Governor Hits Bradley With Heavy Attack

Unwilling to give his foe a day’s respite, Republican Gov. George Deukmejian Wednesday immediately began a heavy attack against Democratic Mayor Tom Bradley, centered on the Rose Elizabeth Bird issue and, with money to spare, is mapping plans to saturate the airwaves with radio and television commercials before the November election.

Bradley, on the other hand, must play cheerleader for a party hit by defeatism, be a fund raiser for a badly under financed campaign and an arbiter among Democratic activists, including some of his closest supporters, who are feuding over the effectiveness of his campaign strategy and staff.

Awareness of Blunder

Deukmejian’s fast start indicated awareness of a classic blunder--GOP gubernatorial candidate Evelle J. Younger’s loss of precious ground to Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. in 1978 by going on a post-primary Hawaii vacation. Disdaining even a day off, this year’s Republican standard bearer began his fall campaign against Bradley on ABC-TV’s “Nightline” soon after the polls closed Tuesday night and continued it Wednesday with a hard-hitting assault against the mayor at a news conference in Universal City and a walking tour of his home town, Long Beach.

There, Deukmejian visited the barbershop where he has had his hair cut for more than 23 years, a shoe shop his family patronized and an ice cream store, where the governor ordered a single scoop of moca almond fudge.

Spurns Day Off

Bradley also spurned a day off, holding a press conference at his headquarters in Hollywood. He renewed his challenge to Deukmejian for 14 debates and accepted invitations from two radio stations, KABC in Los Angeles and KFSO in Fresno, which is owned by Bradley campaign chairman Tom Quinn, for debates.

Deukmejian rejected Bradley’s challenge to 14 debates, although he left the door open to a debate between the two sometime during the campaign.

“If Tom Bradley and I had 14 debates, this whole press corps would be in a deep sleep for several months,” he told reporters at the Sheraton Premiere in Universal City. In Long Beach, Deukmejian, however, said “we’ll consider later on, we’ll see what he does, whether he takes a firm stand on the issues, and we’ll consider debates later in the campaign.”

And, in talking about his fall issues, Deukmejian hit hard on Chief Justice Bird, whose reconfirmation he opposes. Bradley is neutral, saying that politicians should not interfere in judicial races.

“We’ll continue to talk about issues like if you are governor, if you are going to appoint judges, the least you can do is tell people where you stand on Chief Justice Rose Bird,” Deukmejian said. “He (Bradley) doesn’t even have the courage to do that.”

Bradley said he would be glad to debate the Bird issue with Deukmejian. He said he believes “in the principles upon which this country was based, separation of power between the three branches of government and the independence of the judiciary. I believe in that principle. I follow it and I would be happy to debate that issue and discuss it with anyone.”

Could Cost Votes

A Los Angeles Times Poll of 5,571 voters, after they left the election booth, showed that the Bird issue is likely to cost Bradley votes, even among Democrats.

The poll showed that voters disapprove of the job Bird has been doing by a 3-1 ratio. Democrats disapproved 3 to 2. And anti-Bird Democrats were sliding away from Bradley. Among Democrats who dislike Bird, Bradley was favored over Deukmejian by only six points.

Democrats who said they feel that the death penalty is the most important problem facing the state were divided almost equally between Bradley and Deukmejian. Bradley favors the death penalty. But Bird has never supported it on the court and Bradley’s insistence on neutrality seems to cost him support among pro-death-penalty Democrats.

Behind opening day’s first blows were the long-range strategies of both camps, reflecting an unusual situation in which Bradley, who barely lost to Deukmejian four years ago, is now given little chance to win, and the governor, the underdog through most of 1982, who finds himself overwhelmed with campaign contributions and afraid only of overconfidence.

The difference was clearly shown Tuesday night in the Republican and Democratic election celebration parties, and in the private conversations with politics-loving activists who attended them.

Cool Self-Confidence

At the glittering Sheraton Premiere in Universal City, all was cool self-confidence at a private gathering for top supporters and then at the governor’s speech in the ballroom. With his wife, Gloria, at his side, Deukmejian crisply delivered a punch line-packed blast at the mayor, getting big applause with his words on Bradley and Bird.

“He slipped, he slid, he ducked, he waffled and he wavered,” Deukmejian said. “He’s the original Los Angeles Dodger.”

That night, he also was on “Nightline,” as was Bird, in a separate appearance. Steven A. Merksamer, the governor’s chief of staff, said it was all part of a plan to go on the attack at a time when some strategists might think that voters, sated with primary politics, might appreciate a break.

