Governor Protests ‘Unethical’ Use of Name on Mailer

Gov. George Deukmejian’s campaign Tuesday threatened legal action against a slate mailer that uses his name without his permission and includes a message urging voters to reject Proposition 51, the so-called “deep pockets” initiative that Deukmejian has endorsed.

Meanwhile, a campaign aide to Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ed Zschau, who also supports the initiative, acknowledged that the Zschau campaign paid $20,000 to have his name put on the slate card, even though his campaign was aware that it urged a no vote on Proposition 51.

An aide said Deukmejian, who is running for reelection, is furious at the attempted use of his name since he has formally endorsed the initiative, which is designed to link a co-defendant’s share of pain and suffering damages in a lawsuit to that defendant’s share of the blame.

Basis of Protest

At present, co-defendants only slightly to blame can be forced to pay all the damages if other defendants are unable to pay.

“I have communicated with them (the firm doing the mailer) that the use of the governor’s name, his picture or any suggestion that it was authorized is absolutely untrue,” Deukmejian campaign manager Larry Thomas said Tuesday night.

“We neither authorized nor approved of his name on the slate mailer,” Thomas said, “and we are particularly offended because the mailer includes a message urging people to go vote against Proposition 51. A recipient of the mailer might logically conclude that the governor is opposed to the initiative.

“This is unethical. It is a real unfortunate attempt to leave a large segment of voters with a false impression. We have instructed our attorneys to take whatever steps are necessary and feasible to try to stop the publication of the slate mailing.”

The mailer is being prepared by Mike Mercier and Jim Corey of the Pacific Ad Mail firm in Orange County, Ron Smith, Zschau’s campaign manager, said.

Mercier at one point called the Yes on 51 campaign and asked campaign aides if they were willing to pay $110,000 to make the mailer pro-51, rather than anti-51, according to Richard Woodward, a consultant to the Yes on 51 campaign.

“We told them we weren’t interested and that was the last we heard of them,” said Woodward.

Efforts to reach Mercier and Corey Tuesday night were not successful.

Problems for Zschau

Although Zschau, a congressman from Los Altos, paid to have his name on the mailer, he potentially faces a problem much different from the governor’s.

Zschau’s rivals for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination have attacked him repeatedly for changing his votes in Congress on several key issues and charge that it is difficult to know what he stands for. He once cast a vote for the MX missile, for example, but now opposes it and he once opposed arming the Nicaraguan contras but came out in support of the idea this year.

Since he supports Proposition 51, agreeing to have his name on a slate card that calls for the rejection of the initiative could lead to renewed attacks.

Smith said he and Zschau discussed the possibility that it would look odd for him to appear on a No on 51 mailer, “but we believe the voters are sophisticated enough to know that Ed is not necessarily endorsing the ballot positions--or the other candidates--on the mailer.”

Smith said the mailer has a disclaimer at the bottom which says that the candidates do not necessarily agree with the mailer’s messages on the ballot propositions.

“We took the spot on the mailer because it was clear they would go to another Senate candidate if we didn’t,” Smith said.

Times staff writers Kevin Roderick and Ted Vollmer contributed to this story.