Busy Mending Fences in Governor’s Race : Bradley Manager a ‘Salesman’ of Hope

Like an evangelist traveling the circuit, campaign manager Bob Thomson has been preaching the gospel of political revival, crisscrossing the state trying to rejuvenate a Tom Bradley gubernatorial campaign that has been beset by poor organization, bad publicity and the natural disadvantages of challenging a well-financed incumbent.

This summer Thomson is campaigning on behalf of his boss to soothe hurt feelings of longtime Bradley supporters, and to build up and talk up the campaign. His job is to encourage enthusiasm and discourage despair about Bradley’s chances against Gov. George Deukmejian.

“This campaign is winnable,” said the silver-haired, smooth public speaker whose sometimes self-depreciating style is a bit practiced. “I’m here to let people know if we do our job right, we’ll win Nov. 4.”

‘A Salesman’

How much of this is heartfelt is hard to tell. Thomson is “a salesman within a campaign. Not in a Pollyanna sense, but he’s always selling the point he thinks is important, persuading,” said Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who is a close friend and chose Thomson as his best man for his wedding.

Thomson is a 45-year-old Los Angeles attorney who has periodically been involved in political campaigns ever since he worked for the statewide presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy. In June he took over the day-to-day reins of the campaign amid organizational missteps and Bradley mistakes that gave the appearance of indecisiveness and infighting.

Staffers complained about then-campaign manager Mary Nichols’ inexperience in running a statewide campaign. Nichols’ supporters said she was a scapegoat for an underdog campaign that could not attract the money it needed.

And Bradley ran into problems on the campaign trail. He refused to take a position on the confirmation of Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird when most of his staffers were pushing him to oppose her. On a number of occasions he appeared ill-prepared for reporters’ questions.

After the primary, many in the Bradley inner circle began pushing for a shake-up in the campaign. They were particularly critical of Nichols, campaign chairman Tom Quinn’s handpicked lieutenant.

Ran Pines’ Campaign

Quinn then replaced Nichols with Thomson, who was well known in Democratic circles for managing former City Atty. Burt Pines’ campaign against a 20-year incumbent. He also had been a close adviser to Reiner in his races for city attorney and district attorney, giving Bradley a range of campaign experience that many advisers felt was lacking in Nichols.

As Thomson entered so did a new game plan for Bradley. This summer, the campaign is concentrating on raising enough money to keep Bradley commercials on television as long as possible. From now until Labor Day, Thomson said, the “incremental” fund-raising goal is $2 million. If the commercials help Bradley rise in the polls, then the campaign hopes it will be easier to raise the money needed to close the gap on Deukmejian, who has a 10-1 money advantage. Raising money “is the single biggest problem” in the Bradley campaign, Thomson said.

That probably means a major loan package for Bradley. Quinn said “it’s my guess that we will be borrowing,” although he would not say how much.

The long-range strategy, Thomson said, is based on a hope that Bradley will benefit from ballot propositions that will attract more liberal voters, while at the same time use the commercials to dispel some voters’ belief that Bradley, the big-city black Democrat, is too liberal to be governor.

Promising Signs

Already there are promising signs. The latest California Poll says that Bradley, who had trailed Deukmejian by up to 22 points, has narrowed the gap to 11 points, a rise that some Bradley strategists said was inevitable as the November election draws closer. But Thomson also has been circumspect about polls, saying that while the private polls of Bradley and Sen. Alan Cranston have for weeks painted a brighter outlook for Bradley, loyalists may have given them too much emphasis.

Thomson approaches his new job with a blend of enthusiasm and seeming candor about the tough job he faces.

He tells a story to illustrate his situation in the Bradley campaign:

A new president comes into a company that is in deep trouble. The outgoing president says, “I’ve prepared three envelopes for you, numbered 1, 2, 3. When you reach a crisis, reach for an envelope.”

Three weeks later, the figures get worse. Very depressed, the president opens envelope No. 1. The slip of paper inside says: “Blame your predecessor.” So he has a staff meeting and says everything would have been fine if that so-and-so hadn’t messed it up.

