Was ‘Led to Believe’ She’s a Top Choice : Bergeson Describes Treasurer Derby

Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) said Friday that supporters urged her to seek appointment as the next state treasurer and that she has “been led to believe” that she is one of Gov. George Deukmejian’s top choices for the job.

More speculation surrounding Bergeson’s possible appointment surfaced this week when Deukmejian said he had narrowed his list to “about six” candidates and that one of them was a woman.

Mentioned for Weeks

“I have been led to believe that I am the woman he is referring to,” Bergeson said in a telephone interview from Orange County.

Bergeson has been mentioned for weeks as a leading contender, and on Thursday her office released a letter that she wrote to Deukmejian seeking the job.

Deukmejian has said he will make the appointment in October and will name a Republican who is willing to run for a full term in 1990. The nominee, who must be approved by the Legislature, will succeed Jesse Unruh, who died Aug. 4.

Bergeson said her key supporters had initially given her the idea of pursuing the job.

“A number of people were calling and suggesting me as a candidate,” she said. “As more people discussed it with me, I realized that it was something I would very much be interested in.”

Bergeson said it was after that support surfaced that she decided to tell the governor she wanted the job: “I wrote the letter to the governor after a great deal of consideration. But I felt that if you want a job, you really should go out and try to get it. That’s why I wrote to the governor.”

Bergeson said she had not talked to Deukmejian after sending him the letter Sept. 17.

U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Long Beach), who has close political ties to Deukmejian, is generally considered the front-runner, with Bergeson the other very strong possibility.

Lungren a Front-Runner

Others being considered are state Senate Republican leader Ken Maddy of Fresno; Sens. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights), Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach) and John Seymour (R-Anaheim), and Tom Stickel, a San Diego financier and political ally of the governor.

Although she has had no direct communication with the governor since she wrote to him, Bergeson said, “I have understood that I am being thought of favorably.”