Curb Ecstatic When Deukmejian, Ex-Rival, Welcomes Him on Team

Former Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Curb said Wednesday that the best news for him on election night was not the word that he won a convincing primary victory, but that former rival Gov. George Deukmejian welcomed him as a GOP running mate with open arms.

“I was ecstatic with the governor’s attitude,” said Curb, who in winning his primary campaign against Republican Sen. H. L. Richardson of Glendora was thrust into a general election fight with Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy.

Winning Margin

Final returns showed that Curb beat Richardson with 57% to 43% of the vote. McCarthy ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

The results set up an unusual contest for both Curb and Deukmejian. In the governor’s race, it will be Deukmejian, a Republican incumbent, fighting off a Democratic challenger, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. The party in power is reversed in the race for lieutenant governor, with the challenge to Democratic incumbent McCarthy coming from GOP challenger Curb.

Deukmejian frequently has said he wants a Republican in the state’s No. 2 job.

Thus, Curb and Deukmejian, bitter political rivals when they challenged each other in the 1982 GOP primary for governor, lost little time Wednesday in presenting a united front for the fall election.

They appeared together at a unity celebration Wednesday with other Republican winners in Tuesday’s election and said past differences had been patched up.

Deukmejian, asked about those differences at a Los Angeles news conference, said, “That’s all behind us. That’s all passed. Ever since the primary . . . we have gotten along very, very well together.”

The governor, however, refused to say if he voted for Curb or Richardson, both of whom are conservative. “I’m not going to say what position I took in any of the primaries,” Deukmejian said.

Richardson, for his part, did not phone or send a telegram of support to Curb, a customary gesture for losing primary candidates. His office released a brief statement that said, “Congratulations. Good luck in the general.” An aide said the lawmaker was “taking a few days off.”

Meanwhile, both Curb and McCarthy went on the attack, each trying to gain a tactical advantage by putting the other on the defensive.

Curb’s Draft Status

McCarthy fired the first shots, raising the issue of Curb’s draft status during the Vietnam War era and the failure of the former lieutenant governor to register to vote until he was 29 years old, issues that were considered damaging to the Republican candidate in his 1982 race against Deukmejian. In that campaign, Curb at first said he was 1-A and eligible for the draft, but later was forced to admit he received a medical deferment.

“For the record, I have voted since the age of 21, the first chance provided by law. I was classified 1-A and served as millions did in the armed forces,” McCarthy said in a statement and in comments made before the polls closed.

McCarthy also challenged Curb’s sometimes shaky four-year tenure as lieutenant governor from 1978 to 1982 under former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. When he served as lieutenant governor, Curb at times tried to usurp the power of the governor by attempting to appoint judges and sign executive orders while Brown was out of the state, and he sometimes returned pay to the state saying that he did not believe he earned it.

McCarthy said, “He bought television spots to apologize for the job he did and said he is now older and wiser. Mike Curb will have to address that claim throughout his campaign. Is he really any wiser or more mature than when he held this office four years ago?”

Sees Personal Attack

Curb, who has admitted to a degree of immaturity during his early days in public life, retorted by accusing McCarthy of getting needlessly personal. “He is attacking me on what I did as a teen-ager or when I was in my early 20s, which is incredible,” said Curb, now 41.

The Republican issued a formal challenge to his opponent to debate, taking McCarthy up on a suggestion he first made several months ago.

Curb said the chief issues he wanted to talk about in the campaign are McCarthy’s support for California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird in her confirmation election in November, and the Democrat’s position on the death penalty. McCarthy has been a longtime opponent of the death penalty, but several months ago said he supports the use of capital punishment in limited cases.

Curb’s support for the death penalty appeared to help him in his campaign against Richardson. A prolific fund-raiser who took in more than $1.3 million in contributions and was able to outspend his opponent 2 to 1 on television advertising, Curb made his support for the death penalty a central issue of his campaign. Though Richardson too is a death penalty supporter, Curb was apparently able to reach a wider audience with the message.

I.A. Lewis, director of the Los Angeles Times Poll, said Curb enjoyed a 21% advantage over Richardson among Republican voters who identified the death penalty as one of the most important issues facing California.

Lewis said voters remembered Curb’s tenure as lieutenant governor. “He was lieutenant governor for four years and that is probably the biggest reason why he won,” Lewis said.