Fund-Raiser Proves Coalition’s Clout : Community: Top officials turn out for the event, which collects $52,500 for VOICE, a Valley organization of churches and synagogues. Some describe its tactics as confrontational.

Flexing its growing political muscle, a coalition of San Fernando Valley churches and synagogues showed Monday that government heavyweights will turn out to help the organization raise money, including Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and City Atty. James Hahn.

Those three and other influential figures showed up for a fund-raiser by VOICE--Valley Organized In Community Efforts--which raised $52,500 for the group’s activities next year.

“I consider VOICE to be the heart and soul of the community,” City Councilman Richard Alarcon told the gathering of about 75 supporters.

The event, held at the Encino home of Benjamin Reznik, a politically well-connected Valley attorney, demonstrates VOICE’s stature among the city’s powerbrokers.

Although VOICE does not make political endorsements or give campaign contributions, its membership includes about 30,000 families in the Valley, whom the group routinely employs to influence the city agenda.

For example, when former state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) faced a recall last year from opponents of his legislation to ban the sale of assault-style weapons, he was backed by about 100 VOICE members who campaigned door-to-door on his behalf.

Last year’s VOICE fund-raiser was also attended by Riordan and seven of the city’s 15 council members.

The group, formed in 1988, is also allied with other religious organizations that together operate Hope In Youth, a fledgling anti-gang effort that has secured millions of dollars in grants from the city, county and state during the past two years.

But almost since its inception in 1993, Hope In Youth has been controversial for winning more funding than other, longer-established anti-gang programs.

Diane Wildhaber, a VOICE spokeswoman, said the group’s agenda next year includes lobbying for the closure of Lopez Canyon Landfill, a city-run dump near Lake View Terrace, whose neighbors have complained for years about pollution and odors.

The group will also use part of the funds to support Hope In Youth and bolster a campaign to help legal immigrants become naturalized citizens. VOICE will also work to register the new citizens to vote.

Wildhaber said the fund-raiser traditionally generates about 25% of the group’s annual budget, with membership dues and grants accounting for the rest.

Although the fund-raiser benefited from the support of several influential politicians, officials who attended do not necessarily endorse all the campaign activities that the money will support.

For example, freshman Councilman Mike Feuer, who represents parts of the southeast Valley and attended the fund-raiser, said he supports VOICE in principle but has not taken a position on the Lopez Canyon Landfill nor on the Hope In Youth program.

Hahn said through a spokesman that he supports the Hope In Youth program but cannot take a position on closing Lopez Canyon because of his position as the city’s top legal officer.

On the other hand, Alarcon said he supports all three of VOICE’s key activities, particularly the campaign to close Lopez Canyon, which is in his district.

Political consultants and City Hall insiders say VOICE does not carry the persuasive influence of other longtime local political groups, such as the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., a coalition of business interests.

But they say that VOICE’s political pull comes from the threat that the group will take action against those who oppose its positions.

“I’m proud to be in partnership with you. . . . I don’t like to be on the other side of you,” Riordan told the group. He later added that although he has never fought VOICE on any issues, he sees the group as having “a confrontational nature” with its opponents.

“They are influential the way a terrorist is influential,” said Paul Clarke, a Northridge-based political consultant.

One example of the group’s pressure tactics was demonstrated last year when VOICE and other backers of Hope In Youth bused dozens of members to City Hall to lobby for funding for the anti-gang program and threatened to picket the homes of council members who opposed awarding the grant. Hope In Youth got $2.5 million.

Wildhaber responded that VOICE judges elected officials and others on an “issue by issue” basis and does not make “permanent enemies or permanent allies.”