McClintock Phones for Funds in Effort to Best Opponent

Assemblyman Tom McClintock’s political future could hinge on a simple black telephone.

As he geared up to challenge Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) in the Nov. 3 election, the Thousand Oaks Republican dipped into his campaign kitty to install a private telephone line in his Capitol office to appeal for donations.

“I used to go home to make the phone calls, even local ones,” McClintock said, but with the demands of the legislative session “it was impossible to take the hour to drive back and forth to my home.”

The private telephone--allowed by the state’s political watchdog agency--is just one weapon in McClintock’s fund-raising arsenal.

More recently, McClintock staged a breakfast with a major GOP headliner, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp, that raised $45,000 and a fund-raising buffet featuring actor Charlton Heston that brought in an undisclosed amount of money.

The five-term lawmaker, who has been criticized by Beilenson for accepting special-interest campaign contributions, also hired a Virginia-based consultant to help him raise money from political action groups.

The outcome of the election could turn on these efforts to raise money for the bread and butter of campaigns--staff, mailers, advertising and other expenses associated with drumming up voter support. It is particularly important because Beilenson enjoyed a 2-1 advantage over McClintock in cash available for the campaign’s homestretch.

In Sacramento, McClintock is not considered a prodigious fund-raiser, ranking only 39th out of 80 Assembly members in a 1990 survey by Common Cause, the self-styled public interest group. Nonetheless, in the past five years, McClintock has added $856,000 in donations to his campaign coffers, according to Capitol OnLine, a computerized information service.

A review of his reports by the service shows that his top contributors have been real estate agents followed by bankers, insurance companies, physicians and other businesses with issues at stake in Sacramento. Many of the donations to his state campaigns also have come from individuals, ranging from those with specific aims such as a lawyer who seeks to keep open Camarillo State Hospital, to partisans who admire his outspoken conservatism.

Many of those same donors have dug into their wallets to support McClintock’s congressional bid. Likewise, donations to his current congressional campaign reflect support from business people, especially in the banking community, and ideologically conservative politicians and groups such as the National Rifle Assn., according to a review of campaign reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission.

His filings show that McClintock’s congressional war chest had received $300,000 as of Sept. 30, including almost $83,000 from political action committees, $164,000 from individuals and $22,770 from his Assembly campaign treasury.

McClintock is squaring off against Beilenson in the newly drawn, narrowly Democratic 24th Congressional District. The suburban district stretches from coastal Malibu to Sherman Oaks in the San Fernando Valley and Thousand Oaks in Ventura County.

In Sacramento, lobbyists say that their groups contribute to McClintock because of his pro-business orientation. “He’s a good supporter of business,” said Gerry Bonetto, director of government affairs for the Printing Industries of California.

Bonetto acknowledged that his group’s initial contacts with McClintock were forged when the lawmaker carried a bill in the mid-1980s to establish a tax break for certain types of printing. In the past five years, the printers have reported giving McClintock $5,150.

“I’ve been a very vocal advocate for tax relief . . . and I suspect that’s why they approached me to carry their legislation,” McClintock says.

Precisely because McClintock’s pro-business views are well-known, lobbyists say they don’t need to shower him with campaign contributions. Indeed, the manager of one major political action committee that has given McClintock sizable donations says he has never even met the legislator.

But the manager, who asked not to be identified, adds that “he’s been accessible” when the group’s lobbyists wanted to talk to McClintock.

In some instances, a company will back McClintock because they know exactly where he stands. For example, Arco has given McClintock’s state campaigns $8,500 in the past five years, primarily because of his views on issues. Doug Elmets, manager of California government relations for the oil company, said McClintock is one of many candidates “who we believe philosophically agree with issues of concern to Arco.”

In return, company officials “expect absolutely nothing,” maintains Elmets, who adds that Arco has chipped in another $3,000 to boost McClintock’s congressional bid.

Some contributors also weigh Beilenson’s views when deciding to give to McClintock.

Ken Fisken, who oversees the political action committee for the California Bankers Assn., maintains that McClintock in general “has a very good record of supporting banking issues,” compared to his rival.

Some of his financial backers are drawn to McClintock because of his conservative agenda. An outspoken opponent of gun control, McClintock has attracted nearly $8,000 in contributions in the past half decade from the National Rifle Assn. The group gave him another $4,950 for his congressional bid.

McClintock said he was not surprised that the California Real Estate political action committee was his top contributor, having given his legislative campaigns $16,665 over the past five years.

He said his mother is a real estate agent and “a lot of my initial support was from realtors who knew her, and that’s been cultivated over the years.”

One of those who has helped McClintock is Joseph P. Brown, a Thousand Oaks real estate broker. Brown has reported giving McClintock almost $5,000 over the past five years, including $450 to his congressional campaign. Brown said he’s opened his checkbook to McClintock, whose mother once worked for Brown, because he’s seen the legislator grow from high school activist to congressional contender.

“I really don’t have any interest in Tom beyond him doing a good job. I don’t call Tom because I have an interest in a bill in Sacramento . . . my business doesn’t require that,” Brown said.

Another regular McClintock donor is Leo A. O’Hearn, an Oxnard lawyer who has given the legislator’s state campaigns nearly $5,400--more than any other single individual in the past half decade, according to campaign reports.

O’Hearn said he was attracted to McClintock’s economic views and used to attend regular breakfast meetings with McClintock.

O’Hearn said McClintock also has been helpful in preserving Camarillo State Hospital as a mental institution and blocking efforts to convert the facility into other uses. O’Hearn said he has a grown son who is a patient at the hospital. “For some people, there’s no other place,” O’Hearn said.

One other source of money for McClintock is the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, which has given a high priority to defeating Beilenson. McClintock said he expects to receive $55,000 from the committee--the maximum allowed.

As for his telephone, McClintock said most of his own fund-raising calls were to individual donors in the district. He estimates that he has averaged about an hour a day using the phone.

By installing a special phone, McClintock joined a growing number of lawmakers who seek to maximize their time by calling from Capitol offices--a practice that is allowed by the state’s political watchdog agency, the Fair Political Practices Commission.

Asked how successful he’s been soliciting money, McClintock said, “Fund raising has never been a forte of mine, a strength of mine. But I think we’ll be able to raise enough to get our message out.”

McClintock PAC Contributions

As of Sept. 30, the congressional campaign of Tom McClintock has received the following contributions from political action committees:

AMOUNT % OF PAC TYPE OF PAC CONTRIBUTED CONTRIBUTIONS Ideological $25,699 31.0% Financial 16,000 19.3% Oil/Gas 9,250 11.2% Agriculture/Food 6,350 7.7% Real Estate/Development 6,000 7.2% Defense 5,750 6.9% Auto 5,000 6.0% Health 3,000 3.6% Other 5,737 6.0% TOTAL $82,786

Note: McClintock reports $106,906 in PAC contributions because he mistakenly reports $22,770 in transfers from his Assembly committee and $1,350 in party contributions as PAC donations.