For Lawmakers, the Individual is Political : Congress: In between dealing with issues that make headlines, members often attend to specific concerns of constituents. Striking a balance is key to reelection.

Congress has absolutely no jurisdiction over potholes. It’s a waste of time to complain to the likes of Henry Waxman or Carlos Moorhead about that huge asphalt crater down the road. But a congressman’s job is not strictly about Bosnia or budgeting, either.

In between the headline-grabbing issues, local lawmakers frequently handle matters no broader than the person on the other end of the phone--the prisoner seeking a cell closer to home, the retiree complaining about that lost Social Security check, the business owner trying to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from shutting everything down.

Every congressional office strikes a different balance between casework and the broader public policy part of the job--but all members know it is a key to reelection.

As one congressional study put it: “Casework is not a service provided solely out of compassion. Rather, managing effective constituent services

The dilemmas dumped in the laps of local members of Congress are sometimes minor matters that can be handled by one phone call to, say, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Then there are the headaches that can require years of aggressive advocacy.

In most cases, callers must be constituents and their problems must have some connection to Washington. Besides that, the queries span the globe.

“There is federal money involved in just about everything these days, so we get calls on just about everything,” said Ginney Hatfield, a caseworker for Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) who is still busy handling problems stemming from the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Local congressional offices have helped process visas for travelers stranded overseas, sent along burial information for Arlington National Cemetery and grappled with FEMA over the processing of earthquake claims.

They pass on the calls about potholes, driver’s licenses and most dogs to someone else.

“Sometimes I think we may be the office the operators give out when they’re not sure about something,” said a staffer for Rep. Waxman (D-Los Angeles). “They just say, ‘Call Waxman.”’

As a result of one such call, Waxman was able to keep the IRS from seizing the assets of a Santa Monica special-effects company. The small business’ bank account was frozen after the IRS claimed that Image Creators Inc. did not pay taxes on its employees. The company insisted that there was a mistake since it had used only independent contractors.

“I said, ‘Don’t you care if our business goes under?’ and the woman at the IRS said, ‘No,”’ said Karen Brooks, the company’s financial officer, “What is a regular citizen to do?”

Waxman’s office intervened, forwarding the company’s tax returns to the IRS and preventing the seizure of the company’s bank account.

“There’s no doubt, that during Waxman’s next election, I’m going to make a nice donation,” Brooks said.

Marie Larson of Sylmar credits her congressman with the helping to keep her off the streets, although she has no spare funds to help his campaign.

Larson has been seeking disability payments from the Social Security Administration since 1992. Officials turned her down twice, but finally approved her application earlier this year after an administrative hearing. Still, due to a huge backlog, months have passed, her bills have mounted and no check has arrived.

“I have been waiting for three years, begging, just trying to stay alive,: she said. “It’s sad that it takes an act of Congress to get something qualified for.”

After contacting Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), Larson received a $400 payment to cover her rent. She expects the first benefit check to arrive any day.

“If it wasn’t for them, I’d be living in my car,” she said.

Most casework, involves routine letters prepared by aides urging government bureaucrats to review a particular concern.

But something lawmakers themselves get involved, according to two agency officials who handle such matters, and sometimes they use bluster--contacting top bosses and subtly threatening to make their lives difficult.

Even though Congress holds the purse strings to the entire bureaucracy, however, congressional clout has its limits. After all, the House has 435 members, each with a handful of staffers fielding constituent problems and sending off letters for the boss.

To handle the flow, many government departments have special congressional liaison offices. Letters sent in by ordinary taxpayers go in one pile. Letters sent in by ordinary taxpayers go in one pile. Letters from members of Congress go in another

“A congressman can’t force anyone to do anything,” said Robbie Heintzman, a caseworker for Rep. Howard (Buck) McKeon (R--Santa Clarita). “All we do is ask an agency to look into something and to follow up. If someone has fallen through the cracks, we can sometimes do more than if they just call those automated phone recordings.”

Despite the obvious political benefits, lawmakers must read carefully when pushing the causes of contributors.

Look at what happened to California’s former U.S. Senator Alan Cranston and other members of the so-called Keating Five--who were rebuked by the Senate Ethics Commission in 1991 for improperly soliciting contributions from Charles H. Keating Jr. at the same time they intervened with federal regulators on behalf of his now-defunct Lincoln Savings & Loan.

And House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) is under scrutiny for agreeing to help a supporter who had given a $10,000 contribution to GOPAC, the political action committee controlled by Gingrich at the time. Along with the check, the man sent a letter summarizing all the money he had given previously--$49,000--and asking for Gingrich’s help in casing federal asbestos regulations.

Gingrich later contacted the Environmental Protection Agency on the contributor’s behalf, prompting the Federal Elections Commission earlier this month to criticize Gingrich for creating “the appearance of corruption” and “the appearance of impropriety.”

To make matters worse, the donor was not a Gingrich constituent, the House Ethics Manual says, “as a general matter ... a Member should not be devoting official resources to casework for individuals who live outside the district.”

Rep. Moorhead (R-Glendale) said he has reminded his staff to keep casework and campaigning separate. “You don’t want to give special favors to those who have supported you in the past,” he said.

Casework is one of the most satisfying parts of the job, Moorhead says, even when it takes a while. In one instance, it took two years of letter writing before Moorhead finally won a partial victory against the Department of Defense.

The crusade began in 1993 when Kenneth A. Schechter of La Canada-Flintridge told Moorhead of his heroics during the Korean War--he had landed a plane after being partly blinded during an enemy attack--and asked the congressman if he could help him garner some recognition, preferably the Navy Cross or the Silver Star, two of the Navy’s top medals.

Moorhead passed the documentation on to his longtime aide, Maxine Dean, who drafted a letter to Navy Secretary John Dalton detailing the dramatic incident from 1952.

The Pentagon brass, which receives numerous such requests, was not thrilled.

A Dalton aide wrote back to say that Schechter did not qualify for an honor because too much time, had passed since the incident, Legislation requires that an individual be officially recommended for any awards within three years of the action, he said.

“That first letter was heart-breaking,” said Schechter. “Forgive me if I sound a little immodest but the Navy didn’t even want to acknowledge what I had done. It was a remarkable thing to do and this bureaucrat just rejected me. It was a cold letter--like, don’t bother me.”

Undeterred, Moorhead wrote back asking for a review and insisting that there must be some way the Navy could honor Schechter.

The Navy eventually offered the Distinguished Flying Cross, an honor, but less prestigious than the other awards.

Moorhead then sought to have President Clinton issue the medal to Schechter at a White House ceremony, a bold request coming from a Republican once labeled the House’s most conservative member.

Moorhead wrote to Leon Panetta, the White House chief of staff, but received no reply. He then wrote to Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento) asking him to bring up the matter with Panetta. That didn’t work, either.

Despite the partial victory, Schechter said he was thrilled with the end result--a medal pinned on his uniform by an admiral aboard an aircraft carrier in San Diego.

‘It never would have happened without Carlos’ help,” said Schechter, who disagrees with Moorhead on some issues, yet raves about his aid in this instance.