Herschensohn Supports Reagan View on Hunger

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn said Monday that President Reagan was right in declaring that ignorance is the only excuse for hunger in the United States.

“That’s true,” Herschenshon told a radio interviewer during a rare campaign swing through Northern California. “(With) the programs we have--the food stamps, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children, there are some 17--there is no reason for someone in any sense to be starving in this country because it’s available to them.”

The President stirred controversy last week when he told high school students that “a lack of knowledge on the part of people” about food assistance programs is to blame for hunger in America. His critics argued that, among other things, some programs are not within reach of the hungry because they require an understanding of bureaucracy and skill in filling out forms.

Also during a day of campaigning, Herschensohn, international-minded conservative and former television commentator, complained that one of his chief rivals, Rep. Ed Zschau of Los Altos, is ducking debates. This is a charge which other contenders also are voicing.

Herschensohn also gained the endorsement of a man who dropped out of the crowded GOP Senate primary long ago, Rep. Dan Lungren of Long Beach. Lungren praised Herschensohn’s skills in communicating on television.

With polls showing Herschensohn as popular in Los Angeles but virtually unknown in the northern part of the state, the candidate jumped at the invitation to appear on a one-hour KGO radio talk show in San Francisco. Herschenshon has said that he is not snubbing the north, that it is snubbing him.

Herschensohn also expressed disappointment that Zschau did not accept the station’s invitation to appear jointly on the show.

‘Affront to the Voter’

“I’m terribly, terribly disappointed that Ed Zschau isn’t here,” he said. “I believe it is an affront to the voter to do what Ed is doing.”

Sandra Conlon, Zschau’s campaign spokeswoman, said she had tried to get Zschau on KGO early in the campaign but had no luck. When the station later called to arrange a debate between Herschenson and Zschau, she said, “It was too late for us. It did not fit into schedule.”

Conlan noted that Zschau is scheduled to appear in public with other candiates twice in the remaining days before the primary. “We’re not skipping forums, but choosing those that are good for Ed to do.”

The first caller to the KGO talk show was another candidate in the crowded field, Assemblyman Bob Naylor of Menlo Park, who shared Herschensohn’s gripe.

“I’ve also tried to get a debate with Ed Zschau,” Naylor complained. “ . . . He wants to win this campaign on his television commercials alone.”

Even the host of the show, Ron Owens, joined in a round of Zschau bashing. “Not only didn’t he say, yes, he didn’t return our phone calls,” he said, adding bitterly, “He seemed to be there when he wanted us.”

Throughout the campaign, Zschau has focused more on fund raising than on appearing at candidate forums and debates. Following this strategy, he has risen from obscurity to be what the polls indicate is among the front runners.

Zschau took Monday off to make fund-raising telephone calls and take care of other end-of-campaign details, his office said.

Meanwhile, the Zschau campaign confirmed that the wealthy congressman had committed his own financial resources to his race by opening up a $300,000 line of credit. Until this, Zschau had flatly ruled out the use of his own money.

Conlan said that $125,000 of the line of credit already had been used by the campaign and more would be called upon as needed.