LOCAL ELECTIONS 24TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : Beilenson, McClintock Provide Voters Sharp Ideological Contrast

After the state Supreme Court rejiggered the boundaries of California’s congressional districts late last year, Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson of Los Angeles faced the kind of dilemma that gives politicians instant insomnia.

A liberal Democrat who represented Beverly Hills, Bel-Air and other chic Westside precincts for years, Beilenson saw his district cut in half by the court. He had to choose whether to run against a well-financed Democratic colleague, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, elsewhere on the Westside or take his chances in a Republican-leaning district based in the San Fernando Valley.

Beilenson chose the Valley district.

His decision set up a race that features one of the starkest ideological choices in California this year: Beilenson vs. conservative Republican Assemblyman Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks, a prominent tax foe.

The men are competing in the 24th Congressional District, a politically moderate swath of bedroom communities stretching from Sherman Oaks west to Malibu and north to Thousand Oaks in Ventura County.

Each contender believes his best bet is to paint his opponent as too extreme for the district, and the two are appearing in a lengthy series of debates and question-and-answer forums in hopes of giving their views as much exposure as possible. As of Oct. 5, voter registration in the district was 45% Democratic and 40% Republican--close enough to put the race in the tossup category.

Beilenson and McClintock have repeatedly crossed swords over taxes, abortion, national health care, defense spending and other issues. But so far, the debates have had an almost gentlemanly quality, with both men sticking to the issues and avoiding personal attacks.

The race is the toughest in years for the nine-term Beilenson, a lanky, professorial Harvard Law School graduate who has served in the state Assembly, Senate and Congress a total of 30 years.

Though he consistently gets good reviews from such left-leaning groups as Americans for Democratic Action and the ACLU, Beilenson’s handlers have tried to portray him as a moderate as he runs in the 24th District, a distinctly more conservative area than his old Westside domain.

Beilenson raised the ire of liberals and civil rights advocates in April when he announced his support of a bill by conservative Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) to deny automatic U.S. citizenship to American-born children of illegal immigrants.

Members of the California Federation of Teachers, a traditional Beilenson ally, were so angry they refused to endorse him in the June primary election. One union official derided Beilenson for trying to “win elections on the backs of these children.” However, the federation has endorsed Beilenson over McClintock in the Nov. 3 general election.

Beilenson responded that he has “long been a leader in efforts to halt illegal immigration.” He cited his support of measures to speed up deportation proceedings for illegal immigrants and step up efforts to secure U.S. borders. Unless illegal immigration is controlled, he warned, the public backlash could lead to restrictions on legal immigrants.

A member of both the powerful Rules and Budget committees in Congress, the bespectacled, low-keyed Beilenson, 59, has long won praise for his intelligence and integrity.

In 1990, he was named one of the “20 smartest members” of Congress by Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill. U.S. News & World Report named him one of the “12 Straightest Arrows” in the House, saying his “integrity is beyond question.”

Beilenson is one of a handful of representatives who do not accept campaign money from special interest political action committees. Before the practice was banned last year, he also did not take speaking fees from interest groups.

An ardent environmentalist, he authored legislation creating the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the vast public park running from Griffith Park to Point Mugu, and has championed federal appropriations to buy new parkland there. He also led House efforts to protect African elephants by restricting U.S. ivory imports.

As a state senator in 1967, Beilenson authored a bill liberalizing California’s abortion laws. He backs the Freedom of Choice Act pending in Congress, which would insulate abortion rights against court-ordered changes.

By contrast, McClintock--an intense-looking UCLA graduate elected to the Assembly a decade ago at age 26--is closely identified with conservative and anti-tax causes.

In 1991, he garnered national attention as the most vocal GOP critic of Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposed state tax increases, arguing that the state budget should be balanced with massive spending cuts instead. Human Events magazine named him one of the nation’s “Ten Young Conservative Leaders.”

An accomplished orator who often quotes Churchill, Lincoln and Tolstoy, McClintock this year introduced legislation allowing condemned prisoners to be executed by lethal injection, a move designed to neutralize court arguments that the gas chamber is cruel and unusual punishment.

Although he opposes criminal penalties for abortion, McClintock opposes the Freedom of Choice Act and government funding for abortions for poor women. Earlier this year, he introduced legislation to abolish the state Commission on the Status of Women and several other state boards as a cost-saving measure.

On the stump, he often attacks Beilenson as a tax-and-spender, telling audiences the congressman “never met a tax he didn’t like.” He frequently calls attention to Beilenson’s support of a proposed 50-cent-a-gallon increase in federal gas taxes, to be phased in over five years.

Beilenson counters that he has long been a fiscal conservative and points to ratings by the National Taxpayers Union that he says are better than most other House Democrats.

At the race’s outset, some observers speculated that Beilenson’s refusal to take PAC money would hurt him in a tight race. But he has shown unexpected fund-raising muscle, banking more than twice as much as McClintock from July 1 to Sept. 30, according to recent campaign reports.

Beilenson’s money came from 1,200 individual contributors, who are limited under federal law to $1,000 donations. Political action committees, which donate funds on behalf of special interest groups, can give up to $5,000 per election.

Thirty-seven percent of McClintock’s money during that period came from PACs representing, among other interests, oil companies, car dealers, banks and the National Right to Work Committee, which opposes unions. Earlier this month, he acknowledged hiring a Virginia political consultant who solicited more than 500 PACs on his behalf.

Although Beilenson was unopposed in the June primary election, McClintock spent $200,000 to win a fractious, nine-candidate primary race, leaving his campaign coffers badly depleted as the summer began.

Beilenson has repeatedly pointed to McClintock’s reliance on PAC money, saying it gives special interests undue influence over lawmakers.

“I’m free because I don’t take money from these people,” the congressman said in one debate. “Try it some time,” he urged McClintock, grinning. “It’s a very liberating experience.”

McClintock denied he was influenced by PACs and said some of his PAC contributions come from employee groups, rather than corporations.

He also sought to turn the tables by pointing out the numerous contributions to Beilenson from individual lawyers, environmentalists and members of what McClintock called “the Hollywood left”--including director Sydney Pollack, producer Norman Lear, and various actors and agents.

Though such contributors are not PACs, McClintock argues, they constitute special interests.

Craig Miller, Beilenson’s campaign manager, defended the donations, saying the congressman has a long record of supporting environmental causes. Hollywood figures give Beilenson money, Miller said, because they “prefer a moderate like Beilenson over an extremist like McClintock.”

Miller said Beilenson has never taken donations from organized attorney groups and is “not the slightest bit influenced” by donations from individual lawyers.

24th Congressional District 45% Democratic--40% Republican