Route to Higher Office Appears to Skirt Legislature

What applies biblically also has application for politics: Many are called, but few are chosen.

The announcement by Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia) on Monday that he will run for the U.S. Senate in 1986 will be followed on Wednesday by a similar announcement from Assemblyman Robert W. Naylor (R-Menlo Park). Other legislators are also talking about jumping into that race. And a few are covetously eyeing a race for governor.

The odds are against them all.

Not since Culbert L. Olson moved from the state Senate to become governor in 1939 has a California legislator managed to parlay a Senate or Assembly seat directly into the governor’s office or the U.S. Senate, and there are as many explanations for such a notable lack of success as there are political consultants and campaign managers.

In essence, what the failures boil down to is this: No matter how well known and important legislators think they are in Sacramento among aides, lobbyists, reporters and assorted hangers-on, most Californians have never heard of them and are unimpressed by them.

“No Senate or Assembly seat takes in a large enough area in a specific media market to garner the kind of intense name identification that is required to build a statewide base,” said political consultant Doug Watts, a former top aide to Gov. George Deukmejian.

David Townsend, who has worked in several California campaigns, including the late Assembly Speaker Bob Moretti’s unsuccessful 1974 race for governor, said Moretti, a Democrat, was “feeling his oats” as Speaker, saw himself as being very popular with colleagues and the press and decided that the governor’s office could be his on a silver platter.

“He just never took off,” Townsend said.

State Treasurer Jesse M. Unruh, a former Speaker, came close. He won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1970, only to be clobbered by the incumbent Republican, Ronald Reagan. Sen. H. L. Richardson (R-Glendora) won the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in 1974, only to be crushed by the incumbent Democrat, Alan Cranston.

No Springboard

The late George Moscone, who went on to become mayor of San Francisco, decided in 1973 he was well enough known as a state senator to become governor. He dropped out well before the 1974 Democratic primary after realizing that the Legislature was no sure springboard to higher office.

Sen. Ken Maddy (R-Fresno) finished third in a field of four major candidates for the Republican gubernatorial nomination the same year.

“It just doesn’t work,” said John Jervis, a former Moscone aide who now is a Sacramento public affairs consultant. “A legislator who is truly serious about his or her responsibilities simply doesn’t have time to get outside Sacramento and meet the other 99% of the electorate in California.

“Besides, the Legislature is not held in the highest esteem by the public and is not the best forum for becoming popular.”

Lesser Offices Open

Several former lawmakers have managed to win lesser statewide races. For instance, three current officeholders--Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, Secretary of State March Fong Eu and Controller Kenneth Cory--went into their offices straight from the Legislature. But there is a resistance by some to undergo any such rite of passage.

Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove), virtually unknown outside his district, tried a race for governor in 1982 but never was a serious threat to the eventual Democratic nominee, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. Nevertheless, Garamendi is considering running again next year. And Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) is also assessing his chances for 1986.

Hart, to be sure, would enjoy some instant name recognition, thanks to the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado. But that could produce more confusion than help. And at this point, neither Garamendi nor Hart is causing any ripples in Deukmejian’s office as possible Democratic challengers to the Republican governor.