And Now, the Sonny and Bogert Show

Before the verbal sparring began in a ballroom of the Queen Mary on Friday, entertainer-turned restaurateur Sonny Bono scanned the room for friendly faces and said, “I feel like Sugar Ray Leonard.”

Then, for more than an hour he argued with Palm Springs Mayor Frank Bogert in what amounted to the first round of Bono’s campaign for the $15,000-a-year mayoral post in the desert resort.

“I’ve sat here and listened to Sonny say all of the hotels are going bankrupt, everything is failure, everything is stagnant. . . . This is just the kind of talk we need to ruin this town,” Bogert said. “And if you let this guy keep on talking like that, it’ll be the worst thing that can happen.”

“I’m not adverse to being positive,” Bono interrupted.

“Wait your turn!” Bogert said.

“Yes sir!” Bono said.

In a tradition dating to Lincoln-Douglas and Kennedy-Nixon, Bono and Bogert were invited to debate the issues facing Palm Springs before the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce’s annual leadership conference in Long Beach. But their first encounter seemed to have more in common at times with Laurel and Hardy. Billed as “The Great Debate” by chamber officials with tongues decidedly in cheek, many of the 150 people in attendance said the event brought back visions of the 1960s, when Bono was a shaggy-haired straight man to his wisecracking former wife Cher. In this case, Bono’s foil was Bogert.

Bono, 52, a short, compact Palm Springs pasta restaurant owner who seemed to swim in his oversized silk coat, oversized silk pants and snakeskin shoes, said he is on a crusade to bring glamour back to the desert resort he contends is being held back by Bogert and the “good-ol’-boy network he belongs to.”

Bogert, 77, said he had not planned on running for reelection. But when Bono announced his intention, the lanky former developer said he might reconsider.

Bogert said Sonny wears “funny shirts” and “lacks experience.”

There are at least three other candidates in the running, but the biggest sparks seem to fly when the outgoing mayor confronts the former songwriter. When asked, for example, how Palm Springs should deal with increasing competition from new retail stores in ritzy neighboring communities such as Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells, Bono and Bogert exchanged pregnant glances. Then Bogert said, “Do you want to answer it Sonny?”

“I don’t care,” Bono shrugged.

“Go ahead, I’d like to see what you say,” said Bogert, handing off a tough question to the neophyte as the audience erupted into gales of laughter.

Bono paused. As the titters dropped off, Bono fired a zinger.

“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said all day,” he said.

On the other hand when asked to extemporize on the virtues of development and the need for economic growth, Bono frequently rambled.

Conversation afterward centered as much on Bono’s attire as his comments on development.

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

As for the debate’s impact on his political aspirations, 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,” said Bogert, as he walked out of the ballroom to catch a plane back to Palm Springs.