Bradley Opts to Take No Stand on Rose Bird : Says He Objects to Politics in the Judiciary; Deukmejian Assails Action as Sign of Weakness

After reviewing the Supreme Court’s handling of death penalty cases and hesitating over one of the most difficult decisions of his long political career, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley on Tuesday said he would neither support nor oppose the November reelection bid of Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird.

Bradley, the Democratic candidate for governor, called his leap onto the political fence a decision of “principle”--the principle of keeping partisan politics out of the judiciary.

“America and California can and will survive bad judges,” Bradley said as he read a long statement tinged with mild criticism of the Bird court.

But, he added, “Ultimately we will not survive as a free society if we are willing to subjugate our courts to the will of partisan politicians, particularly politicians motivated by public opinion polls, not constitutional principle.”

In a news conference across town, Bradley’s Republican rival, incumbent Gov. George Deukmejian, ridiculed the decision as politically timid. “Never have so many waited so long for so little,” said the governor, an outspoken opponent of Bird.

Bradley charged that Deukmejian was putting political pressure on the courts to begin executions, even if the defendant is not guilty. Deukmejian countered that the mayor was running from his political past and withholding important information about what kind of chief executive he would be.

For a month, Bradley has been under intense political pressure to speak out about the chief justice. Just before formally declaring his gubernatorial candidacy in February, Bradley said he needed time to review the court’s record, consult experts and advisers and ponder what to do. He said he might take 60 days, but used only half that as each political day seemed to bring new charges that he was a waffling or letting the Bird candidacy ruin his own campaign.

Bradley said that in reviewing the court’s decisions he focused on Bird’s written opinions.

“I disagree with some of those decisions, especially death penalty rulings,” Bradley said. Bird has voted to overturn all 55 of the death sentences that have come before her during her eight years on the court.

“Along with other Californians,” Bradley said, “I am sometimes deeply troubled when courts overturn death penalty sentences which, to me, seem proper and warranted.”

Bradley, however, cited 20 pages of historical precedent, from Hitler’s Nazi Germany to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, to support his decision to stay out of the election of the chief justices and five other members of the seven-member state Supreme Court. The justices are subject to “yes” or “no” votes, without any opponents. The governor replaces any who fail to receive a majority of voter support.

‘Wrong, Very Wrong’

“It is wrong, very wrong, for a politician in a partisan campaign to participate in efforts to remove a Supreme Court justice. Inevitably, such efforts intimidate judges and undermine the American principle--established more than 200 years ago--that courts are a separate branch of government and must act independently of politicians and political moods,” Bradley said.

Deukmejian said he was unimpressed with such a plea for principle.

“Mayor Bradley, you can run for governor, but you can’t hide,” the governor said.

“By refusing to take a position on Rose Bird today, Mayor Tom Bradley not only denied the voters of California the ability to judge the kind of justice a Gov. Tom Bradley would appoint, but makes totally unbelievable his recent claims that he supports the death penalty.”

Deukmejian sought to cast Bradley’s announcement as evidence of weak character.

“You cannot try to be all things to all people,” Deukmejian said in a lecturing tone. “There are significant controversial issues that any elected official must take a stand on. And even though, when you take a stand, you’re going to have a number of people disagreeing with you, I have always found that people respect an elected official who is willing to take a stand far more so that those who are unwilling or try to hide.”

Bitter Observation

Bradley, in an unusually bitter observation, accused the governor of playing politics with human lives in the court election. Bradley noted that Deukmejian is withholding an endorsement of two other justices up for reelection, Joseph R. Grodin and Cruz Reynoso. Deukmejian has said he wants to review how the two vote on upcoming death penalty appeals.

“Justices should never be asked to offer up a human life as a way of purchasing a governor’s support,” Bradley said. “No governor should ask this. Deukmejian has, in effect, told the justices that they must vote to execute even if the facts indicate otherwise.”

In 1978, Bradley supported retention of all the justices seeking reelection, including Bird. The difference this time, Bradley explained, is that he is a partisan candidate for election, which he was not in 1978.

The chief justice, for her part, repeatedly has asked officeholders and candidates to refrain from endorsing her or offering support on grounds that this would tend to color the judiciary with overt politics. Her campaign issued a statement Tuesday expressing satisfaction with Bradley’s decision.

“It is our belief that politicians should stay out of the court campaign and let the people decide what kind of institution they want,” a Bird campaign spokesman said.

If the chief justice took heart in Bradley’s announcement, there was more gloomy news on another front. Three notable Democratic liberals in the state Legislature drew themselves apart from the chief justice.

Davis Opposed Bird

One of them was Assemblyman Gray Davis of Los Angeles, who was chief of staff to former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. at the time Brown appointed Bird to the court.

Davis is now a candidate for state controller. A spokesman explained that “as a supporter of the death penalty, Gray has been troubled by a number of decisions the court has made.” But the aide added that Davis would not take a public stand on Bird because that could “potentially prejudice” cases the controller’s office has before the court.

The two other liberals said they would outright oppose Bird’s bid for a 12-year term. State Sen. Gary K. Hart of Santa Barbara, a former Bird supporter, said she has been guilty of fostering “acrimony and turbulence” on the court.

“Our Supreme Court, once considered the finest judicial body in the country, has declined in reputation and public regard,” Hart said in a statement. “Restoring the reputation of the court and public confidence in the judiciary must be our highest priority.”

The other new Bird opponent is Sen. Bill Lockyer of Hayward, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “It was a close decision but I don’t think the court under Rose Bird has functioned as it should have,” Lockyer told a reporter.

Bradley went against the majority of his advisers. Page 3.