State’s House Delegation Acts to Boost Clout

Members of the new California congressional delegation wasted no time in the days after last week’s election trying to resolve their longstanding partisan differences and convert their record numbers into real clout on Capitol Hill.

Many of the 52 veteran and newly elected lawmakers--who in January will make up the largest state delegation in U.S. history--say they are committed to bringing home a bigger share of federal projects than in previous years. And to prove it, House Democrats and Republicans from California are doing something unusual: talking to one another.

For the first time in memory, members from both parties of the delegation sat face to face during a three-day conference here last weekend to get better acquainted and briefed on critical issues facing California.

“It is particularly appropriate that we are meeting here on a bipartisan, nonpartisan basis,” said Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose), dean of the California congressional delegation. “I think there is a real opportunity here for us to bond and to realize that we are friends, we are fellow Californians and we have to work together for the benefit of California.”

An infusion of 17 freshmen lawmakers next year is expected to alter more than the look of the California House delegation. The diverse roster of newcomers includes four Stanford University graduates, a political science professor and three mayors, including Jay Kim of Diamond Bar, who becomes the nation’s first Korean-American congressman. They range from Santa Barbara Republican Michael Huffington, 45, a political neophyte and multimillionaire businessman, to Lynn Woolsey, 55, a Petaluma City Council member and former welfare mother.

These new members said that, with the state unemployment rate soaring to 9.8% last week, California voters are demanding that their representatives in Washington do something about the state’s grim economic picture.

“I got the message loud and clear during the campaign that people are sick and tired of partisan bickering,” said Republican Howard P. McKeon, the mayor of Santa Clarita who was elected to one of seven new seats last week. “They want people to work together. I’m prepared to do that.”

“We have to perform,” said Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles). “The gridlock last year was based on everyone posturing for the White House. I really am looking forward to more of a nonpartisan approach.”

Given a long history of backbiting and divisive infighting, the task of unifying the California delegation is a daunting one. For all the talk of unity, some members remain deeply split along ideological and regional lines.

One Orange County Republican was left seething after Tuesday’s election over the way Democrats stifled the liberal faction within their ranks in capturing the White House.

“It’s time for guerrilla warfare,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who was reelected to a third term. “We’re the loyal opposition. . . . The Democrats have kept every wacko and nut case locked up in the back room for the last six months (of the presidential campaign). Now the inmates are going to take over the asylum.”

This is not the first time California congressional leaders have vowed to put aside their political differences with the hope of boosting the delegation’s influence in Washington. In 1988, after the loss of a $4.4-billion superconducting supercollider to Texas and a $50-million earthquake research center to Buffalo, N.Y., delegation leaders of both major parties tried to establish a nonpartisan research institute in Washington to help the California delegation compete better against other states.

Though few disputed the need for an office to bring projects to California, the idea was scrapped. It was then revived in 1989, but the California Institute for Federal Policy Research was not formed until September of last year.

The California Institute, financed by corporate interests, has been frustrated at times in its efforts to coalesce the delegation. During the recent 102nd Congress, California legislators seemed as divided as ever while publicly sparring on the House floor over battles ranging from desert protection legislation to urban aid for riot-torn Los Angeles. The delegation also failed to prevent Hughes Aircraft from moving all of its missile-building operations and up to 4,500 jobs from Southern California to Arizona.

“Both of Arizona’s U.S. senators and the Arizona congressional delegation got together and really courted Hughes,” said Frank Cruz, chairman of the California Institute. “And ultimately that is why they left.”

Now the institute is seeking to pull the delegation together by hosting a series of monthly dinners in Washington next year to discuss and promote the California agenda.

In its first highly visible venture, the institute co-sponsored last weekend’s conference in San Diego with the University of California. The three-day affair was called “The Bipartisan Delegation: The Spirit of Cooperation in the New Era.”

“This is a very historical, significant undertaking for the state of California,” said Cruz, who is chairman of Gulf Atlantic Life Insurance Co. “We constitute one-eighth of the incoming House of Representatives. No state has ever had this kind of clout. It is time we turn that numerical strength into a newfound energy.”

The conference got off to an inauspicious start Thursday when no Republican bothered to show up at a news conference designed to tout the delegation’s bipartisan approach and only half a dozen members attended the day’s opening session.

