Two More Democrats Nibble at ’88 Senate Race : Matsui, Press May Join McCarthy, Eu in Primary Contest for Wilson’s Seat

With a pair of familiar Democrats already vying for California’s 1988 U.S. Senate nomination, two lesser-known contenders are weighing their long-shot prospects for candidacies founded on that overused and no doubt under-realized promise of modern politics, new leadership.

Except for their shared sloganeering and their mid-40s ages, would-be candidates Bill Press and Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Sacramento) are contrasting personalities, and if they follow through they will surely broaden the choices and add vigor to the debate in the June, 1988, Democratic primary.

Matsui, 45, is a Washington insider, a 10-year congressman, a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and one of the state’s most promising Asian-American politicians. A mainstream Democrat who is in good standing with many of the economic interests of the state, Matsui made a campaign-style swing through Southern California this weekend, proffering his call for “new leadership” and “a new generation of leaders.”

He told Democrats and reporters he is leaning toward entering the primary if he can amass the millions of dollars needed to dominate the airwaves with commercials. This is a recognition that he is little known outside his small base at the state capital.

“Because California has 27 million people, most of the campaigns now have to be run in the media. The days of pressing the flesh and going to college campuses are not here today, unfortunately. You almost have to set it up so you have money to put on paid TV announcements. And that’s the way we’re looking at it at this time.” Matsui said.

Press, 47, is more the political outsider, a liberal-oriented commentator on KABC-TV and former seminarian who has never held or run for office.

Director of planning and research in the 1970s under former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., Press is best known for his strong environmental leanings. Among other things, he directed the unsuccessful 1980 initiative campaign to tax energy company profits $100 million a year to expand mass transit in California.

“My conviction is that people are dissatisfied with the same old faces, the same stale ideas and they’re ready to try someone who is untested, a fresh face promising new leadership and some creative ideas,” he said in an interview this weekend.

If they decide to enter the battle, Matsui and Press would join two older and more experienced officeholders who already have begun campaigns for the 1988 Democratic Senate nomination--Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, 56, and Secretary of State March Fong Eu, 65.

The winner of the Democratic primary will go on to the daunting challenge of unseating first-term Republican Sen. Pete Wilson, a conservative whose conciliatory style has won him friends in traditionally Democratic constituencies. This is particularly so in the entertainment industry, among Jewish contributors and among some environmentalists.

Despite Matsui’s visible campaign weekend, many Democrats still figure he is likely, in the end, to back out of the race and not risk his position in the House.

By his own admission, Matsui is in the odd situation of being able to raise more of the money he needs by staying out of the Senate race. A declaration of candidacy would dry up sources of special-interest political action committee support that he now counts on. “Obviously you have PACs that are interested in matters before the House Ways and Means Committee,” he acknowledged Sunday in an appearance on KNBC-TV’s “News Conference.”

Press, for his part, insisted he is committed to running and said he will announce his exploratory committee in about three weeks.

There seems to be little for Press to lose. He is the only one of four political commentators on KABC-TV who has not run for office, and the station appears to have a policy not to discourage such candidacies.

Battle for Money

For the time being, the Democratic Senate race seems to be a contest for money. The first real test of strength in this regard will occur next month with the filing of fund-raising reports for the first half of the year.

Matsui appears positioned to lead the pack, saying he will report a war chest of about $700,000. Press will not have to report fund-raising activities unless he files his exploratory campaign statement before the end of the month. McCarthy will show about $500,000 raised, a campaign spokesman said.

Eu, meanwhile, will report less than $250,000, less than half the amount she had hoped. This occurs amid signs of turmoil in her campaign, including the resignation of her finance director, Neil B. Rincover. He ostensibly left for another job, but one campaign source said, “He didn’t want to go down with the ship.”

Eu’s chief deputy, Anthony L. Miller, said Rincover was never meant to be a permanent part of the campaign and insisted that the secretary of state “is not disappointed” about the progress of her fund-raising.

Eu faces another potential controversy about money--in this case, the wealth of her husband, Henry Eu. A citizen of Singapore, Henry Eu is involved in his family’s international mining, real estate and herbal medicine business. The secretary of state has long maintained she has no knowledge of her husband’s activities.

Now, as a candidate for federal office, Eu has filed a required financial disclosure statement, listing the Singapore-based Eu Yan Sang Holdings Ltd. company as among her family assets. She disclosed that her husband was a director of this company, but again she reported no knowledge of its activities. And she insisted she receives no benefit from her husband’s wealth.

“I am advised by legal counsel that my spouse has no legal obligation to disclose to me or to anyone personal information relating to his business affairs. Although I have made inquiries of him, he has respectfully declined to inform me of the nature and extent of his interest in this company or the value that may be ascribed thereto,” Eu declared in her filing. “To the best of my knowledge, I have no past, present or expected interest in any of my spouse’s investments or enterprises.”

Living in Leased Home

Eu’s report did not address the ownership of the large home the couple shares in the exclusive walled community of Fremont Place in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles. However, despite the claim that the candidate receives no benefit from her husband, Miller acknowledged that Henry Eu “provides her with that place to live” by leasing it from its owners.

Miller said Eu would take the offensive next month with a statewide series of appearances on behalf of her new ballot proposition that would tax liquor to fight crime. It is called Dimes Against Crimes.