“Think about it,” Merksamer said in an interview. “Everybody’s watching TV on election night. That’s the one night people stay up for the late news. People still will be focused on politics all week and we want to get out there and talk about the governor’s record and the issues. You’re going to see us becoming much more aggressive. George Deukmejian’s really going to be moving around for the next couple of weeks.”

The Democratic celebration, packing the Crystal Ballroom at the Biltmore, raising the temperature to a sweaty level, was full of enthusiasm and Bradley signs waving in the air when the mayor, who, like Deukmejian, had only minor primary election opposition, appeared.

Recounts Background

As he has been doing through the entire campaign, Bradley spoke of his own climb from the bottom--son of poor black sharecroppers, overcoming prejudice to attend UCLA and serving on the Los Angeles Police Department and--most relevant to him--being elected mayor in 1973 after a 1969 defeat. From his own personal saga, the mayor sought to inspire a party fearful of the future.

As Bradley recounted each of his setbacks, he declared that each time “I said yes I can, yes I will. . . . The time has come again, time to say, ‘Yes I can, yes I will.’ ” The audience joined him in shouting the phrase.

But after the cheering ended, Democratic activists said in interviews that they are gloomy about the fall prospects and some expressed fear that Bradley might lose in a landslide so overwhelming that other Democratic candidates, including U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston, might also be defeated.

Not wanting to be associated with divisive talk on a special night, they declined to give their names as they chatted in the ballroom, in a crowded bar across the hall or in another traditional Democratic late-election-night stopover spot--the nondescript La Cienega office of campaign consultants Michael Berman and Carl D’Agostino, where there was plenty of gloomy talk amid the platters of cold meat and bottles of beer and soft drinks.

Speak of Difficulties

But Bradley supporters elsewhere spoke publicly about the campaign’s difficulties in interviews over the last few days and in speeches. At a fund-raiser that brought in about $50,000 in San Francisco Monday, Bradley’s new Northern California chairman, William Russell-Shapiro, said: “We are going to do everything we can to turn this campaign around. If the election were held today, we would not win. It is evident. It is silly to say otherwise.” But he added “people are coming forward. . . . “

In the northern San Diego County community of Vista, Bradley supporter Jim Sutton, a pile driver operator attending a labor reception for the mayor, said Bradley was behind in the area. He said he thinks that the race will eventually be close but that he is concerned about apathy. “Apathy is probably caused by people not concerned about the future,” he said. “Everyone seems to be eating well today.”

Bradley heads East next week for fund-raising events in New York, Atlanta and Washington, where the affair will be hosted by Cranston.

Deukmejian has about $5 million in the bank and expects to raise millions more. He already has raised more than $8.1 million, roughly equaling all the donations to his entire 1982 campaign. He has spent more than $3 million, much of it for television.

Bradley, by contrast, had $1.27 million on hand as of May 17. He had spent $1.4 million in the three months preceding that date.

$375,000 a Week

To put the money difference in perspective, a good bloc of television commercials statewide will cost an average of $375,000 a week, and campaign overhead for Deukmejian runs about $25,000 a week.

Deukmejian has enough campaign cash in the till to finance a steady stream of television commercials, seven days a week, every week, from Labor Day until the election.

Television also figures heavily in the Bradley strategy.

Commercials blasting Deukmejian for accepting campaign contributions from toxic waste companies and the insurance industry--and accusing him of pursuing weak regulatory enforcement policies toward them--were run by Bradley in May.

A recent Los Angeles Times Poll found that Deukmejian had lost support after the commercials appeared. And a Times poll on election day showed that toxic waste rates high on a list of what Democratic voters regard as the state’s most important problems, which suggests that the constant Bradley hammering on the toxic issue may be well advised.

But within the Bradley camp, the hard-hitting messages touched off a debate between campaign chairman Tom Quinn and his supporters and other Bradleyites who have been associated with the mayor for years and say that he should continue the dignified, above-the-battle approach he usually uses in city politics and that was at the heart of his 1982 campaign.

‘They Did Work’

At his press conference Wednesday, Bradley endorsed the Quinn approach. “They did work,” he said of the commercials.

There is also a split in the Bradley campaign between Quinn and his ally, campaign manager Mary Nichols, and old Bradley backers who are critical of the management of the drive.

Some critics, who declined the use of their names, favor bringing in a manager with longtime political management skills.

“I think there will be a change after the primary,” one said. Another said the change might take the form of a new person being brought on board, joining the present management team.

Quinn, in an interview, said: “We will take a look at the whole staffing . . . sometime in June, we will evaluate where we we are going, and how to get there and I think it is a mistake now to make any announcement at this time.”

Bradley, asked about his staff Wednesday, said that it will be expanded.

Times staff writer Janet Clayton contributed to this story.