Both Sides Untie Purse Strings in Court Battle

The campaigns supporting embattled California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird and two of her liberal colleagues untied their purse strings over the summer and spent nearly $1.7 million--most of it for broadcast advertising--in their effort to keep the justices on the bench.

Much of the money came from a $1-million cash reserve that had been accumulated by Bird’s campaign, the Committee to Conserve the Courts, according to the latest campaign finance statements filed in Sacramento.

On the other side, the three main groups working to defeat Bird and Justices Cruz Reynoso and Joseph R. Grodin in their November confirmation election spent just over $621,000. That figure, however, does not include an undetermined amount of money spent by other candidates who have adopted the record of the liberal justices as a campaign issue.

The latest spending figures represent a sharp reversal of the trend in the first half of the year. Between January 1 and June 30, supporters of Bird, Reynoso and Grodin together spent slightly less than $395,000, while their opponents laid out more than $1.5 million, much of it for anti-Bird literature and direct-mail solicitations.

At the end of the reporting period Sept. 30, campaigns supporting the three justices were left with $863,500 in cash on hand, while their opponents reported that they had $516,500 in the bank.

The burst of spending comes at a time when Bird’s prospects for reconfirmation appear dim. The latest survey by independent pollster Steven Teichner and the California Poll, conducted by Mervyn Field, both show that at least half of the voters oppose her. Teichner’s results indicate that only 27% of the electorate wishes to see Bird remain on the court, while Field says 31% of the voters support her.

Grodin, Reynoso Have Edge

However, the two polls continue to reflect winning margins for Grodin and Reynoso.

The three main groups opposing the justices--Crime Victims for Court Reform, Californians to Defeat Rose Bird and the Law and Order Campaign Committee--have focused their criticism on the high court’s death penalty decisions. Bird, for example, has voted to overturn every death sentence that has come before her court for review.

Bird supporters, however, insist that the chief justice and her colleagues have only followed the dictates of the law.

The largest expenditure reported by Bird’s campaign organization was $1.05 million for television and radio advertising. However, only $400,000 worth of that advertising was aired before the end of the reporting period on Sept. 30, said Steven M. Glazer, spokesman for the Committee to Conserve the Courts. The balance paid for October air time, he said.

Of the opposition’s latest spending efforts, Glazer said: “They don’t have the money. The politicians who have put their political ambitions on the court bandwagon have jumped off after their losses in June.”

Glazer said he was referring to the unsuccessful efforts of state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia) and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, both outspoken Bird critics, to capture the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate earlier this year.

But Janet Byers, spokesperson for Crime Victims for Court Reform and Californians to Defeat Rose Bird, said momentum is on the side of the anti-Bird campaign.

New TV Commercials

Because Bird is trailing in the polls, Byers said it has been unnecessary to spend and raise huge amounts of money in recent weeks. She added, however, that new television commercials directed against all three justices will begin airing next week. Similar radio ads debuted Tuesday. “We will be accelerating” spending as Election Day draws near, Byers said. Crime Victims for Court Reform and Californians to Defeat Rose Bird are are pooling their resources to produce television commercials, Byers said.

According to the latest spending reports, supporters of the justices raised $1.15 million during the summer while their opponents took in $750,000.

Nearly 58% of the money raised by the anti-Bird forces was contributed in amounts of less than $100, according to the campaign finance reports. Only about 16% of the money raised to support the justices arrived in small contributions.

According to the latest spending reports, much of the $319,909 raised over the summer by Crime Victims for Court Reform came from longtime conservative activists and agricultural, building and real estate interests.

The largest single contribution was $15,000 from Richard J. Riordan, a Los Angeles attorney who is co-chair of the group’s finance committee. Riordan, a Democrat, is also a major backer of Mayor Tom Bradley’s gubernatorial campaign.

Corporate Contributors

Other contributions to Crime Victims for Court Reform included $5,000 from Bixby Ranch Co. in Long Beach, $5,000 from F. P. Lathrop Construction Co. in Emeryville and $1,000 from Pacific Lighting Corp., parent of Southern California Gas Co.

In contrast, Californians to Defeat Rose Bird reported that all but $27,465 of the $389,142 that it raised was given by individuals who made donations of less than $100.

The Law and Order Campaign Committee raised only $40,972 in the lastest reporting period, mainly in small contributions.

Bird’s organization, the Committee to Conserve the Courts, reported that it raised $289,697. Most of the money came from lawyers and labor organizations.

Attorneys in one Los Angeles law firm--Greene, O’Reilly, Broillet, Paul, Simon, McMillan, Wheeler & Rosenberg--contributed just over $56,000.

‘Close Personal Friends’

“Many of the partners in the firm are close personal friends of the chief justice,” said Glazer, Bird’s spokesman, “and she disqualifies herself on any matter that comes before the court that is related to that firm.”

Other contributors to the Committee to Conserve the Courts included actors Leonard Nimoy and Carroll O’Connor (both $100), and director John Landis, who gave $250. Landis is currently on trial in Los Angeles Superior Court on manslaughter charges in connection with the 1982 death of three actors on the set of “Twilight Zone--The Movie.”

Glazer said the committee will return the Landis contribution to avoid the possibility of conflicts should the case ever reach the Supreme Court.

The Committee to Retain Justice Grodin raised $357,233 during the latest reporting period and has almost that much left over after spending $122,448. Yes on Reynoso raised $225,244 and spent $320,277, leaving a surplus of $258,652.08 and debts of $15,974.

Former Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown’s efforts to help Bird and the other justices netted contributions of $242,548 to his Independent Citizens Committee to Keep Politics Out of the Courts. The committee spent $154,899 and had $89,281 cash on hand with less than $3,000 in debts.