Governor Attacks Lungren Foes in Senate

Gov. George Deukmejian for the first time Thursday attacked Senate Democrats who are fighting Rep. Daniel E. Lungren’s confirmation as state treasurer, charging that they simply are trying to quash a promising political career before it threatens them.

During a breakfast session with the Times Sacramento Bureau, the governor asserted that Democratic opponents of the Long Beach Republican “actually have come to recognize that he’s a very capable, very bright, very articulate, attractive individual. And I suspect they’re concerned he may become a major political figure in California and they want to have as little competition as possible.”

Deukmejian’s accusation was largely confirmed by the Senate Democratic floor leader, Barry Keene of Benicia.

“My instincts are very strong that this is all part of a a scenario to provide for a successor to Deukmejian that fits a certain description--ultra-right, young, smart and politically capable,” Keene told The Times. “I believe we will reject him in the Senate.”

Deukmejian, answering a wide range of questions from Times reporters, also:

- Indicated for the first time that if the Legislature places on the June ballot his $1-billion highway bond proposal, he probably will not support a ballot initiative sponsored by anti-tax crusader Paul Gann aimed at altering the state spending limit to allow more funding for transportation.

- Said that traffic congestion can be eased in California during the next decade but that it will require the cooperation of the private and public sectors, including staggered working hours and financial incentives for ride-sharing and using public transportation.

- Said he favors weakening confidentiality provisions for AIDS patients somewhat so that people who might “come in contact with the blood of” AIDS carriers are informed of the potential danger. “I don’t think it’s necessary, say, to abandon all of the confidentiality protections, but I think that there probably are some situations where it might be advisable,” he said.

Deukmejian nominated Lungren last November to succeed the late Jesse M. Unruh, a powerful Democrat who had occupied the treasurer’s office for nearly 13 years. The Assembly has held stormy committee hearings on Lungren’s nomination, but has delayed a vote until the Senate finishes its hearings, which are scheduled to begin next Tuesday. The Democratic-controlled Legislature must confirm or reject the nominee by Feb. 29, or he can take office automatically.

Until Thursday, Deukmejian had treated Lungren’s Democratic opponents with kid gloves, even going out of his way in a recent press conference to praise the Assembly’s intense, often-emotional hearings as “very fair.”

But legislative opposition to Lungren has been gradually mounting. And gubernatorial advisers have become increasingly concerned about the Republican congressman’s prospects of confirmation.

Voting Record

“On the surface,” Deukmejian told The Times, “they’re talking about his voting record. And they’re saying he’s not in the mainstream. And they’re saying if he ran in a statewide election he wouldn’t be able to get elected. Those are the publicly stated reasons. If that were really the case, then I don’t know what they’re worried about. Why don’t they go ahead and confirm him and he’ll only be there for three years and then he’ll be gone--if that’s what they really think.”

Deukmejian then went on to say he thought Democratic opponents really were worried about a future political star.

“It’s unfortunate,” the governor said. “When we started out, Sen. (President Pro Tem David A.) Roberti (D-Los Angeles) and (Assembly Speaker Willie) Brown (D-San Francisco) indicated they would conduct a confirmation process in a fair manner. I think the system that’s been set up is indeed a fair system. And what I’ve seen so far on the Assembly side has, generally speaking, been fair. But what I’m seeing happening on the Senate side is something else.

“They have actually gone out and generated opposition . . . with letters being sent out at taxpayers’ expense.”

Deukmejian charged that “a couple of organizations” even wanted to publicly endorse Lungren but were intimidated by Senate Democrats, who “let it be known that if they did that, it would not be wise for them in terms of their future interests (in the Legislature).”

Lungren’s Reaction

Lungren, in a later interview with The Times and three other news organizations, echoed Deukmejian’s claims that some witnesses had been threatened with loss of funding for their programs or with “retaliatory votes” if they supported him at the Senate hearings.

Lungren declined to give names, but said the potential committee witnesses represented an “ethnic group” and a “union group.”

“The way you can paint (a nominee) as being anti-ethnic or anti-minority or anti-union is to make sure that none of the representatives from that community dare to come forward. I would expect this from the (Ferdinand) Marcos regime. I wouldn’t expect it, and I really don’t want to believe it of the state Legislature,” Lungren said.

Some of Lungren’s critics had characterized the congressman as anti-minority because of his congressional vote against paying reparations to Japanese-Americans interned during World War II.

Later Thursday, the governor’s office released the names of two prospective witnesses who they said had been pressured not to testify at next week’s hearings: Harold Omel, president of the Long Beach Firefighters Assn., and Nil Hul, executive director of the Cambodian Assn. of America.

However, Omel did not return a phone call from The Times and Hul was reported to be out of town until next Tuesday when the hearings are set to begin.

Intimidation Denied

Roberti’s spokesman, Robert Forsyth, strongly denied that anyone on the Senate leader’s staff had engaged in intimidation.

Lungren said reports of witness intimidation have left him with a disquieting feeling about the fairness of the upcoming Senate hearings.

“That to me is extremely disappointing because it doesn’t sound like it’s fair, it’s full or it’s open, “he said. “To suggest to people who want to give their opinion that they do so at peril to their particular program or retaliatory votes against them in the Legislature doesn’t smack to me of being a democracy.”

Deukmejian also said he was “a little disturbed about the behavior of some” in the Legislature, where he served for 16 years. The governor particularly criticized Keene, who, he charged, “started off opposing (Lungren) before he’d even, you know, talked to him--hadn’t even found out anything about him.”