Campbell Won’t Let Voters in Farm Areas Forget Davis’ Ties to Brown

Former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. may be absent from the political scene these days, but here in the state’s agricultural heartland, few growers are willing to forgive or forget his outspoken support for farm worker organizer Cesar Chavez and the successful grape boycotts that hit hard at growers’ pocketbooks.

So it was natural that in the last week of his campaign for state controller, state Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) would come to the Central Valley to remind voters of the close ties that once existed between Brown and Campbell’s Democratic opponent, Assemblyman Gray Davis (D-Los Angeles).

Campbell, who has made the Brown-Davis link the centerpiece of his campaign strategy, repeatedly talked of Davis’ seven years as Brown’s chief of staff, telling reporters, “I don’t need to remind the people of this community of the devastation that Jerry Brown wreaked on the California economy.”

Seeking to tie Davis to other controversial Brown-era policies, Campbell charged that it was with “the enthusiastic assistance” of Davis that Brown appointed Rose Elizabeth Bird, now California’s embattled chief justice, to draft the state’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which was spawned by Chavez’s organizing activities. He even mentioned in passing that it was Bird who officiated at Davis’ wedding.

“Gray Davis is of the same philosophy now that he was then,” Campbell said. “This leopard has not changed his spots.”

Campaign of Images

Campbell’s Fresno appearance was the first press conference the GOP candidate has held in what has become almost exclusively an image-building campaign fought with TV commercials, and has been nearly devoid of issues central to the controller’s fiscal duties.

Campbell’s decision to seek more visibility comes at a time when he is being outspent by Davis and trailing in most statewide polls. By contrast, Davis has scheduled no public campaign events in the final days before Tuesday’s elections, confident that his television campaign will deliver most of the undecided voters, who still constitute nearly a third of the voting public.

On Tuesday, a Davis spokesman, keeping to that theme, largely dismissed Campbell’s statements as “desperate rhetoric” to draw attention away from his own record as the state’s “biggest spender.” Davis has sought to portray Campbell as the least frugal member of the state Senate and a pawn of special interests.

The most recent statewide voter survey, conducted last week by pollster Steve Teichner, after television ads by both Campbell and Davis had been aired, shows Davis with a commanding 17-point lead over Campbell.

Claims He Is Ahead

But Campbell played down the significance of that finding, saying that his own private polls taken about the same time show him slightly ahead.

Campbell’s strategists concede, however, that his campaign ultimately will turn largely on whether voters still perceive Brown in a negative light and whether that resentment transfers to others associated with him.

Some statewide surveys suggest that while Brown is still viewed negatively by the electorate as a whole, his popularity is improving with time.

In places like the Central Valley, however, Campbell and his supporters are counting on the negatives being around at least through November.

State Sen. Ken Maddy (R-Fresno), who accompanied Campbell Tuesday, agreed. “All you have to do is go down to any of the truck stops or any place the farmers gather for breakfast and you’ll find that (resentment for Brown) is deep-rooted,” Maddy said.