‘Start Early’ Is Rule No. 1 as Democrats Eye Governorship

These have been placid years around the Capitol in Sacramento. With scarce opportunities for advancement, political ambitions have been bottled, politicians reserved. But the calm is dissolving as aspiring Democrats gallop off in high spirits toward the far-away governor’s election.

Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and newly sworn state Controller Gray Davis are open and increasingly intense rivals to be next in line for governor in 1990.

No sooner was last November’s election over than the two began broadening their political staffs, sometimes competing to hire the same individuals, and preparing for the insatiable demands of fund-raising for gubernatorial campaigns. Political edginess and energy has crept into their daily rhythms as they set out to build the record of accomplishments that might catch the fancy of voters in the months and years ahead.

“They’re going to be circling each other from now on,” one knowledgeable adviser said.

Investigation Begins

To say the least. Already, one--Van de Kamp--is officially investigating possible crimes involving the office of the other--Davis. This stems from a report in The Times about the possible political use of telephones in Davis’ state office in violation of law. And it has added new tensions and possibilities to the rivalry.

In his own independent, single-minded style, school Supt. Bill Honig has also found himself in the very early gubernatorial fray. His escalating battle with second-term Republican Gov. George Deukmejian on behalf of more money for schools raises Honig’s profile and political interest in him.

Not since the early 1970s, during the governorship of Ronald Reagan, has there been so much political ferment and anticipation among so many prominent Democrats hoping to recapture the corner office of the state Capitol.

Democrats are telling themselves this is good. Probably.

“Competition is obviously part of the American character,” said Conway Collis, a member of the state Board of Equalization, an up-and-coming junior varsity Democratic politician. “There is, I think, the real possibility that the competition will work to stimulate and bring out the best, not the worst, in them.

“Of course, with politicians there is always the risk the opposite will happen,” Collis added.

‘Apt to Have Real Choice’

Van de Kamp likewise is reassuring. “It seems to me heading down to 1990, if this continues, people are apt to have a real choice. I think that’s always a good thing. . . . It means that someone who gets that nomination will be prepared for it. It won’t be somebody who just dropped out of a tree”

But is it really necessary to begin the battle of 1990 in 1987, particularly when the rivals are so much alike--white, experienced and moderately liberal?

It is impossible not to, so it is said.

The financial demands of running a credible campaign for governor have soared into the tens of millions of dollars. “This almost requires that they start a governor’s race this far in advance,” Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy said.

McCarthy has been considered, along with the other three, a major contender for the 1990 governor’s race. But he recently indicated to contributors that he has decided to concentrate his energies on mounting a 1988 U.S. Senate candidacy against Republican incumbent Sen. Pete Wilson. McCarthy is expected to make a public announcement within days.

In the 1990 governor’s race, the field, of course, is nowhere near settled.

Interest From Feinstein

Outgoing San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, to name just one, has expressed interest in the office. But so far, much of the informed commentary focuses on Davis, Van de Kamp and Honig, and the different challenge each confronts.

For Van de Kamp, the task seems to be to become more political, more aggressive. In his first term, he was a work-a-day attorney general, pulling his duty on the crime beat, much as he had when he was district attorney of Los Angeles County. But for all his work, Van de Kamp stirred little excitement.

Some advisers worried that if voters were looking for a quiet, steady crime fighter with a familiar name to be their next governor, Van de Kamp might have more than a hard time up against Deukmejian in the event the governor seeks a third term in 1990. And Deukmejian has long hinted that he may do just that.

Van de Kamp’s response was unmistakable.

Only a short time after his walk-away victory for a second term in November, he broke with Deukmejian and, for the first time, said he would not represent the governor in court on an important issue, traditionally a duty of the attorney general. Van de Kamp accused Deukmejian of inadequately implementing the voter-passed anti-toxics initiative, Proposition 65, and said the governor would have to get his own private counsel to defend him against environmentalist lawsuits.

Van de Kamp plainly has set his sights on Davis too.

The attorney general was suddenly on the radio with public service announcements about the problem of missing children, an issue almost singularly identified with the work of former Assemblyman Gray Davis.

And more recently, Van de Kamp held a press conference in Los Angeles to take on discrimination by private clubs the very day the Davis-chaired Franchise Tax Board was meeting in Sacramento and about to get tough on the clubs.

Most surprisingly, he chose to permit his office to investigate whether Davis staffers misused state government phones to raise campaign contributions and whether laws were violated in the process. Usually, this kind of criminal investigation is undertaken by county officials. Van de Kamp said he stepped in when Sacramento authorities would not, despite the potential for political conflict of interest.

“Is it unseemingly? No, it’s the right thing to do, I’ll tell you,” Van de Kamp said. “It would be unseemingly if nothing was done in light of those kinds of allegations. Now, there may be nothing there. Frankly I hope there is nothing there. But somebody has to take a look at it.”

At the same time, however, Van de Kamp added he would leave to Sacramento Dist. Atty. John A. Dougherty the final decision on whether to prosecute at the end of the investigation.

