Gray Davis Cites Crime Efforts as His Lead Slips

With his lead in the race for state controller beginning to shrink, Democratic Assemblyman Gray Davis of Los Angeles moved to boost his image as a tough crime fighter Tuesday by surrounding himself with law enforcement officials and proposing a new “100% tax” on the ill-gotten gains of drug dealers.

In a press conference on the steps of the Los Angeles Criminal Courts building, Davis, flanked by officials of some of the state’s largest peace officer labor groups, read a list of his crime-fighting efforts of the past and declared, “I’d like to see dope dealers get a tough break, not a tax break.”

A spokesman for state Sen. Bill Campbell, Davis’ Republican opponent, immediately questioned the effectiveness of Davis’ tax proposal and accused him of jumping on the anti-drug bandwagon.

“It just shows he’s paying attention to whatever all the other politicians are talking about,” said Roger Scott, a spokesman for Campbell. Scott added that federal law already allows the U.S. government to seize the assets of drug dealers.

First Press Conference

Davis’ press conference was the first staged by either candidate in a race that features two of California’s most colorful and ambitious politicians. The winner is bound to be considered a serious gubernatorial candidate in the years ahead.

Yet as the contest grinds into its final weeks, it has remained a low-visibility affair in which the major activity has been raising money for expensive television commercials.

Discussion of the issues has given way to image building and symbolism, as Campbell tries to portray Davis as a “clone” of former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., whom he served as chief of staff for seven years, while Davis paints Campbell as a “political wheeler-dealer” and a tool of special interests.

The lack of any substantive issues was brought into sharp focus again Tuesday as the two camps spent most of their time dueling over whose commercials are likely to sway more voters in the final days of the campaign.

Margin Narrowed

Voter surveys taken shortly after last June’s primary showed Davis leading Campbell by more than 10 percentage points. But in the wake of a series of tough anti-Davis commercials aired last month, the margin has narrowed significantly.

A Los Angeles Times Poll in early September, for example, showed Davis leading Campbell by a margin of 31% to 23%, with 42% of voters undecided. A similar survey conducted last week showed that the margin had shrunk to 5 points, with Davis polling 34% and Campbell 29%. More than a third of voters still had not made up their minds, however, and Davis actually gained 3 points even though he had yet to begin his television campaign.

“I have consistently maintained that I will win this race by at least 10 points. I think Mr. Campbell is history,” Davis boasted Tuesday, contending that he will outspend Campbell on television advertising in the crucial last weeks by a ratio of 3 to 1.

Commercials Hit Absenteeism

In all, Davis said he is spending $1.6 million on at least three commercials that criticize Campbell’s high absenteeism in the Senate and tout Davis’ legislative efforts to curb drug use, remove cancer-causing asbestos from schools and locate missing children by placing their pictures on milk cartons and grocery bags.

Campbell, meanwhile, has spent nearly $500,000 on his early television spots and a spokesman said he is likely to add $750,000 more in the last weeks.

“The reality is Davis will not outspend us anywhere near 3 to 1,” said Jerry Haleva, who is managing Campbell’s campaign. “If (Davis) is predicting that he will win by 10 points, that’s an ominous sign of the kind of creative math he wants to bring the controller’s office.”

Regardless of all the boasts and the money spent, neither candidate seems able to escape the fact that few voters seem to know or care much about the office or the race. Earlier this week, for example, Campbell appeared on a radio call-in show in the Sierra foothill town of Grass Valley. Not a single listener phoned.