Liberals Hope for Revival in Toxics Issue

They sat like worshipers Tuesday in the dimly lit meeting room of an old church in Los Angeles: Cranston, Bradley, Hayden--warriors from California’s once-thriving liberal movement.

They talked about Proposition 65, the anti-toxics initiative that all of them are backing on the Nov. 4 ballot. Unspoken was the question some of them have asked in private:

With California turning increasingly Republican in registration--and in attitudes, according to one statewide poll--would a victory for Proposition 65 reinvigorate the liberals and their belief in government activism?

The measure would, among other things, double fines for illegal dumpers and set stringent limits on the amount of hazardous chemicals permitted in drinking water.

Conservatives charge that it would create red tape and hurt businesses and agriculture. Liberals say it would be a major improvement over existing laws.

At Tuesday’s press conference called to praise the initiative, Mayor Tom Bradley, the Democratic candidate for governor, warned that unless Proposition 65 passes, “we may not have any clean drinking water in this state in 10 years.”

Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston said, “On Nov. 4 the people will win--and we will look forward to a cleaner, brighter future in California.”

And a chief backer of the initiative, Santa Monica Assemblyman Tom Hayden, called for the voters to rise up and protect their drinking water from corporate polluters.

It was not so long ago that those who made their case Tuesday enjoyed better times. Those were the days when Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. was creating an agricultural labor board that favored farm workers and was appointing one of the most outspoken liberals in his Cabinet, Rose Elizabeth Bird, to be the first woman chief justice.

In those days, Bradley was looking forward to being the first elected black governor in the country. Cranston got more votes in his 1980 reelection than Ronald Reagan did in the state on his way to the White House. And a little before that, in 1976, Hayden mounted a strong campaign for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination before losing to incumbent Sen. John V. Tunney.

But in the subdued atmosphere of the Wilshire United Methodist Church, Bradley, Cranston and Hayden confronted a different landscape as they made their pitch for Proposition 65.

Brown is out of politics after losing the 1982 U.S. Senate race to Republican Pete Wilson. Bradley barely lost his bid for governor to Republican George Deukmejian and now trails in their rematch.

And Deukmejian is eagerly anticipating the opportunity to name a more conservative chief justice if, as polls indicate, voters reject Bird.

Hayden can probably serve in his liberal Assembly district for as long as he wants, but his longing to grapple with larger issues--perhaps in the U.S. Senate--would have to confront once again the debilitating opposition of conservatives who are still angry about his anti-war efforts in the 1960s.

As for Cranston, he has led Republican challenger Ed Zschau in the Senate race from the start, but he acknowledges that in the state’s changing political atmosphere, he is in his toughest reelection battle ever.

So, with polls showing substantial support for Proposition 65, the measure has become a glimmer of hope for Bradley and Cranston, who have made it a major theme of their campaigns. For Hayden, one of the originators of the proposition, it has become a chance, of sorts, to win a statewide campaign.

Proposition 65 campaign manager Tom Epstein insisted Tuesday that the measure was not designed to appeal only to liberals.

“It’s more than that,” Epstein said. “We are leading in the polls so there is broad-based support.”

He noted that among those endorsing the proposition are the California Parent-Teachers Assn. and the California District Attorneys Assn. The latter has a number of conservative members.

But Larry Berg, director of the Institute of Politics and Government at USC, said he believes Proposition 65 could offer new hope for California’s dwindling band of liberal activists.

“If it passes, it will definitely help,” he said.