For Beilenson, a New Kind of Balancing Act : Politics: The Democratic congressman is getting to know his 24th District, where constituents are considerably to the right of those he served before redistricting.

Facing a sea of mostly conservative, frequently skeptical constituents, Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson was defending both President Clinton’s embattled economic stimulus program and himself one recent night. And performing a delicate balancing act to boot.

“It’s not so much stimulus, it’s, as I tried to suggest, investment, “ the bespectacled Woodland Hills Democrat said as he stood in shirt sleeves in the Westlake Hills elementary school.

“You don’t have to agree with me,” Beilenson responded when many of the 140 or so assembled began hooting derisively. “I don’t have to agree with all of you. I’d like to find a few of you I could agree with.”

So it goes for Beilenson these days as he begins living with the reality that he now serves such decidedly right-of-center bastions as Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks rather than such staunchly liberal enclaves as Beverly Hills and Westwood.

“I’m a relatively, moderately liberal, progressive Democrat in many areas and I’m one of the most conservative Democrats in the entire House of Representatives on fiscal matters,” Beilenson told the town meeting. “I voted against an awful lot of stuff that most of my Democratic and many of my Republican colleagues voted for.

“But the truth of the matter is--I think most economists of all stripes believe this--the great tragedy of the ‘80s was that we borrowed all this money and we spent it and we didn’t invest it” in education, transportation, job training and communications, he said. “That’s what the President’s trying to do. And, I’ve said earlier, I’m trying to be fair to him.”

The give-and-take reflected the sometimes contentious get-acquainted process under way between Beilenson and his new constituents in the scenic Las Virgenes and Conejo valleys.

After Beilenson’s 30 years representing the solidly Democratic Westside of Los Angeles in the state Legislature and Congress, redistricting after the 1990 census left him with a 24th District that goes from Sherman Oaks to Agoura, extends up to Northridge in the West San Fernando Valley and spills out to Malibu and over to Thousand Oaks in Ventura County. This pushed the cerebral veteran into some areas in which he had barely set foot.

And it presented political peril. Only 46% of the registered voters in these affluent, heavily Anglo and largely suburban communities are Democrats--potentially making it one of the state’s most competitive seats.

Beilenson, 60, survived a tough reelection fight by a wide margin last November. And now he’s hard at work further introducing himself to those who will decide his fate again in 1994. In addition to the new areas, he continues to represent West Valley communities such as Tarzana and Canoga Park that made up 60% of his former district during the past decade.

The lawmaker’s move up the Ventura Freeway has gone surprisingly smoothly. He insists that he’s delighted, even energized, by the change of scene. A longtime friend confirms that, after some initial trepidation, Beilenson has “found a new comfort zone. He probably hasn’t worked that hard in years.”

And, based on the reaction of many of those interviewed at the Westlake Village town meeting and around the district, his new constituents appear fairly receptive to him--even if they don’t always concur with his philosophical stands.

Take Robin Willis, a Thousand Oaks Republican who voted for George Bush and Beilenson’s Republican opponent, former Assemblyman Tom McClintock, in November.

“He presents himself well,” Willis said of Beilenson after the town meeting. “I just hope he will have heard a lot of dissent.”

Beilenson heard, all right. But those dissidents just told him that he’s got to keep working to bring his new constituents along--to educate them.

“For a group of people, many of whom probably feel quite differently than I do on a number of subjects, they were relatively rational and good-humored,” Beilenson said moments after the nearly 2 1/2-hour session. “I’m not sure I made as much progress in persuading them to my point of view, but if they give me a few more times, maybe we’ll do better.”

Beilenson’s courtship of his new constituents extends to fellow elected officials. The congressman, his wife, Dolores, and an aide joined six Westlake Village officials over cookies and punch at the spanking new City Hall this month. Mayor James E. Emmons was there, as were council members Douglas Yarrow, Bonnie Klove and Kenneth Rufener--Republicans all.

