Governor Endorses Bush, Incumbent GOP Lawmakers

Gov. George Deukmejian on Wednesday endorsed Republican Vice President George Bush for the GOP presidential nomination and for the first time, made blanket endorsements of all incumbent Republican legislators up for reelection this year, even those with GOP opponents.

With a string of primary election victories assuring Bush a virtual lock on the Republican presidential nomination, Deukmejian’s endorsement of the GOP front-runner came as no surprise.

But Deukmejian abandoned the cautious approach he showed in waiting so long to endorse Bush when he announced his support for GOP legislative incumbents. The governor in the past has said he was content to let Republican voters decide the party’s nominees in their own districts.

The governor said he was jumping into the Republican primaries in order to shore up GOP incumbents and enhance the party’s chances of picking up Democratic seats in the November general election.

Deukmejian said he and other Republicans are going all out to win a majority in at least one of the Legislature’s two houses by 1990, when new legislative district boundary lines will be drawn for the Assembly and Senate based on updated federal census figures. Republicans want to avoid a replay of the last legislative reapportionment, based on 1980 census figures and drafted by Democrats in a way that gave them dominance of the Legislature during the 1980s.

Democrats hold 44 seats in the Assembly, compared to 36 for Republicans. In the Senate, Democrats hold 24 seats, Republicans 15, with one seat held by an independent.

Deukmejian, in announcing the endorsements, appeared with Republican leaders from the Senate and Assembly.

United Party

“Our party has really never been more united than it is today,” Deukmejian said.

Assembly Republican Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale said Deukmejian has agreed to participate in six fund-raising events for Senate and Assembly candidates and the state party.

“Instead of each going our own different way, pulling people in different directions, we’re all unifying our effort,” Nolan said.

California Republican Party Chairman Robert W. Naylor said, “We can go ahead and start to plan the fall campaign right now.”

Naylor said he thinks Deukmejian’s fund-raising support will help raise at least $1 million, possibly as much as $2 million, for the party and Republican candidates.

The two Republican assemblymen said to have the strongest primary opponents, Assemblymen Gil Ferguson of Newport Beach and Gerald N. Felando of San Pedro, appeared with Deukmejian at a Capitol news conference but did not speak.

Felando is being opposed by Deane Dana III, a former Deukmejian Administration official and the son of Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana.

The younger Dana said in a telephone interview Wednesday that his relationship with Deukmejian remains good, despite the endorsement of Felando, and that the governor’s support for the incumbent came as no surprise.

Political Ally

“I got a call from a high official in the Administration before the news conference. It was a courtesy call because I was a member of his Administration. I understand his reasons for doing it,” Dana said.

Dana’s father, a longtime friend and political ally of Deukmejian, is running for reelection this year to the Board of Supervisors. He said through an aide that he did not want to comment, other than to say that the governor’s endorsement was not unexpected.

Deukmejian, in his endorsement of Bush, leveled his strongest criticism yet at Democratic Gov. Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts, who won Tuesday’s New York primary election for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

Deukmejian said Dukakis is “very, very liberal” and has pursued policies as governor of Massachusetts that were out of the political “mainstream.”

Later, Deukmejian’s office released a letter to Bush which promised, “You can be assured of my total support for efforts to reach out to all California voters to ensure that our state can be counted in the Republican column.”