), to give the Coastal Commission power to immediately stop illegal grading; approved a proposal to force commission members to disclose secret contacts with developers and voted against a measure to save the state’s dwindling supply of native oak trees. In 1991, he sided with the League of Conservation Voters just 4% of the time, compared to an average of 15% for Assembly Republicans. In the same year, McClintock agreed 78% of the time with the California Chamber of Commerce, which lists environmental legislation on its score card.

A UCLA graduate, McClintock served as chief of staff to Sen. Davis before jumping into a 1982 Assembly contest. McClintock, who is married and has two small children, won and has handily won reelection ever since.

Even though he had served under the more moderate Davis, McClintock initially became identified with the so-called “caveman” faction of the Republican Assembly Caucus, known for its strong conservative views. Within a few years, he became part of the GOP Assembly leadership team controlled by the hard-right faction.

In 1986, McClintock said, his own poll showed him the clear front-runner for a seat in Congress because of his name identification.

But McClintock dropped out of the contest rather than bet his political future against entertainer Bob Hope’s son, Tony, who later lost to dark horse Elton Gallegly.

McClintock says that for several years he regretted the decision because, in retrospect, he believes that he could have won. Now, however, he believes he has had a greater effect in the Legislature.

Staying in Sacramento, McClintock developed a higher profile, splitting with both former Gov. George Deukmejian and Wilson on budget issues.

He maintained his position as caucus whip, the No. 4 spot in the party leadership. But in late 1989, Assembly Republican Leader Ross Johnson forced McClintock to resign from the post.

The following year, McClintock tried but failed to oust Johnson as Republican leader.

In spite of the setback, Assemblyman Stan Statham (R-Oak Run) maintains that McClintock has had a behind-the-scenes effect on the Assembly Republican caucus. “He has lectured us to death on what we are doing right and wrong,” Statham said.

But Statham said McClintock “hasn’t been successful” in the Assembly “because he’s quite a distance over there on the right side of the spectrum.” He is therefore rarely able to attract support on major bills that require 54 votes for approval in the 80-member chamber, Statham said.

Assemblyman Gerald N. Felando (R-San Pedro) says McClintock has the guts to stick by his convictions but snubs others when they stray from the conservative path.