Democrats on Lookout for a Winning Way : Speakers at Convention Disagree on Route to Take

“It’s not easy for Democrats.

“It never has been. . . .

“We have to prepare for a long struggle.”

Former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. delivered the message--and it was echoed by other party leaders--as 1,000 California Democrats gathered Saturday for their 1986 election-year kickoff convention.

Brown and the candidates at the top of the 1986 California Democratic ticket provided some stem-winding views on finding a winning new direction for a political party on the ropes.

Disagree on Tactics

Exactly which direction to take, however, remained a matter of disagreement:

- Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley seemed to signal a turn to the right, at least rhetorically, in his unannounced campaign for governor. He criticized Republican Gov. George Deukmejian--the man Bradley and other Democrats have been calling “Scrooge” for three years--as “the biggest spender in California history” and as a “big taxer.”

- Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, in perhaps the most eloquent speech of the day, said the Democrats can stand proudly right where they are, but they have to reach Californians who “have forgotten the Democratic tradition--what we stand for.”

- U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston offered his own legislative record as an example of how the party could look to the future: “The question is not what we did yesterday but what we can do tomorrow.”

But it was Brown, the non-candidate, who offered the Democrats the most searing message of the day.

“I understand the polls, I understand the political climate. It’s not easy for Democrats. It never has been,” said the ex-chief executive.

A New Idea

“The idea is a little more complicated, it’s a new idea about how the world fits together, about how people are motivated and how a society can be inspired. . . . The conservatives--let’s give them some credit. They stuck in there, they laid out a manifesto. They weren’t afraid to be unpopular. They weren’t afraid to challenge the received wisdom of the moment. . . . I think that’s the kind of commitment the Democrats have to make. We have to be prepared for a long struggle.”

For the second year in a row Brown, defeated in a 1982 race for the U.S. Senate race, made one of his rare political appearances to deliver the keynote address to the state Democratic convention. In the audience was his father, former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Sr.

For the younger Brown, some things had changed--his hair now noticeably thinner--but other things had not. He arrived late, as has been his trademark, and dwelled through much of his speech on themes he first raised a decade ago--the need to invest in people and to realize that America faces a new world in which “our military allies are now our economic enemies.”

The reclusive Brown is still an object of California political speculation, with many friends saying he continues to thirst for public life and is awaiting only an opportunity. He seemed to be thinking ahead when he told Democrats that Republican economic policies “failed in the ‘20s and ‘30s and they’ll fail in the ‘80s and ‘90s. And when they do, let us be ready, let us be organized and let us have our manifesto, which puts people first, which sees that security must be common at home and abroad.”

Brown Ducks Out

Brown did not allow for any questions about his future or the 1986 elections. He had arranged earlier to be whisked away from reporters to a freight elevator that took him out of the convention hall at the Biltmore Hotel.

Also ducking questioners at the convention was Bradley, who delivered his sharp attack on Deukmejian in the form of a performance report card, and then strode out of the hall ignoring the reporters who followed him.

Speaking about Deukmejian, Bradley said, “First, let’s start with his promise over three years ago that he would not raise taxes. Well, (nonpartisan Legislative Analyst) William Hamm said just a week ago that in the last three years the governor has raised taxes and fees by $2.4 billion.”

Bradley said the governor deserves an “A” for raising taxes.

“Now you often hear talk about the big spenders and he (Deukmejian) tries to attribute that to Democrats. Well, let me tell you about his record on spending. He has increased the state budget during his three years in office by a whopping 39%. Next year, that budget increase will be $8.6 billion,” Bradley said.

An “A” for Spending

He gave the governor an “A” as the “biggest spender in California history.”

This appeared to be a shift in emphasis for Bradley, who in the past has criticized Deukmejian as too tightfisted.

Otherwise, Bradley painted the Deukmejian record as a long list of “F’s”--on management of toxic wastes, on environmental protection, on reducing class size in the public schools and on building prisons to house a growing inmate population.

Bradley also denounced the governor for not being an active salesman for agriculture in foreign markets.

“He doesn’t even have a passport and brags about it,” Bradley said incredulously.

Hired Film Crew

Cranston, who will seek a fourth U.S. Senate term in November, strode into the hotel arena in facial makeup as a hired film crew shot footage of him being mobbed by a cadre of extras. A spokesman said the film will be used to make television commercials.

Cranston predicted that Republican Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Moral Majority preacher Jerry Falwell would come into California to try to help defeat him.

Helms is raising money in California for Republican Senate hopeful Bruce Herschensohn. Helms and Falwell have been at odds with Cranston on a number of issues, including U.S. policies in Central America and South Africa, and such things as abortion and prayer in schools.

Van de Kamp, also up for reelection, took special issue with conservative criticism of the Democrats as a party that is soft on crime. The attorney general pointed to Democratic legislation cracking down on drunk drivers, on clandestine drug labs and on money laundering by drug dealers.

“So when Democrats talk about domestic security, we’re not just exercising our salivary glands,” Van de Kamp said.