And Now, the Sonny and Bogert Show

Sonny Bono found himself playing straight man to a new partner Friday.

Bono, who among other things has pursued an up-and-down career as a restaurateur since the breakup of his act with ex-wife Cher, was paired with one-time real estate developer Frank Bogert in a gig on board the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

Bogert is the mayor of Palm Springs and Bono would like to succeed him in next year’s election. The Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce invited both of them to “discuss the issues” at its annual leadership conference aboard the ship.

Bono and Bogert won’t remind anyone of Kennedy and Nixon, but they weren’t Laurel and Hardy either.

The discussion centered on the future development of Palm Springs and how it can better compete with neighboring resorts for tourist and convention dollars. While Bono stumbled sometimes in his answers, the business people and city officials in the audience said afterward that they found him more of a serious candidate than they expected.

“His perspective is not that far removed from that of some business people here,” said one senior chamber official.

The three other announced candidates for mayor weren’t even invited to speak.

Bono, 52, who announced his candidacy last February, even though the election isn’t until next April, says he is on a crusade to bring new business and renewed glamour to the desert resort, which he contends is being held back by Bogert and the “good-ol’-boy network he belongs to.”

He owns a pasta restaurant in Palm Springs, where he has lived for 13 years. An earlier restaurant venture in Hollywood closed, but Bono said the Palm Springs spot is doing quite well. Moreover, he’s gone back to songwriting and has hopes of a hit in his latest effort, “She Doesn’t Care.”

On Friday, Bono stressed that tourism is being diverted to rival resorts in the Coachella Valley and called for more vigorous municipal leadership and more hotel and condominium development. He cited with approval a proposal to build a golf course-hotel complex at the mouth of a pristine desert canyon near town, a plan that Bogert opposes.

After the debate, Bono said: “I think it went very well. . . . I feel I am in the right direction and have a good reality of the city’s problems.”

“I think the whole thing was dumb,” Bogert said.

He told the chamber audience Friday that Palm Springs is on the upswing and pointed to a new convention center as evidence of his leadership.

Bogert, 77, who has been mayor since 1982, hadn’t planned on running for reelection. But when Bono announced his intention, the lanky, former developer said he might reconsider, deriding Sonny’s “funny shirts” and “lack of experience.”

Bono’s attire Friday drew almost as much attention from the soberly dressed audience of 150 as did his comments on city government. He appeared in an oversized gray and white silk jacket, dark silk pants and snakeskin shoes.

“Let’s put it this way: If he doesn’t learn to dress for lunch, he’ll never be elected anything,” one chamber official said. “Palm Springs is not ready for the ‘Miami Vice’ look in the mayor’s chair.”