Legislators Urge Governor to Run for 3rd Term

Assembly minority leader Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) said Monday that he and other Republican legislators have urged Gov. George Deukmejian to run for a third term in 1990.

“I think he (Deukmejian) is contemplating it,” Nolan said during a breakfast session with The Times Sacramento Bureau.

“I have urged him to run this Administration as if he were running for a third term,” Nolan said, “and make that decision (whether to run) somewhere down the road . . . (and to) have that be part of his mind set.”

‘Strongest’ Candidate

Looking ahead to the next gubernatorial election three years from now, Nolan said Deukmejian would be the “strongest” GOP candidate. He said it is particularly important for Republicans to hold the governor’s office in 1991 because that is the year of the next reapportionment of legislative and congressional districts.

Deukmejian, in public statements, has left open the possibility of running for a third term. No California governor since Earl Warren, 37 years ago, has been elected to three terms.

On Monday, in response to Nolan’s comment, Kevin Brett, a governor’s spokesman, noted that Deukmejian “in the past has indicated that a candidacy for a third term is a possibility,” but he added, “It is too early to entertain consideration about 1990 at this point.”

One problem confronting the Republican Party, many political professionals believe, is that there are few strong potential GOP contenders waiting in the wings to run for governor. Nolan disputed this contention, however, and listed state Sens. William Campbell of Hacienda Heights, Ed Davis of Valencia and Ken Maddy of Fresno, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and former U.S. Rep. Bobby Fiedler of Northridge as potential GOP gubernatorial candidates.

Previously Rejected

But all five of these candidates previously have been rejected by the voters in bids for various statewide offices.

Nolan said that Deukmejian was urged to adopt a third-term reelection strategy during a private caucus of Assembly Republicans in January. Asked what Deukmejian’s response was, Nolan said the governor quipped: “You must really hate me.”

Nolan said he is optimistic that Republicans by 1990 can take control of both legislative houses. Democrats currently hold a 44-36 majority in the Assembly and a 23-15 edge in the Senate, with one independent and one vacancy. And if the GOP becomes the majority party, he noted, it would control the redrawing of Assembly and Senate district lines based on the next federal census.

Democrats called the shots on reapportionment after the 1980 census, and created many politically safe districts that have helped them maintain control of both houses in spite of an eroding Democratic edge in voter registration. The redistricting plans were approved by former Democratic Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.

“I think we will be the majority party (after 1990),” Nolan said, “but that won’t do us any good if we have a Democratic governor who would veto any (reapportionment) bill that we got through. . . . If Duke ran for a third term, he would be the clear choice (of Republicans) and critical to our efforts to give a new direction to the state Legislature.”