Hired Hot Pollster

Van de Kamp has hired one of the Democratic Party’s hottest pollsters, Paul Maslin, to guide him politically. Van de Kamp also elevated long-time political lieutenant Barbara Yanow Johnson to chief assistant attorney general. And for the first time, Van de Kamp has commissioned a professional fund-raiser, Marsha Kwalwasser.

Illustrating the intensity of the fund-raising under way for the 1990 race is the attorney general’s new “Finance Council.” Van de Kamp established this elite group of supporters after the Nov. 4 elections. Each of 22 charter members of the council pledges to give $20,000 to Van de Kamp each year for the next three years, “with no limit set for the election year.”

Suddenly, and without much comment, the once-reserved Van de Kamp is baring his teeth.

For Davis, the immediate challenge could not be more different.

As chief of staff to former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and indefatigable two-term Westside state legislator, Davis built a reputation as one of the most consumingly political public figures in California and one of the most capable fund-raisers in the history of the state. Except for a occasional round of golf, Davis is known to do or be interested in little else. And he has long nurtured ambitions to be governor.

His task seems to be to shore up these political skills and ambitions with some worthy achievements, and perhaps add a measure of warmth to his relentless, calculating personality.

Spat Over Office Space

His first weeks after his Nov. 4 election victory proved rocky in quest of this goal. There was the painful disclosure pointing to questionable political activities in his transition office. And there was a highly publicized spat with Deukmejian over office space.

Davis, who describes himself as the state’s official “tightwad,” was embarrassed by lavish new offices leased in a private high-rise by his predecessor. Davis sought the governor’s permission to break the lease and move back into more modest offices in the Capitol. Davis was denied his wish, but before the quibbling was over, even his friends worried that he had right away wandered over the line between substance and silliness.

It is little wonder, then, that Davis is of no mind to talk old-fashioned politics, on or off the record. He would just as soon deliver an address on how he made friends with short green men in space ships.

He begins his interview: “I would like to talk about what I’m doing. . . . I hope you know that you have to take these jobs seriously. This is a trust; this is a privilege. You have to make the most of them. I have always viewed every political office as an opportunity, not just a way station between elections. . . . I view this job as if I’ll never have another one.”

Davis’ agenda is growing at a rapid pace: trying to block offshore oil drilling, returning unclaimed bank accounts to their rightful owners, helping build a California memorial to Vietnam War veterans, increasing royalties on state-owned oil leases, establishing a task force on new ideas, helping crime victims, ending tax breaks for patrons of private clubs that discriminate. In three months in office, he has issued 70 pages of press releases to explain his work and his interests.

Sits on 36 Boards

On paper, the controller is the bookkeeper of state government, the logger of the payroll, the signer of the checks (including tax refunds), the auditor of the accounts. But he also sits on 36 independent boards and commissions with wide-ranging control over the lives of Californians, opening up broader vistas for a man driven to make a name for himself.

To make sure none of this passes unnoticed, Davis has assembled the biggest and most savvy media-relations operation in state government.

Campaign consultant Kam Kuwata is a political adviser in Southern California. He is former press secretary and political strategist to U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston. In Northern California, public affairs consultant Bobbie Metzger has been signed on for political work. She is a former press secretary to ex-Gov. Brown and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. Davis hired as his government press secretary Karin Caves, who among other things was a former presidential campaign press aide to Gary Hart of Colorado. Caves was also sought as a press deputy this year by Van de Kamp.

Davis also has pledged to retire his $600,000 campaign debt by the end of the year.

Beyond that, Davis said it would be a serious waste of time to indulge in political chit-chat.

“I really believe the whole world will change after the presidential campaign. It’s almost impossible to think beyond November, 1988,” he said.

Honig, the state’s nonpartisan schools chief, is in a different predicament altogether.

Political Motivation

The more successfully he does his job as an advocate for education, the more the speculation builds about his future ambitions. But the more the speculation builds, the more his enemies try to dismiss his advocacy for education as politically motivated.

“I’m doing what I was elected to do. It’s interesting to note that when you do your job, there is all this speculation about another job. . . . And they use it to try and discredit the effort. I wonder what they expect a superintendent of public instruction to do?” Honig said in an interview.

Clinton Reilly of San Francisco, Honig’s longtime political consultant, suggested that the school chief is being forced to adopt a more partisan and anti-Deukmejian stance because of the governor’s sustained attacks.

“Deukmejian is probably going to get the opposite of what he expected. He is creating an opponent in the public area by criticizing Bill publicly and making it personal. He wasn’t necessarily an opponent of the governor’s to begin with,” Reilly said.

AN EYE ON THE STATEHOUSE?

Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp

His challenge: to become more political, more aggressive. Despite all his work, his first term stirred little excitement. But now the once-

reserved attorney general is moving on a variety of fronts to increase his visibility.

Controller Gray Davis

His task seems to be to shore

up his well-known political skills

and ambitions with some worthy achievements, and perhaps add a measure of warmth to his personality.

School Supt. Bill Honig

The more successfully he does his job, the more speculation builds about his future ambitions. But the more the speculation builds, the more his enemies try to dismiss his advocacy for education as politically motivated.