Valley Ripe for Fund Raising in Governor’s Campaign : Politics: With Westside contributions limited until recently by Proposition 73, both camps have looked for new donors north of the Santa Monica Mountains.

In years gone by, candidates for statewide office often viewed the San Fernando Valley as vote rich and cash poor.

Why scrape for money among upper-middle-class professionals who might pay $250 to attend a political event, so the theory went, when fabulously wealthy Westsiders were willing to lay down thousands of dollars for their favored candidates?

But Proposition 73, which in 1988 limited individual campaign contributions in state races to $1,000 a person, brought new attention to the Valley, as candidates broadened their search for financing.

During the run-up to the Nov. 6 election, gubernatorial candidates Dianne Feinstein and Pete Wilson have courted Valley residents’ financial support in a manner that longtime political observers say is unprecedented.

“Traditionally we have been ignored as a source for funds,” said attorney Benjamin M. Reznik, who hosted a lunch last week at his Encino home that raised $75,000 for Feinstein, the Democratic candidate. “But with Proposition 73 in place, the candidates had to spread their attention and get enough people involved. The Valley was a likely place to go looking.”

Campaign contribution limits were lifted in September by a federal judge, freeing candidates to pursue larger contributions and reducing the significance of smaller Valley donors. But political observers say that the Valley’s key asset--a block of undecided, moderate voters--will be highly prized in this year’s neck and neck governor’s race.

Valley voters are an “amorphous mass who can go either way,” said veteran political consultant Paul Clarke. “The Valley can turn an election.”

Clarke said the unprecedented targeting of Valley voters for donations has distressed local politicians who complain that they have to compete with Feinstein and Wilson for contributions.

“The Valley donor . . . tends to be that mid-level donor, which before--when you had no limits--was less important than being able to get $15,000 out of one donor,” Clarke said. Clarke said he has attended two fund-raisers in private homes in the Valley for Wilson, the Republican candidate, and was invited to three others. “I can’t remember a similar situation for Deukmejian,” he said.

In addition to the gathering at the Rezniks’ home, the Valley has been the site of dozens of smaller fund-raising events for Feinstein, said Bud Knutsen, chairman of the local chapter of the Democratic Party.

The campaign dubbed Oct. 14 “Feinstein 1,000” day, during which 1,000 Feinstein supporters around the state held house parties designed to raise money and rally support. Knutsen said more than 30 Valley residents hosted small fund-raisers that day.

H.F. (Bert) Boeckmann II, owner of Galpin Ford and a longtime Republican Party fund-raiser, said he believes that politicians are raising money more aggressively all over the state, and thus also in the Valley. But he also said the Valley is increasingly responsive to political appeals.

Twenty years ago, he said, it was difficult to rally Valley residents to provide financial support for statewide or national political candidates. But now, he said, “there seems to be a greater willingness to be involved.”

Neither campaign could provide figures for how much money it has been able to raise in the Valley during this campaign. But an analysis of campaign financing in the last gubernatorial election, when Gov. George Deukmejian defeated Mayor Tom Bradley, found that donors on the Westside gave Bradley $1.4 million while Valley donors contributed about $83,000 to his campaign.

Deukmejian raised $1.2 million on the Westside and $93,000 in the Valley. The Valley’s population is 1.3 million compared to 435,000 for the Westside.

Proposition 73, approved by voters in June, 1988, was overturned in September by a federal judge who ruled that it unconstitutionally discriminated against political challengers who could be at a disadvantage when they ran against incumbents.

The ruling has left the Valley’s future importance in campaign fund raising for statewide elections uncertain.

Some predict that the area will continue to grow in influence, saying that they believe this year’s campaign has shown the Valley to be a rich source of untapped funds.

“Valley contributors are not worn out. They still have enthusiasm,” Janice Reznik said. “These are people who have not been attended to.”

However, California Republican Party spokesman Dan Schnur said that if the limits were permanently overturned it would “diminish the role of the small contributor and thereby diminish the role of the San Fernando Valley.”

Boeckmann also predicted that the repeal of contribution limits would result in candidates relying more on large, lavish fund-raising events in downtown and Westside hotels and less emphasis on smaller events in private homes.

But even if the contribution limits are never reinstated, the Valley will continue to be a site of heavy campaigning. Valley voters are considered solidly moderate and neither party can count on winning a majority here.

“The Valley is one of those swing areas that the candidates have to compete for actively. In any non-landslide election, the way you win is by those swing votes,” the Republican Party’s Schnur said.

About 49% of the voters here are registered Democrats; 42% are registered Republicans. The Democrats lean toward the conservative and have been known to vote Republican, and the Republicans are far more moderate than Orange County’s staunch conservatives.

In a race between a conservative Democrat and a moderate Republican, it is anybody’s guess which way the Valley will go.

Both parties are conducting intensive get-out-the vote efforts here. Each party has established phone banks and is recruiting absentee voters to make sure they send in their ballots. Each party needs a strong turnout of their supporters to carry the state.

Supporters of both Feinstein and Wilson say their candidates’ priorities match the concerns of Valley voters, who now face the same urban ills--crime, deteriorating schools, and growth--they sought to escape by moving to the suburbs.

“She is a moderate, but she is pushing for change in a positive direction,” said attorney James Edward Blatt of the former San Francisco mayor. “She is interested in quality of life, and right now the Valley is suffocating with crime and problems of transportation.”

“Pete is seen as fiscally conservative but moderate on the social agenda, and that reflects the Valley voters,” said Wilson policy adviser Rosalie Zalis. “Here you have parents concerned about education, people concerned about the air, the environment. He stands for the same things they stand for.”

Each candidate has made appearances in the Valley. But campaign organizers say it matters little whether an event occurs north or south of the Santa Monica Mountains. Television is still the primary means for reaching voters, and if a Southern California event is given coverage on the nightly news, Valley voters will get the message.