Analysis : For Press, Governor Offers More for Less

SACRAMENTO — Politicians normally call press conferences to try to make news, which must put Gov. George Deukmejian in a class by himself.

The California chief executive’s close-to-the-vest style of governing was never more evident than in a 14-minute session with reporters Tuesday in which he made no opening statement, broke no new ground, gave cryptic answers to a handful of questions and left chortling over the brevity of the whole affair.

“This has to be the shortest press conference in history,” he said as he strolled out. “I like it.”

In his first two years in office, marked by stormy relations with the Democratic-controlled Legislature, reporters complained frequently of Deukmejian’s inaccessibility. Now, after 10 press conferences in three months, some of them are complaining of too much access.

If he were loquacious and/or interested in using such meetings as a forum for making policy statements or laying out his agenda for state government and then fielding questions about that agenda, there would be no such complaints.

But no one will ever accuse Deukmejian of talking too much, and he more often seems intent on avoiding answers than in giving them.

His press secretary, Larry Thomas, said there is almost always discussion in the governor’s office about whether there is “something we care to say or is appropriate to say to open a news conference (but) I would point out that by opening with a statement, that does not guarantee that, No. 1, it will be news or, No. 2, used.”

Thomas said that although it is difficult to generalize, “my interpretation today was either that the Capitol press corps at this particular moment is overfed, underprepared or its thoughts were too lost in the opening day of the baseball season” to carry a general news conference for half an hour.

“I take the view that a news conference isn’t always called for the purpose of making news,” he said. “It is called for the purpose of making available to the news media the governor to get his opinion on a variety of issues. And his opinion may not be news. It may just be good for background.

“Some people have the expectation that it always has to produce a story, and that is not always our expectation.”

Almost every session Deukmejian has held this year has begun with the now-familiar sentence, “I don’t have any opening comments this morning, so I’ll be happy to entertain any questions that any of you may have.”

A four-page transcript shows some of his reactions to those questions Tuesday:

- He acknowledged holding a private meeting with General Motors executives last week in an effort to persuade the firm to build its Saturn auto manufacturing plant in California but said it would not be appropriate to provide any details “in a public way.”

- He confirmed an earlier California Highway Patrol announcement that the CHP will launch a “public awareness program” to alert drivers to the fact that federal standards require states to keep the number of motorists exceeding the 55 m.p.h. speed limit to below 50% or face a loss of federal highway funds. (Statistics on motorists’ speeds are based on random samplings at various locations throughout the state.)

- He said, “No, we don’t have any plans to do that” when asked if he intends to supplement next year’s education budget to make up for the amount of money that has been lost because of the delayed start-up of the state lottery, the proceeds from which will go to schools.

- He reiterated an earlier statement by his interim lottery director, Howard Varner, that “we expect that we can probably get the first game started sometime in September, but that’s just approximate.”

- And he said earlier estimates of state revenues that will provide a $1-billion reserve fund for his proposed 1985-86 state budget “are holding up quite well.”

Press Not Without Blame

The press itself, however, is not without blame in its frequent failures to pry more information out of the governor. Whether out of their own lack of preparation or frustration at his terse responses, reporters sometimes ignore areas that could or should be explored.

An excessive amount of time also is spent on occasion in attempting to get the governor to react to something somebody has said about him, which usually produces irrelevant answers. Tuesday was a good case in point.

Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Hawthorne) held a press conference Tuesday morning in which he railed at Deukmejian for delaying the lottery, either intentionally or through ineptitude. It was pretty much a repeat of charges Floyd has made on previous occasions.

“Do you have a reaction to that?” Deukmejian was asked.

” . . . I think one thing you can bet on in this state is that there will be another press release from Dick Floyd,” the governor said.