The Second Envelope

Sales pick up but eventually the company hits bottom again. He reaches for that second envelope. It says: “Reorganize.” So he spends the weekend coming up with new cost-flow charts and hires new people.

But the old fundamental problems eventually come back. In despair, he opens the third and final envelope. The message inside reads: “Prepare three envelopes . . . .”

“I hope not to get to the third envelope,” Thomson said, smiling.

“I’m a fan of the theory of the inevitable,” he recently told a gathering of the New Democratic Channel, a yuppie Democratic group. “I don’t believe for a minute Tom Bradley was ever 22 (points) behind in the polls . . . . I was of the view that Tom Bradley would be much tougher in the fall than the polls were indicating.”

He had explained earlier in an interview: “When people were judging against an absolute standard, you had Democrats saying, ‘Gosh, isn’t there a new face (to run for governor this year)?’ I felt that . . . once the primary passed, (restless Democrats) would be more supportive. When given the relative choice between Tom Bradley and George Deukmejian, they would vote for Tom Bradley.”

Campaign Shortcomings

The campaign has not been doing its job, he said, in “making sure people outside of Los Angeles know who Tom Bradley is, and what he stands for.”

In San Francisco and Sacramento, Thomson said, “When you say black and Democrat, Tom Bradley is not the name that comes to mind, it’s Willie Brown. Now Willie Brown is a terrific Speaker (of the Assembly) but I would suggest it’s not the image we want . . . . Willie has a flamboyant image, $900 suits, $40,000 sports cars.”

Thus the television commercials, currently running statewide and most heavily in Northern California, stress Bradley’s fiscal conservatism.

Another part of the Bradley campaign strategy assumes that the mood of voters has changed since 1982, when Bradley narrowly lost to Deukmejian.

Thomson contends that in 1982, fiscal problems and gun control--both GOP issues--topped the agenda. “Today it’s different, with social issues, the environment, toxics, drugs, education, being the concerns, and those are usually Democratic issues.”

“In 1982 (former Gov. Edmund G.) Brown (Jr.) was a certifiable banana, and the state budget crisis was real,” said Thomson, who that year was the chairman of the campaign for Brown’s rival in the Senate Democratic primary, Dan Whitehurst. “Give George Deukmejian credit, whether lucky or not, the economy is turning around and now it’s the social issues that concern people.”

Initiative Lure

Initiatives on the ballot regarding stricter regulation of toxics, cutting salaries of public employees, the use of English only and an anti-AIDS initiative being fought by gays are likely to attract pro-Bradley voters, Thomson said. He asserted that the “rabid right” would not be drawn to the polls to vote against the liberal chief justice because polls indicate sentiment is so high against Bird that “people believe that election is over.”

While the TV commercials battle it out for viewer attention, Thomson has been flying around the state, primarily the Bay Area, Sacramento and San Diego, to meet with Bradley supporters and set up campaign operations. His salary is being paid by his law firm, Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey, which is a major Los Angeles city political donor and handles big bond sales for the city.

In Sacramento he met with Willie Brown and a representative of Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), pledging cooperation and coordination; he also met in Sacramento with Jerry Cremens, president of the California Building and Construction Trades Council, who had been angered by a dispute with former manager Nichols over Bradley crossing an “informational” picket line.

‘Breath of Fresh Air’

“Thomson is like a breath of fresh air,” said labor leader and Bradley friend Bill Robertson. “He’s been meeting with all the right people all over the state.”

Bishop H. H. Brookins, another longtime Bradley confidante, said he is “encouraged by Thomson . . . . The main thing I’m impressed with is Tom Bradley is beginning to take charge of his own campaign. He himself needed to reorganize the campaign. His staff was stumbling, stammering, stuttering; it just wasn’t happening.”

And the mayor himself “has not been inspiring . . . kind of lackluster,” Brookins added. “On one hand, he’s tremendously popular, but on the other hand, he doesn’t translate into great enthusiasm. I will be part of pulling that enthusiasm together . . . . To win, it can’t be a campaign, it’s got to be a crusade.”