BRINGING HOME THE BACON CAN PELOSI AND THE DEMOCRATS SCORE CALIFORNIA A BIGGER SHARE OF FEDERAL DOLLARS?

Byline: THOMAS D. ELIAS

FOR California, there's one big question arising from the Democratic wave that swept across America last month, making San Francisco's Nancy Pelosi speaker of the House and installing half a dozen of this state's Democrats in Congress as chairmen of powerful committees and subcommittees.

That question: Can they bring home the bacon for their state any better than the Republican part of the state's delegation did? After all, California Republicans had even more chairmanships for the last few years than Democrats will now.

Yet, this state currently ranks 46th among the 50 states in terms of the money returned here from each federal tax dollar paid. How could this happen when San Diego County's Duncan Hunter long chaired the Armed Services Committee and controlled the military's purse strings? How could it happen when Bill Thomas of Bakersfield ran the Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax laws and influences all the government's financial policies? How could it happen when Jerry Lewis of San Bernardino County chaired the Appropriations Committee, whose name speaks for itself?

The answer is that each of these men was at least as concerned about placating other committee members and the Republican Party's national leadership as about bringing federal projects and installations to any part of California outside his own district.

Yes, Hunter, for one, pretty much saw to it that Navy and Marine Corps bases around San Diego suffered no cuts during his chairmanship, but he never did much about federal spending anywhere north of his own district. This was partly because of the overall lack of unity among Californians in Congress, a delegation of 55 worthies who rarely work together on anything. That's a stark contrast to other states with far less representation, but far more clout.

The dismal performance of California Republican committee chairs was one reason Arnold Schwarzenegger dubbed himself the ``Collectinator'' when he first ran for governor. He has yet to earn that title, in part because his GOP cohorts didn't respond to any efforts he made to increase the state's piece of the federal pie.

Now come the California Democrats, led by Pelosi. Tom Lantos of San Mateo takes over the Foreign Affairs Committee, George Miller of Concord will head the Education and Workforce Committee, and Henry Waxman gets the chair at the Government Reform Committee, complete with authority to hold hearings and issue subpoenas on just about any issue he likes.

Democrats like Brad Sherman and Grace Napolitano of Los Angeles County become subcommittee chairs, with Sherman likely to head the foreign relations panel overseeing responses to terrorism around the world. Will he work to see that California gets more homeland security money per capita than Wyoming, which has no known potential targets while California contains many?

There plainly is no way the newly influential Democrats can ever put California on top of the list of states drawing federal money. Places like Maryland and Virginia and the District of Columbia, all homes to myriad federal agencies and offices, will naturally continue to get more than their share of spending.

But why should West Virginia rank 40 places above California, getting back about $1.23 for every dollar its citizens pay in taxes? The only reason is that veteran Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd takes care of his state like no Californian in Congress ever has.

But every California member ought to be appalled when the state receives a return of just 79 cents on each dollar sent in.

Of course, back in the pre-1994 days when Democrats dominated Congress for decades, California fared just as poorly. An ABC (anywhere but California) attitude often seems to permeate Capitol Hill, whose denizens have even done crazy things like voting to place the National Earthquake Research Center in Buffalo, NY, which has not experienced a quake in this nation's history. That attitude apparently holds regardless of which party is in control.

California Democrats griped for years about the lack of results produced by their Republican colleagues. Now it's their turn, and the quality of roads, water, parks and many other parts of life in this state will hinge on their performance.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks to the press on Capitol Hill.

Karen Bleier/Getty Images

(2 -- color) no caption (Nancy Pelosi)