Stalwart Liberal With a Thick Skin

His public profile outside his 29th Congressional District may be low, but the issues Rep. Henry Waxman tackles are not. And that has earned him no end of two-edged labels.

He has been called a zealot, profiled as a master of the inside game and accused of practicing McCarthyism. Then there are the animal comparisons: dinosaur, bulldog and “tougher than a boiled owl.” Even his listing by the National Journal as one of the 100 most influential people in “the sprawling federal establishment” appears to fence sit between compliment and barb.

But no mitigations are forthcoming from Waxman, an ‘L’-word Democrat elected to Congress in 1974 and an ardent advocate of tougher government regulations, particularly in the areas of health and the environment.

He sees the liberal view of government as “surprisingly modest.”

“We believe that, in addition to providing for our national defense, the federal government has an appropriate role in crafting effective solutions to our nation’s domestic problems,” he said.

A Los Angeles native who grew up in Watts and graduated from UCLA, he represents a district that has been called the nation’s most liberal. It includes parts of Sherman Oaks, Studio City and Toluca Lake.

Noted for his legislation for cleaner air and water and better health care for the poor and his opposition to reduced Social Security benefits, Waxman is also Capitol Hill’s leading tobacco critic. His 1984 bill created the rotating warning labels on cigarette packaging. Ten years later, his televised hearings introduced tobacco executives (and Waxman himself) to many Americans, who were shocked by the CEOs’ testimony that, contrary to years of medical findings, smoking is neither addictive nor cancer causing.

A former heavy smoker who has Garry Trudeau’s “Mr. Butts” Doonesbury character framed in his office, Waxman anticipates no letup in this battle.

“Banning Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man are great victories,” he said. But “no one should be under the illusion that this is the long-term solution in keeping tobacco away from children.”