Bradley Focuses on Campaign : Names Top Aide, Seeks to Defuse Governorship Issue

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, formally introducing his campaign manager for his reelection effort, Monday tried to defuse the question that is bound to dog him during the campaign--whether he will run again for governor next year.

A likely mayoral rival, Councilman John Ferraro, has said he plans to make Bradley’s future political intentions a major issue in the campaign. Because Bradley’s top campaign officials have experience in statewide politics, Ferraro has repeatedly suggested that Bradley’s reelection campaign is merely a dress rehearsal for another gubernatorial run in 1986.

Responding to those questions at a press conference, Bradley labeled Ferraro’s assertions as “the dumbest bit of logic I’ve ever heard.” Because Ferraro’s campaign manager, Ron Smith, ran Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana’s campaign in 1980, Bradley noted, “Does that mean that John Ferraro is prepping for a run for the Board of Supervisors?”

To suggest that he plans to run again for governor because his current top campaign officials were associated with former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and statewide campaigns is “. . . idiotic . . . unrelated,” Bradley said. “I’ll tell you what I’m running for, I’m running for mayor . . . and I’m not going to let any questions distract me from that goal.”

However, Bradley, who narrowly lost to Gov. George Deukmejian in the 1982 gubernatorial race, has refused to rule out the possibility that he will run for governor again in 1986.

Bradley announced Monday that Michael Gage, the former Napa assemblyman and political associate of Brown who directed Leo McCarthy’s successful 1982 bid for lieutenant governor, will be running his mayoral campaign. Gage will be working with Sacramento-based consultant David Townsend and Tom Quinn, Bradley campaign chairman and also a close associate of Brown and Gage.

Gage said he will concentrate on a grass-roots campaign, placing regional headquarters throughout the city, including the San Fernando Valley, South-Central and eastern Los Angeles. He said the campaign will stress the mayor’s role in the success of the Olympic Games and in bringing new projects to the city.