ELECTIONS / 24TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : 11th-Hour Contributions Buoy McClintock

Republican congressional contender Tom McClintock is benefiting from a surge of eleventh-hour campaign donations by special-interest groups, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Assemblyman McClintock’s campaign took in at least $42,000 in the past two weeks, the reports said. Of that, $27,500--or 65%--came from groups representing beer wholesalers, realtors, chiropractors, insurance interests, gun owners and others.

By comparison, his Democratic rival, Anthony C. Beilenson, banked $8,000 from individuals--almost all of them well-heeled constituents on Los Angeles’ Westside, parts of which the liberal congressman has represented for years.

But McClintock’s last-minute intake of money failed to overcome Beilenson’s substantial overall fund-raising lead. Beilenson has raised $320,224 since June, McClintock $207,435.

The FEC late-contribution reports again underscored McClintock’s heavy dependence on campaign cash from political action committees, or PACs, and other special-interest groups. Since June, nearly 49% of his campaign funds have come from such organizations.

Beilenson, who accepts no special-interest cash, has attacked McClintock repeatedly for doing so, saying that such funds give corporations, labor unions and other groups undue influence over lawmakers. Beilenson’s camp believes the issue may be decisive in the tight race in the 24th Congressional District, which includes portions of Thousand Oaks, the southwestern San Fernando Valley and Malibu.

But Beilenson suffered embarrassment this week after an abortion-rights group said that, at the request of his campaign, it was raising money for direct-mail brochures promoting his candidacy. The arrangement could have been construed under federal law as a PAC contribution.

The congressman, who said he was unaware of the arrangement, immediately told the group to stop and returned $550 that had already been sent to him.

Among McClintock’s late special-interest contributors were the National Beer Wholesalers Assn., which gave $5,000; Safari Club International, a Minnesota-based gun owners group, $3,000; the American Chiropractic Assn., $2,500; Realtors PAC, $2,000, and the BankAmerica Federal Election Fund, $1,000.

He also received $5,000 from the California Republican Party and $4,000 from the Republican National Committee. Among his individual contributors were movie producer Jerry Weintraub and Carolyn Starkman, the wife of Isaac Starkman, who owns the Jerry’s Deli restaurants. Each gave $1,000.

Beilenson’s contributors included an attorney and a doctor from Beverly Hills and an environmental activist from Kentfield, an affluent Marin County town. Each gave him $1,000, as did Charles Winner, a prominent Democratic political consultant.

Craig Miller, Beilenson’s campaign manager, attacked McClintock over the late donations, saying the conservative assemblyman waited until close to Election Day to accept contributions from “the most politically damaging special-interest groups.”

“He took in thousands and thousands of dollars at the last minute from oil companies . . . banks and the insurance industry. It’s an obvious attempt to deceive the public about the sources of his campaign funding,” said Miller.

McClintock replied that several late givers, including the beer wholesalers, have contributed in the past and that he has reported their gifts on his campaign finance statements.

He added that many of his PAC givers, such as the Transamerica Insurance PAC and Chevron Employees PAC, represent individual employees rather than corporations.

“These are individual employees contributing in very small amounts. These are from people who can’t afford to write a check for $2,000 to a candidate,” he said.

McClintock also criticized his rival for sending out direct-mail brochures to voters charging that McClintock “continues to accept honoraria”--speaking fees paid to lawmakers by special interests.

California voters banned such fees for state lawmakers in 1990.

Noting that there are criminal penalties for taking honoraria, McClintock said it was “despicable” for Beilenson to make “a false charge of criminal conduct six days before the election,” saying he has no time to rebut it.

Asked to explain the mailer statement, Miller said: “If we were mistaken, we regret it.”