Los Angeles Raider : Entertainment: Massachusetts governor woos filmmakers to his state with promises and panache.

Amid accusations that he is trying to steal jobs from an already ailing California economy, Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld marched through Tinseltown this week in an all-out effort to woo filmmakers to the Bay State.

The jobs flap took a strange political twist as California Gov. Pete Wilson, while publicly vowing to defy promotional efforts of his fellow Republican, nevertheless had a private fund-raiser for Weld on Tuesday night.

Over two tightly scheduled days that included closed-door meetings with top executives at virtually every major production studio, Weld touted his home state as “film-friendly” and offered movie makers an improved labor climate, free use of public facilities and unmatched New England ambience.

“We’re here to plug our state and plug it as best we can,” Weld said at a Monday night reception for industry representatives held at Paramount Studios on the set of “Cheers,” the comedy series that takes place in a fictive Boston bar.

Locally, however, Weld--who arrived with a large delegation of officials from back home--drew fire, as politicians here accused him of trying to kick a state that’s already down.

“Any time that government can hand out public services at no cost it’s a matter of concern,” Deputy Los Angeles Mayor Mark Fabiani was quoted as saying this week. “Los Angeles isn’t in a position to do that. If we have an extra dollar, we’re going to spend it on another policeman.”

Overall, the film industry pumps $24 billion a year into the California economy, but “runaway productions”--films, TV shows and commercials shot elsewhere--are believed to cost the state economy an estimated $3 billion annually.

And politicians wielding slick brochures of their far-flung home bases are nothing new in Hollywood. Texas Gov. Ann Richards made a trip similar to Weld’s two years ago and is a regular visitor. Just last week in Santa Monica, a “location show”--in which cities, states and countries promoted themselves as film settings--drew 192 exhibitors, including Massachusetts.

Wilson, meanwhile, seemed concerned about the Massachusetts governor’s visit, saying last week that he intends to “frustrate (Weld’s) effort to take our industry.”

But that did not stop him from pressing on with the fund-raiser for Weld, who is up for reelection in 1994 and who, like Wilson, has been mentioned as a potential contender for the GOP presidential nomination.

A spokesman in Wilson’s office in Sacramento declined to comment on the fund-raiser but reiterated that Wilson will work “aggressively to keep those (film) jobs here in California.”

In an apparent effort to avoid local scrutiny, the Massachusetts contingent and Paramount attempted to limit coverage of the “Cheers” reception to Boston-based media and some trade publications. A photographer from The Times was denied access.

Weld shrugged off the swirling allegations of piracy, insisting that he was merely trying to drum up more on-location filming destined to be shot beyond California’s borders anyway.

“We’re not looking for anyone to move studio work,” Weld said Tuesday at a breakfast meeting sponsored by an entertainment industry coalition. “We’re talking about location shooting.”

In years past, Massachusetts has suffered from a poor image among Hollywood’s elite, who viewed the state as uncooperative with filmmakers and a bastion of bizarre union regulations.

In a 1990 incident that left a dark stain on Massachusetts’ reputation in Hollywood, a production company was left waiting on an ice-covered pond for a Teamsters Union driver to deliver a load of equipment. He rolled in from Boston half a day behind schedule and cost the company $250,000.

But times have changed, or so it appears. George Cashman, the new president of Massachusetts Teamsters Local 25, arrived with Weld to spread the word that the union has cleaned up its act.

And now it is California that is struggling with a negative image. Tough environmental regulations, soaring workers’ compensation costs, transportation woes and other factors have been blamed for the exodus of scores of businesses and for contributing to an unemployment rate that ranks among the highest in the nation. Los Angeles County is particularly hard hit, with an 11.2% unemployment rate.

But members of the Massachusetts entourage were making no apologies for their efforts, even as Democrats back home were blasting Weld for using the trip as a taxpayer-financed junket to raise campaign cash.

“This is work that had to be done,” said Boston City Councilman John Nucci.

Thomas Kershaw, owner of the Bull Finch Pub, was equally sanguine as he sat on the set of the hugely popular television show his Beacon Hill bar inspired.

“We’ve been economically depressed for a lot more years than California,” he said.

Kershaw, traveling with the delegation in his capacity as chairman of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, noted that over the years, Massachusetts has lost its textile and shoe manufacturing industries and parts of its high-tech industry, calling it the reality of a competitive market.

“California gave up their birthright (to the movie industry) a long time ago,” he said.

Several delegation members pointed out that, due to poor marketing tactics, Massachusetts lost many film projects that demanded an authentic New England setting but were done elsewhere.

Massachusetts officials say the state reaps $209 million annually in economic benefits associated with filmmaking. A film budgeted for $30 million and shot in Massachusetts, they said, typically brings $12 million in new business to the state.