Cranston Calls Zschau Liar, Won’t Debate

Accusing Republican U. S. Senate nominee Ed Zschau of “conducting a campaign of lies,” Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston slammed the door Friday on any possibility of debates between the two candidates.

In a letter to the California League of Women Voters, which had offered to sponsor televised debates, Cranston campaign manager Darry Sragow said that although Cranston debated his Republican and minor party opponents in 1980 and 1974, he will not debate Zschau for the same reason that he did not debate his 1968 Republican opponent, the late Max Rafferty.

“Rafferty had run a smear campaign against his fellow Republican, Tom Kuchel, in the (1968) primary and then against Sen. Cranston in the general election,” Sragow’s letter said.

‘Debate a Liar’

“Sen. Cranston refused to debate a liar,” Sragow continued. “The television advertisements Ed Zschau has been running against Sen. Cranston amount to the same type of gutter campaign Rafferty ran.

“The Zschau ads lie. . . . He owes an apology to the people of California for seeking to mislead them about Alan Cranston and for cynically preying on their legitimate fears to satisfy his own ambitions.”

Sragow was referring to two Zschau TV commercials that state, “For 18 years Alan Cranston has missed or voted against virtually every tough law” on terrorism and drug enforcement.

A review by The Times of Cranston’s voting record found that, contrary to the charge in the Zschau ad, Cranston has sponsored or voted for a number of tough laws to combat terrorism and drug trafficking.

The senator has backed proposals to increase penalties for terrorists, to beef up security at foreign airports and to cut off oil shipments from Libya because it provided training bases for terrorists.

Also, Cranston is a member of the Democratic Task Force on Narcotics and recently co-sponsored the Emergency “Crack” Control Act, the Comprehensive Narcotics Control Act and the Student Drug Abuse Education and Prevention Act.

Votes Missed

The senator has missed several major votes on anti-terrorist or drug enforcement legislation in the past 18 years. But because each of those bills passed by overwhelming margins--in some cases without opposition--Cranston argues that his vote would not have affected the outcome.

Zschau’s terrorist ad notes that Cranston has consistently opposed the death penalty for terrorists, which is correct. Long an opponent of the death penalty for any crime, Cranston argues that it is counterproductive to put terrorists to death because it makes them into martyrs.

“Ed Zschau is guilty of conducting a campaign of lies,” Sragow wrote to the League of Women Voters. “And once again Sen. Cranston is not going to debate a liar. Neither one-on-one nor in a group of five.”

Cranston said just before the June primary that he wanted to debate his Republican and minor party opponents.

The league has offered to sponsor a five-way debate and two one-on-one encounters, but Cranston’s campaign has not been able to agree on ground rules.

Cranston Leads in Poll

That failure has not been all that surprising. Incumbents often take an aloof attitude toward debates when they are ahead in the polls, and a recent Los Angeles Times Poll showed Cranston leading Zschau by 15 points. The 72-year-old Cranston is also aware that Zschau, 46, is an attractive candidate and articulate debater who stands a good chance of benefiting from the statewide exposure a debate would provide.

Originally, Cranston had questioned whether it was fair to exclude the three minor party candidates from his debates with Zschau.

But recently, Libertarian candidate Breck McKinley, American Independent nominee Edward Vallen and Peace and Freedom candidate Paul Kangas all agreed to the league proposal that would exclude them from two of the three debates.

“When Cranston no longer had that to hide behind, it really put him on the spot,” Zschau charged Friday in a telephone interview. “So now he has taken the position that my ads are the reason he won’t debate.”

According to Zschau campaign manager Ron Smith, Cranston’s reluctance to debate one-on-one is what led to the sudden harsh tone of the Zschau TV ads.

“We wanted a series of debates on the issues because we really believe the voters deserve that,” Smith said in an interview earlier this week. “That doesn’t mean we would not have run some ads criticizing Cranston’s record. But he refused to debate us, so you’re now going to see some very tough ads.”