Moorhead Wins Secret Vote to Be Minority Leader of Key Panel : Congress: In another bid, Anthony C. Beilenson seeks to be chairman of the Budget Committee, but he faces stiff opposition from three others.

Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead virtually assured that he will become the Republican minority leader on the House Energy and Commerce Committee when he staved off a challenge Tuesday by a veteran colleague in a key vote by GOP lawmakers.

This could make the Glendale conservative a significant player on a broad range of business, health, environment and technology issues.

The Energy and Commerce Committee handles as much as 40% of the measures to reach the House floor, according to some estimates.

In another development, an aide to Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) confirmed that the 16-year veteran has begun to seek support to succeed Rep. Leon E. Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) as chairman of the House Budget Committee. Panetta will reportedly be named director of the Office of Budget and Management by the incoming Clinton Administration this week.

In a secret tally Tuesday, the Republican Committee on Committees endorsed Moorhead over Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R-Va.) as ranking minority member, according to two Republicans familiar with the outcome of the vote. Touting himself as a stronger leader, Bliley had decided to oppose Moorhead, who was next in line to succeed retiring Rep. Norman F. Lent (R-N. Y.).

The panel’s vote will not be made public until it makes its recommendation to the 176-member House Republican Conference today. The conference is expected to ratify the recommendation.

Moorhead declined to discuss the decision until the conference takes final action.

But earlier, he expressed confidence that he would prevail.

“I’m the senior member of the committee,” Moorhead said. “There’s nothing about my credentials that should indicate that I shouldn’t keep the job.”

Bliley partisans said the six-term Virginian had been urged to run by colleagues who feared that the easy-going Moorhead would be no match for hard-nosed Energy and Commerce Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) and the Clinton Administration. Some expressed particular concern about health-care reform, which promises to be among the most important and contentious issues that the 103rd Congress tackles.

“I’m not going to be one of those people who is just going to shout to hear myself shout,” Moorhead said, responding to the criticism. “I’d rather work to win. I think we come out much better using the style I have than we would using some of the others’.”

Moorhead, 70, has one of the most conservative voting records in Congress. He is a proponent of lower taxes and less government spending, and is critical of much government regulation. He recently won reelection in a newly drawn and less overwhelmingly Republican 22nd District that encompasses Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena.

Beilenson, whose 24th District includes portions of the San Fernando Valley, the Westside and Ventura County, has belatedly mounted a bid to win an expected four-way battle to head the high-profile Budget Committee. A close ally of Panetta’s, he is one of the Democrats’ leading proponents of deficit reduction and one of the House’s foremost experts on the budget process.

“He is interested,” acknowledged Kaye Davis, Beilenson’s spokeswoman. “He has had preliminary discussions with a number of members and he has received a considerable amount of favorable response.”

House sources said Rep. Martin Olav Sabo (D-Minn.) has quickly emerged as the leading candidate, followed by Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (D-S. C.) and Beilenson. Rep. Charles W. Stenholm (D-Tex.), the conservative in the field, is considered a long shot. Some suggested that, even though Panetta’s appointment is not yet official, Beilenson’s entry came too late.

“Marty Sabo has talked to a zillion people,” said a House staffer whose boss serves on the committee. “He’s gotten a lot of commitments. He’s been rolling for a week.”

The entire House Democratic caucus selects committee chairmen. Candidates generally establish steering committees of supporters and wage campaigns for colleagues’ votes.

Some members of the large and influential California delegation have said privately that they had committed to support Sabo before Beilenson began expressing interest in recent days.

Times staff writer Sara Fritz contributed to this story.