Henry A Waxman

THE WAXMAN FILES: Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) has found a new strategy for taking on King Tobacco. Last year, as chairman of a House subcommittee on health, he put tobacco company executives on the spot at a high-profile congressional hearing. But when Republicans took over the House last fall, they ousted Waxman as chairman and called an end to his anti-smoking crusade. This week, Waxman let it be known that chairman or not, he has only just begun to fight.

N o two San Fernando Valley-area congressmen are farther apart on the political spectrum than Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), an unabashed liberal, and Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale), once named the most conservative member of the House. When it comes to social issues, they rarely find common ground. The "contract with the American family," a 10-point legislative program backed by the Christian Coalition, is no exception.

Republican campaign consultant Edward J. Rollins offered a strongly worded apology Friday to San Fernando Valley congressmen Henry A. Waxman and Howard L. Berman, saying his use of an anti-Jewish slur to refer to the two Democratic lawmakers was a "feeble attempt at humor" that was "totally and unequivocally wrong."

Armed with a signed copy of the Republicans' "contract with America," Paul Stepanek is off and running for Congress in 1996. The problem is, he's trying to sell the policies of Newt Gingrich and company in an unlikely spot--the solidly Democratic Westside. Stepanek has his eye on the 29th Congressional District, which spans the Westside from Santa Monica to Hollywood, passing through such upscale enclaves as Brentwood and Beverly Hills.

It's an inauspicious start for what will soon become one of the worst days in Henry Waxman's life. At 8:15 on a drizzly Election Day morning, the Democratic congressman from West Los Angeles addresses 120 government students at Beverly Hills High and, not surprisingly, the rage against Congress has spilled into the Establishment confines of Beverly.

Back in early autumn, tobacco farmers in this North Carolina hamlet and up and down the Tobacco Belt from here to Florida harvested the kind of crop that comes once in a decade: barn-busting yields of spectacularly perfect golden leaves. But growers in the region, which produces most of the flue-cured tobacco that is rolled and smoked around the world, still felt under siege.

Henry Waxman, a once-dominant figure in Congress' dominant party, has become the epitome of the lonely liberal Democrat. His views are as out of favor as his party. His life's work is on the chopping block, with Newt Gingrich and other Republican leaders holding the cleaver. Even Waxman's devotion to public service has been called into question by a segment of the public that equates politics with corruption.

U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), 55, has been a member of Congress since 1974. He is married and has two children. Republican challenger Paul Stepanek, 33, owns a video production company. He and his wife live in Westwood. Waxman is the quieter half of the well-known political machine named for him and U.S. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City).

Saying the interests of taxpayers and future subway riders are at stake, Rep. Henry A. Waxman on Monday urged U.S. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena to launch a broad review of construction problems that have beset the Los Angeles project.

Does Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), who has tormented the nation's cigarette manufacturers for 15 years, now loom as the tobacco industry's savior ? This scenario, which would have been thought surreal only months ago, suddenly seems only mildly far-fetched. And it reflects how far the fortunes of the once-mighty tobacco lobby have fallen, particularly amid damaging revelations in recent months.