After the Vote, Valley Loses Place in Line : With GOP ascendancy in Congress, prospects fade for local representatives to make the most of their seniority--and bring home the bacon to their constituents.

When I was a boy, my dad said, “Son, they told me if I voted for Barry Goldwater, there’d be a war. Sure enough, I voted for Goldwater and there was a war.”

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been imploring the few friends who look to me for voting advice to put aside their frustrations with Washington and back the powerful Democrats who can bring home the bacon--or pork, as the case may be--to help rebuild the Valley, put more police on the street and provide good jobs for our friends and neighbors.

If my dad were around today, he might say, “Son, they told me if I voted for Rich Sybert, we’d lose our political clout. Sure enough, I voted for Sybert and we lost our clout.”

With a Democratic majority, we were just beginning to realize the benefits of having three Valley congressmen high on the seniority ladder.

Rep. Henry Waxman, who represents parts of Studio City, was chairman of the health and environment subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee and was considered by many the likely choice to be the next chairman of the full committee. With jurisdiction over business, transportation and environmental issues such as air quality, Waxman was in a key position to help the Valley.

Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson, who represents the West Valley and is the chief fund-raiser for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy in Congress, was poised, due to his key relationships in the House, to work with the Clinton Administration to bring even more federal dollars to our area to protect open space and buy parkland.

Rep. Howard Berman, who represents the East Valley, spearheaded the effort to make sure the Valley would be home to the design and manufacture of the electric car. Berman also has been browbeating Congress and the Administration for 1,000 more police officers for the Valley. The restoration of blighted Hansen Dam is finally under way after 14 years!

Now, with a Republican majority in Congress, next year’s funding for Hansen Dam is in doubt--as is much else.

The mantle of Valley leadership could pass to Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale), who must have felt like a kid in a candy store when the GOP took the House. The 22-year House veteran is in line to get his pick of the chairmanships of two of the most powerful committees in the House: Judiciary or Energy and Commerce.

Judiciary is important from a local perspective. Civil rights, copyrights (many of the large studios are in his district), not to mention the death penalty, immigration and expansion of the “three-strikes” punishment are all within the committee’s domain.

As good as Judiciary is, Energy and Commerce is the big enchilada. It deals with business, telecommunications, cable TV, air quality, AIDS, transportation--with all the attention from the special interests, Moorhead will never be lonely.

But it is not a slam dunk for Moorhead. First, Rep. Newt Gingrich, in line to be House Speaker, has talked about restructuring the committee system--although it’s hard to imagine Congress without these two workhorse committees. It may be some time before we get an idea of what the new House will look like.

Second, Moorhead will almost certainly be challenged for the E and C post and might be challenged by a younger, more aggressive member for the chair of Judiciary as well.

Moorhead has beaten back challenges before--he won a tough race to be ranking member of E and C. But this is a whole new ballgame, and many of the rules might not have fallen into place. Moorhead’s future could well rest with the special interests that will no doubt be influential.

The other big question is Moorhead’s ability to accept the challenge. He’s been in Congress and in the minority a long time. Can he govern rather than simply obstruct? And what about his local orientation? True, portions of his district are in the Valley, but Burbank is a long way from Pacoima, in more ways than one.

The Valley shouldn’t lose all hope. Waxman, Beilenson and Berman still have their legislative and political skills. And we still have a Democrat in the White House who, when running for reelection, will need the support of Democratic members of Congress to fend off a primary challenge and move on to victory in November, 1996. (Yeah, I know how this sounds, but when someone told me two weeks ago we’d have a Speaker named Newt, I told them they shouldn’t inhale.)

Our longtime representatives will be put to the test in the upcoming months if we in the Valley are to get a fair return on our tax dollar.