As the conference wore on, a mix of about 30 new members and incumbents heard UC instructors and California business executives lecture on the federal budget, the global economy, the plight of the nation’s inner cities, the banking crisis and national health care. The institute and UC officials closed the sessions to the media, even though taxpayer funds were used to finance the conference and several House members said they favored keeping the meetings open.

“The consensus was that we would serve members best by having an opportunity to have free-flowing conversation without being concerned about the press and the public,” said UC Vice President William B. Baker.

The delegation heard Republican Gov. Pete Wilson talk on Friday about the importance of “state-federal cooperation” in advancing California causes in Washington. Wilson, whose voice could be heard outside a room on the UC San Diego campus, told legislators that California has not received its fair share of government grants and programs.

“We have in many cases not achieved the full potential of this delegation,” said Wilson, who served as a U.S. senator for eight years before becoming governor. “The fact is (other states) are out there trying to steal California jobs.”

Wilson’s plea for the delegation to work together contradicted his highly partisan attacks on congressional Democrats last month for approving a controversial western water bill that will overhaul the distribution of federal water in California, said Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez).

“It rings a little hollow,” said Miller, the Interior Committee chairman who was the central player in a decade-long quest to reform the massive Central Valley Project. “I never heard a word from (Wilson) during that entire water debate.”

The most useful part of the weekend conference, many lawmakers agreed, was the opportunity to mingle and get to know one another better.

“I’ve made a lot of good contacts that will be helpful in building working relationships,” said Walter R. Tucker III, the Compton mayor who won 86% of the vote in the heavily Democratic 37th District.

State Assemblyman Xavier Becerra, who will represent the Los Angeles communities of Echo Park, Silver Lake and Westlake in Congress, said he was impressed with the level of cooperation between incumbents and his fellow new members.

“Maybe the freshman class can be the glue for the delegation,” Becerra said. “I’ve talked to most Republicans and Democrats here, and they all feel the same way. We’ve got a mandate from the public to reform government.”

Members said the fresh approach of new members is among several developments that should result in a more effective delegation in the next congressional session. Others include:

* The election of Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to the Senate, along with their shared commitment to focus attention on the California economy. They will replace Democrat Alan Cranston, whose priorities were mostly in the global arena, and Republican John Seymour, a Wilson appointee who was given little opportunity to establish himself before being defeated by Feinstein.

* The new partisan makeup of the delegation. While Democrats may gain at least two seats over their previous seven-seat edge, the delegation appears less split along partisan lines in some areas. In San Diego, voters replaced a conservative, all-GOP delegation with two Republicans and two Democrats in attorney Lynn Schenk and City Councilman Bob Filner.

The departure of right-wing Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), who was defeated last spring in a Senate primary, should lead to a more moderate Orange County delegation. Democratic lawmakers said that Dannemeyer was so defiant in his ultraconservative ideology that he was nearly impossible to deal with.

“Bill had a lot to do with the negative influence in the delegation,” said Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Sacramento).

* Recent indications of an improved relationship among California members. On many occasions, all 45 members of the House delegation signed letters last year threatening to withhold their votes unless California received its share of federal funding. In September, Rep. Edwards and Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), who rank at the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, joined to persuade the Army to reassess a planned 24% reduction of the California National Guard for 1993. Congress has ordered an 8% reduction nationwide.

* The movement of both political parties to the political center. During the recent campaign, many House Democrats in California followed the centrist path blazed by President-elect Bill Clinton while many Republicans in the state ran away from President Bush.

“I’m still looking for possibilities of change,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles). “We have some opportunities to form some coalitions and coup d’etats to get things done.”

The Class of 1992

An unprecedented number of California House seats had no incumbent this year. The vacuum brought out a record number of candidates for the June primaries--many of them newcomers to politics or grass-roots officeholders. The survivors from each party went head-to-head last week. When the dust settled, and one incumbent had lost, 15 hopefuls were new members of Congress. Two races, neither of which involved incumbents -- the 11th Congressional District in the Sacramento-Stockton area and 43rd Congressional District in Riverside County -- are still in doubt.

Dan Hamburg, 44, Democrat

DISTRICT 1

Career: Mendocino County supervisor from 1981 to 1985. Developed a cultural studies program in China, where he and his wife lived for two years.

Personal: Father of three grown children. Lives in rural Ukiah.

