ELECTIONS / 24TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : Correctional Officers Back Rep. Beilenson : Republican Tom McClintock is not surprised by the action, citing his criticism of waste in state prisons.

SACRAMENTO —  The California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., a growing political force in the state, has endorsed Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) while characterizing as “off base” his congressional opponent, Republican Assemblyman Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks.

In one of the state’s most closely watched House races, the two lawmakers are battling each other in the newly drawn 24th Congressional District, which stretches from Sherman Oaks to Malibu and north to Thousand Oaks.

Don Novey, president of the correctional officers union, said McClintock, one of the Assembly’s most conservative members, has “no knowledge or understanding of how to run public safety,” especially citing his support for privately operated prisons.

“This guy is so far off base,” Novey said. “He’s never bothered to talk to us.”

The Beilenson endorsement marks an attempt by the prison guards to expand their influence beyond the state Capitol. It comes on the heels of the group’s establishment of a Washington lobbying office to monitor labor issues, including changes in Social Security and pension laws.

Novey said that on these and other issues “Beilenson will be better than McClintock.” McClintock was notified of the Beilenson endorsement in a letter dated Monday.

But the group will not open its wallet to Beilenson.

Novey said his group, most of whose members are guards, cannot donate to the congressman because it is not yet qualified as a political action committee under federal election laws. Instead, he said, the group will urge individual guards to donate to the liberal-leaning Beilenson and volunteer to stuff envelopes or walk precincts on behalf of the eight-term congressman.

Beilenson could not be reached for comment.

McClintock said he was not surprised by the endorsement, citing his criticism of waste in state prisons, opposition to a labor contract won by correctional officers and an effort to reduce stress-related workers’ compensation claims by prison guards.

“Their active opposition is hardly unexpected,” McClintock said.

“No doubt, they want to do to the federal prisons what they’ve done to California prisons, making it extremely costly to incarcerate prisoners,” he said.

“But someone has to stand up to these interest groups who are literally wasting billions of dollars in tax money,” said McClintock, who contended that other states have saved money by allowing private firms to operate prisons.

In the 1980s, the state launched a massive prison-construction program, which has cost at least $3.8 billion. Along with new prisons--including the nearly completed facility in Lancaster--the number of correctional officers jumped from an estimated 6,300 in 1982 to 19,000 as of Sept. 8.

Paralleling the dramatic increase in its ranks, the association’s political clout has grown. Between 1987 and 1991, the group chipped in more than $2 million to the campaign coffers of California politicians, state records show. For the first half of 1992, they donated another $299,000, making them the fifth-largest contributor to state candidates.

In 1990, the guards’ union also spent $748,221 in support of the winning gubernatorial campaign of Republican Pete Wilson. The union also spreads its contributions to Democrats, donating $82,000 to state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) between 1987 and 1991.

Novey said the group is spreading its wings “to establish some viable connections in Washington” when prison guards head there “to meet with these congressional leaders.”

As a first step, Novey said, his group has chosen Beilenson over McClintock, who often clashed with Wilson, as the only House candidate in the state to back. He said he could not recall any other House candidate being endorsed by the group at least for the past 10 years.

But the endorsement is a signal to ambitious state lawmakers who want to step up to Congress that they will need the group’s support.

“Of course they are trying to send a message,” McClintock asserted. “The message is ‘Don’t cross us. Don’t fight for cost-saving reforms because we’ll get you.’ ”