“It’s very nice for me and for us to be out here,” Beilenson told them. “If you really want to do me a favor, ask me to help. We will put all our resources at your disposal.”

Emmons says this has already been apparent: “I’ve probably called your office two or three times--for tickets to the White House or whatever--and people have been very responsive.”

The officials shared their concerns about an environmentally sensitive property the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has acquired. Beilenson vowed to help encourage public agencies to buy the land surrounding the Westlake Reservoir so that it will remain open space.

The opportunity to work with councils such as this one is one reason Beilenson seems buoyed by his new turf. He helped the Thousand Oaks City Council and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy acquire the Linfin property to preserve it as open space last year--well before he was elected to represent the new district. City officials give him high marks.

In contrast to his experience in Los Angeles, which has so many congressional representatives to turn to, Beilenson says he is delighting in his contacts with officials of smaller municipalities as well as Ventura County, which he shares with only Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley).

“It’s nice to be needed, to be wanted, to be helpful,” Beilenson said during an interview in his Thousand Oaks office. “There’s a certain lack of community” among Los Angeles’ loosely demarcated jurisdictions.

“It was hard to reach out to them. Here, you know there are local governments, local public officials, local library associations, local welfare providers, local Planned Parenthood groups, whatever. You just feel closer.”

Beilenson, whose year-round residence is in Chevy Chase, Md., visits his district about once a month. (He also rents a home in Woodland Hills.) But he makes the most of his trips through highly visible town hall meetings and a full schedule of public and private meetings.

In three days during the recent Easter recess, he addressed the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce; toured Amgen, the Thousand Oaks pharmaceutical company; taught classes at Calabasas High School and Pierce College; stopped at Westlake Village’s City Hall; presided over two town halls and held numerous smaller meetings in his Woodland Hills and Thousand Oaks district offices with groups ranging from a Cub Scout pack to Planned Parenthood.

He told about 60 Conejo Valley business people assembled over breakfast at the Mediterranean-style Westlake Plaza Hotel that they should feel good about Clinton because “he’s involved, he’s interested, he’s very bright” and “we are grappling, for the first time in years, with some of the major problems.”

But, again, he balances: “I am a Democrat and many of you are not. Those of you who know me know I tend to be as least partisan as a congressman can be.” And he says he doesn’t blame the Senate Republicans for conducting a filibuster of Clinton’s stimulus program.

George Estok, a Thousand Oaks resident who voted for McClintock, attended the event.

“He represented me well,” Estok said of Beilenson. “He’s probably more conservative than a lot of Democrats. From what I’ve been able to observe so far, he hasn’t proved otherwise.”

Not everyone, however, was convinced.

“He’s a politician. They’re all very good. They have all the answers,” said Tom Toutz, a registered Republican with Libertarian leanings who also attended the breakfast.

“It’s only $15 million, it’s only $5 million. They’d only save $30 million so why bother saving it? So they just keep not saving to the tune that the country is going bankrupt.”

Everywhere he goes, Beilenson is asked about immigration. It happened at Calabasas High School, at Westlake Village City Hall and at the town meeting. He tends to respond at length.

Addressing about 75 students in the Calabasas High library, Beilenson replied to a question about a controversial bill he has sponsored to deny automatic citizenship to the offspring of illegal residents born in the United States.

After a ringing endorsement of legal immigration, Beilenson discussed the toll that he says illegal immigrants are taking on schools, public hospitals, welfare and other social services in Los Angeles County. He touts measures that he’s introduced to devise a counterfeit-proof identification card and beef up the border patrol.

Describing himself as “humane and compassionate,” he said, nonetheless, “there is a limit” in the face of skyrocketing population growth in California and tight resources.

Such comments invariably draw applause at public forums. Conservatives who praise Beilenson’s ideological moderation often cite this stance as reflecting their views. And his office reports that its mail and calls this year are running 497 to 7 in favor of the lawmaker’s proposals to stem illegal immigration or are expressing concern about the problem.