Education: Stanford University.

*

Lynn Woolsey, 55, Democrat

DISTRICT 6

Career: Businesswoman, Petaluma City Council.

Personal: A native of Seattle. In the 1960s, while working in Marin County, she was forced to accept welfare to support her three children. She later started her own employment agency.

Education: University of San Francisco.

*

Bill Baker, 52, Republican

DISTRICT 10

Career: Elected to the state Assembly in 1980. Was an official with the Contra Costa Taxpayers Assn.

Personal: A fourth-generation Californian. Lives with his wife and their four children in Danville. Served in the Coast Guard.

Education: San Jose State.

*

Anna Eshoo, 50, Democrat

DISTRICT 14

Career: San Mateo County supervisor since 1982. Ran for Congress in 1988 and introduced innovative campaign tactics, such as videos sent to households.

Personal: Lived in the district 26 years. Has two grown children.

Education: Canada Community College.

*

Michael Huffington, 45, Republican

DISTRICT 22

Career: Santa Barbara businessman.

Personal: Heir to Houston oil and gas fortune. Came to California from Texas two years ago and bought a $4.5-million mansion. His wife is an author and socialite.

Education: Stanford University, BA, BS; Harvard, MBA.

*

Buck McKeon, 54, Republican

DISTRICT 25

Career: City of Santa Clarita’s first elected mayor. Co-owner of Howard & Phil’s Western Wear Inc., a 50-store chain; chairman of Valencia National Bank.

Personal: He and his wife have six children.

Education: Brigham Young University.

*

Xavier Becerra, 34, Democrat

DISTRICT 30

Career: Elected to state Assembly in 1990. Served as aide to state Sen. Art Torres and as deputy attorney general.

Personal: Lives in Los Angeles with his wife, a physician.

Education: Bachelor’s degree, law degree, Stanford University.

*

Lucille Roybal-Allard, 51, Democrat

DISTRICT 33

Career: Elected to the state Assembly in 1987. Was planner for United Way.

Personal: Daughter of Rep. Edward R. Roybal, who is retiring this year. Married and has four children.

Education: Cal State Los Angeles.

*

Jane Harman, 47, Democrat

DISTRICT 36

Career: Lawyer. Member of Carter White House staff, aide to Sen. John Tunney.

Personal: Grew up in West Los Angeles, has homes in district and in Washington. Married to audio equipment manufacturer, has two children.

Education: Smith College, Harvard Law School.

*

Walter R. Tucker III, 35, Democrat

DISTRICT 37

Career: Mayor of Compton. Served as deputy district attorney in Los Angeles. Practiced law in Compton.

Personal: An ordained minister. Born and raised in Compton, where his father was also mayor.

Education: USC, Georgetown Law Center.

*

Steve Horn, 61, Republican

DISTRICT 38

Career: Professor of political science, Cal State Long Beach. President of the university, 1970 to 1988.

Personal: He and his wife have lived in Long Beach since 1970. Two grown children. Has written three books on Congress.

Education: Stanford University, BA, Ph.D.; Harvard, MPA.

*

Ed Royce, 41, Republican

DISTRICT 39

Career: Elected to state Senate in 1982. Was tax manager for Southwestern Portland Cement Co.

Personal: Southern California native, lives with his wife in Fullerton.

Education: Cal State Fullerton.

*

Jay Kim, 53, Republican

DISTRICT 41

Career: Mayor, Diamond Bar. President and founder of Jaykim Engineers Inc.

Personal: Born in Korea, moved to San Bernardino County as a young man. Married, has three grown children.

Education: USC, BA and MS; Cal State Los Angeles, MPA.

*

Lynn Schenk, 47, Democrat

DISTRICT 49

Career: Attorney. Vice chairwoman, board of San Diego Unified Port District.

Personal: Native of New York City. Moved to Los Angeles in late 1950s. Married, lived in district for 25 years.

Education: UCLA; law degree, University of San Diego.

*

Bob Filner, 50, Democrat

DISTRICT 50

Career: San Diego City Council. Taught history at San Diego State University for more than 20 years.

Personal: Raised in New York City. Joined Freedom Riders in Mississippi, arrested in 1961 for integrating a lunch counter. Married, two children.

Education: Cornell University, BA, Ph.D.; University of Delaware, MA.