Charges Nothing Done to Ease Traffic : Bradley, Late for Talk, Blames Deukmejian

Late for a campaign speech after being stuck in traffic, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Bradley called Orange County’s freeways “an abomination” Friday and blamed their continued congestion on what he called the “caretaker” government of Republican Gov. George Deukmejian.

“The kind of congestion which appears on the freeways of this county every day is an abomination,” said the Los Angeles mayor, clearly irate, after he arrived about half an hour late for the opening of his Orange County campaign headquarters in Anaheim Friday evening. “It ought to be changed. It should have been changed. It should have been addressed already.

“The governor appointed a task force to look at it, to make some recommendations. And I don’t know where he put them, but he certainly hasn’t taken any action on them. Well, this is the kind of manner in which this governor simply sat in his offices as a caretaker, not attending to the responsibilities and not addressing the problems of the various counties in California.”

Bradley said after his speech that in Deukmejian’s 3 1/2 years in office, “he’s built only 83 miles of new roadways in the state of California. In the entire period Jerry Brown was in office--in any three-year segment--he built far more than that.”

Governor Defended

Loren Kaye, a Deukmejian campaign aide countered, “Mayor Bradley once again doesn’t know what he is talking about.” In addition, he said, the state is now spending more on highway and freeway construction and rehabilitation than ever before--$3 billion on highways and $1 billion on local streets and roads.

Kaye also said that some items recommended by the governor’s “infrastructure task force,” which looked at freeways, have been adopted and that over the next five years the state plans to spend about $13 billion on about 1,200 projects.

In his speech to supporters, Bradley promised “visionary, hands-on management” of all California counties’ problems as governor. Under his leadership, he said, communities would be encouraged to “put up additional dollars by themselves” to raise extra money for freeways.

The mayor said that every time he has come to Orange County, he has run into heavy traffic.

According to Jarrett Comfort, the Los Angeles policeman who drove Bradley to Orange County Friday, the mayor left his office at 5:05 p.m. and did not arrive in Anaheim until 6:10 p.m. or later.

Traffic was relatively light as they left Los Angeles, Jarrett said. “You almost didn’t know it was Friday,” he said. “And then we got to Orange County, just past the 605 (freeway), and we were stopped. We were stopped. And then it was slow all the way to Beach Boulevard,” the exit he took to arrive at Bradley’s Orange County campaign headquarters.

Growth Rate Cited

In his speech, Bradley described Orange County as the fastest growing area of the state, one that deserves aid for its traffic problems and one where he will spend plenty of time campaigning. Already, he said, he has made more stops here than in 1982 when he also ran for governor against Deukmejian.

Mark Leyes, executive director of Bradley’s Orange County campaign, said the mayor hopes to do well this time around in Anaheim, Cypress, Buena Park, Garden Grove and Stanton--all cities with large numbers of Democratic voters. Bradley lost those cities “miserably” in 1982, Leyes said.

“There’s some feeling, especially by the locals, that if we had done better in Orange County, he would be governor by now,” Leyes said. “So we are attempting to make this a Democratic year in Orange County.”

Bradley was greeted Friday night by about 100 supporters who jammed the small campaign headquarters on West Lincoln Boulevard. Bradley was cheered as he arrived, and many supporters asked him to pose for pictures with them and their children.

Bradley, who was wearing a black suit, crisp white shirt and black tie, obligingly posed with small girls wearing ruffles and with Leo Tamtomo, 8, a serious-looking boy from Anaheim who collects pictures of himself with Democratic politicians.

Mike Balmages, campaign director of Bradley’s Orange County campaign, said the show of support for Bradley once again proves that “people in Orange County love him.”

In 1982 there was considerably less affection, however. Then, Orange County’s voters gave 61.3% of the vote to Deukmejian and 36.8% to Bradley.