Mostly, Valley Voters Did Their Homework : Prop. 187 support taints otherwise laudable list of winners

The apparent reelection of Anthony Beilenson to represent the west San Fernando Valley in Congress suggests that these Valley voters acted like their congressman and made up their own minds.

In nine terms Beilenson has earned a reputation for determined, sometimes prickly, independence. He is one of a handful in Congress who spurns money from the political action committees of special interests.

Yet he seemed beatable in 1994.

He is a longtime Democratic incumbent, an unapologetic defender of the Clinton Administration. He was opposed by a well-financed Republican who shared his command of policy details, in a race nationally targeted by the Republican Party. The district’s 39% GOP registration put it in the zone where Republicans usually smell victory.

Beilenson nevertheless emerged from Election Day on top by 3,201 votes. True, that is fewer than 2% of the votes cast, and the official outcome awaits the counting of an unknown number of absentee ballots from the 24th Congressional District. Republican Richard Sybert is not conceding. But his chances look slim.

To explain Beilenson’s long survival, the experts talk about constituent service, his trips home for “town meetings” where he isn’t afraid to disagree with his audience, his willingness to debate opponents, the respect for his independence of mind.

On issues, Beilenson seized the initiative, notably by taking an early hard line on illegal immigration. However, liberals who accused him of pandering to voters by advocating the repeal of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment should note that he did not jump aboard the bandwagon for Proposition 187. He opposed it while Sybert supported it. Some people thought it would cost him the seat. Some went to bed Tuesday thinking it had. In fact it almost did, but not quite.

In other districts, party registrations made the returning of all Valley incumbents who sought reelection to Congress and the Legislature unremarkable.

In a race without an incumbent, the able Sheila James Kuehl won in the barely Democratic 41st Assembly District; she will be the Legislature’s first open lesbian.

Returning to Washington from safe districts with Valley constituents were the capable Democrats Howard Berman of the East Valley and Henry A. Waxman, with a sliver of the southeast Valley, suddenly toiling in the minority party, plus Republican Carlos J. Moorhead, whose district includes Glendale and Burbank, and Howard P. (Buck) McKeon, representing the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.

Distinguishing Beilenson from the supposed rascals in Washington was not the only proof that Valley voters had done their homework. There was also the Valley’s mauling of the tobacco industry’s initiative. The sad fact that it fared relatively well in the poorer East Valley--10 percentage points higher than in the Northridge-Chatsworth area--may have resulted from too little knowledge or too many smokers. In any event, the insulting initiative did no better than 37% anywhere in the Valley.

Regrettably, the voters here supported Proposition 187, the immigration initiative. In fact, it fared three points better than it did statewide, getting 62% of the vote in the four L.A. City Council districts that lie entirely within the Valley. The approval ranged from 65% in the northwest Valley to 52% in the less-affluent and largely Latino northeast.

It is hardly surprising that the global backlash against population pressure by poor people is a powerful force here, where a deeply rooted middle class perceives itself to be threatened and views existing public policy as ineffectual. Proposition 187 is a symptom, not a cure, however--and now come the lawsuits. Time will reveal the extent of its effects, intended and otherwise.