Beilenson has long been an advocate of civil liberties. His sudden high profile on this issue has raised eyebrows among some Democrats in Washington as well as among some California friends. Some insiders, noting that such a hard line would play less well on the Westside, say he has moved sharply to the right on immigration to reflect his new, more conservative constituents.

Beilenson strongly disputes this notion. He insists that he has been concerned about immigration for a decade and previously took a tougher line than most Democrats.

He said he only recently discovered the citizenship issue when Gallegly introduced a proposed constitutional amendment two years ago. Beilenson was the only Democrat to endorse it last year; this year he sponsored his own version of the measure--which is given no chance to pass.

“I don’t know anybody who knows me who believes that I’m doing this because of a changed political situation,” Beilenson insisted. “I guess there must be some old friends of mine who disagree with me about the constitutional amendment.”

Not just old friends.

Three Cal State Northridge students representing MEChA, a Chicano advocacy group, confronted Beilenson in his Woodland Hills office recently. They expressed outrage at his proposals, contending they would “hinder the civil rights of the undocumented.”

Beilenson responded that if illegal immigration is “not brought under control there will be a major backlash and legal immigration will be shut down, which would be a real tragedy.” He challenged the students, unsuccessfully, to tell him how best to enforce the law.

The session ended tensely. MEChA Chairman Jose Luis Vela vowed to hold demonstrations against the lawmaker and possibly run a candidate against him in 1994. And sophomore Miguel Perez, seated only feet from Beilenson, told him: “I’m sitting here and calling you racist.”

Beilenson maintains that the biggest change in his outlook stems not from the new district that he represents but from the new occupant in the White House.

“What’s wonderful about being in Washington this year is that we have a President who is trying his best to deal, in a sensible and honest way, with these major problems,” said Beilenson, who grew despondent about gridlock during the Reagan and Bush administrations.

“I cannot tell you how much better I feel. Whatever the political risks are back here, it makes all the difference in the world to me as a human being, in terms of feeling some self-worth.”

At the same time, Beilenson is aware that there is a downside to having a Democratic Administration. In the 24th District, opposition to Clinton’s sweeping economic program--with its steep tax increases and defense cuts--is growing. Beilenson’s mail and calls are running 553 to 400 against the plan, and anti-tax sentiment is particularly acute. (In contrast, correspondence to Democratic Rep. Henry A. Waxman’s Westside district is 2-to-1 in support.)

Beilenson “said he was a fiscal conservative at heart when he ran against McClintock,” said Jess Ruf, owner of Lumber City and other businesses and an Agoura Hills Republican who backed McClintock. But, by supporting the massive tax increases in Clinton’s plan, “he’s not a fiscal conservative at heart,” said Ruf, who strongly opposes the President’s program.

This may only foreshadow the reaction to the massive health care reform package that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and her task force plan to unveil next month. Beilenson said he expects that “most of the response is going to be relatively negative” because people will initially find they have less freedom to choose physicians without fully recognizing the longer-term benefits of providing coverage for everyone and eventually controlling costs.

Another visible political force in the district is composed of Ross Perot supporters. At the Westlake Village town meeting, a small band arrived early to claim front-row seats. These independent voters could be critical to Beilenson as he seeks to fend off what is expected to be another concerted Republican challenge next year.

John Peterson, a Perot volunteer who attended the session clad in a “United We Stand” sweat shirt, praised Beilenson for holding such open forums.

“Personally, I’ll vote for him because he comes to the people and talks to us and he doesn’t accept PAC (political action committee) money,” said Peterson, a business owner and conservative Democrat from Thousand Oaks. “Granted, he’ll do things that I disagree with, but you’ll never find a politician that does totally what you want.”

As he attempts to juggle his support for Clinton’s program--and the need to sell it to his more conservative constituents--with his own future reelection hopes, this is precisely the kind of approach Beilenson is counting on.

“People vote very independently,” the lawmaker said. “I do believe that even if the President is less popular next year than he is right now, that Democrats, myself included, might well have earned the respect and support of people we represent and we’ll continue to have their support.”