California Elections : Tax Issue Muddies the Water : Bradley’s Defensive Stance Illustrates Campaign Dilemma

With a touch of exasperation, Mayor Tom Bradley, interviewed on the run, said: “I am not going to increase taxes next year. I’ve said it in a variety of ways.” Then, looking at a reporter writing his words on a note pad, he added, “Do you want me to sign that?”

The brief episode at the Sacramento airport Wednesday illustrated a dilemma of the Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s campaign. Bradley has spent valuable time defending his fiscal and crime policies against attacks by Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, who has made dollars and crime control central points of his bid for a second term. That has blunted Bradley’s efforts to dominate the final days with an anti-Deukmejian assault based on the mayor’s most effective campaign theme, the environment and toxic pollution control.

In addition, Bradley has helped the governor by advocating his ideas in imprecise ways in speeches and press conferences, offering rambling, complex explanations that muddy his stands.

Scrambling Candidate

The Sacramento airport tax discussion illustrated what is happening in the campaign of a man who barely lost to Deukmejian four years ago, won an easy mayoral reelection victory last year and now is scrambling to come from behind in an underfinanced effort taking him from press conference to speech to fund-raiser in long days that leave little time for preparation.

On Wednesday, Bradley was scheduled to open the day at breakfast with a group of Los Angeles political reporters who share bacon and eggs with political celebrities, usually on Fridays. But an aide had mistakenly told Bradley that the meeting was at 8 a.m. instead of 9 a.m., and so when the mayor arrived at the Sheraton Town House, the reporters were not there. He returned an hour later, spending the time at his City Hall office, but had to cut the session short so he could rush to a 10 a.m. flight to Sacramento for a luncheon speech.

At breakfast, a reporter asked Bradley if he would emulate Rep. Ed Zschau, the Republican Senate candidate, and sign a no-tax-increase pledge.

Instead of answering directly, Bradley referred back to his proposal, announced a few days before, of changing California’s tax system to conform with the federal tax reform bill signed by President Reagan. That change, he said, would bring an annual “windfall” of $1 billion to the state treasury by revising California rates.

Not the ‘Real Issue’

“And that money ought to be given to the people, not put in reserve,” Bradley said. For that reason, he added, “it is ludicrous to talk about raising taxes. . . . I don’t think that a tax increase is a real issue. . . . “

“Then you won’t sign a non-tax-increase pledge?” a reporter asked.

“What I said was, my statement the other day (about conforming state tax law to the new federal statutes) did answer that question. I am talking about returning money, letting people keep that money instead of taxing them more or keeping the money they would otherwise be paying. . . . “

As for a written pledge, he said, “there is no more assurance than a written statement when I give my word. That’s my bond and I’ve lived by that principle all my life.”

Bradley also attacked Deukmejian’s record on taxes, saying that there has been a $2.4-billion increase in various taxes and fees under the governor.

‘Secret Plan’ Charged

Still left unanswered was the specific question about raising taxes. It was an important question because Deukmejian had charged earlier in the month that Bradley, whom he called “Tax Hike Tom,” has “a secret plan that, if he becomes governor, he is going to raises taxes on the people of California. . . . “

Finally, the question was answered specifically at the airport.

Then Bradley hustled off to the $100-a-plate fund-raising luncheon at the Clarion Hotel in Sacramento, where he combined in a single speech the basic themes of his campaign--an attack on Deukmejian’s toxic regulation policy, a criticism of the governor’s leadership ability and an attack on the governor’s accomplishments in the criminal justice field. The latter point was important because the governor’s supporters were planning the following day to tour the state by plane charging that Bradley is an ineffective crime fighter.

But in dealing with crime in his speech, which he delivered without a text, Bradley criticized Deukmejian for not providing financial aid to local police departments, and then said that he, himself, would not provide such help if elected.

But the exchange with reporters over that contradiction overshadowed the Bradley message on Deukmejian’s toxic policies--a point he badly needs to underscore with voters in the Sacramento area, where he is running behind in a local public opinion poll.