Closed-Door L.A. Meeting ‘Not Conclusive’ : Jackson and Dukakis Discuss No. 2 Slot

After meeting with Democratic presidential front-runner Michael S. Dukakis for an hour here Tuesday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made it clear that he is still interested in being the vice presidential candidate.

Jackson said he and Dukakis had “a good discussion” on the subject after Dukakis spoke to the 3,500 delegates at the convention of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

“Our constituency has earned consideration,” Jackson said, referring to the more than 7 million votes he got in primaries this year. “Our constituency represents hope for the party.”

Jackson characterized the closed-door meeting--his first with Dukakis since the Massachusetts governor assured himself of the Democratic nomination by winning the California primary two weeks ago--as “considerate, respectful, but not conclusive.”

At a separate, earlier news conference, Dukakis said the vice presidency had come up, along with several other matters. But he declined to provide any further details.

Asked if any agreement had been reached on the thorny issue of whether to put his leading rival on the ticket, Dukakis responded: “There is no understanding. I’ve just begun the process. . . . There is no short list or medium list or long list.”

He reiterated that Jackson would be considered but that so would many other persons. “I’m looking at a number of candidates for the office.”

Dukakis added: “I’m looking for a first-rate person. I have the luxury of having plenty of time,” a reference to the fact that his nomination has been virtually assured for weeks.

Asked if he thought the movement to put Jackson on the ticket could “get out of hand,” Dukakis responded: “No. He (Jackson) said it’s up to the nominee” to choose a running mate rather than throw it open to the convention delegates. “I agree with him.”

Dukakis said he was not sure if he will have made his choice before the convention starts July 18.

The two men did reach agreement on at least one matter Tuesday. Jackson announced at his news conference that Polish labor leader Lech Walesa and anti-apartheid activist Winnie Mandela would be invited to come to the Democratic convention in Atlanta next month, something Jackson had been advocating recently. “It will set a good international and moral tone for our convention,” Jackson said, but he did not discuss whether such visits would be feasible.

They also discussed convention rules and Jackson said he was continuing his campaign to garner more delegates, noting that he was going to Puerto Rico later this week as part of that effort.

Dukakis was warmly, if not overwhelmingly, greeted by the union members. He said “full employment--and I mean full employment--” would be the most important domestic goal of a Dukakis presidency.

But almost all of his speech was devoted to health care problems. He said many American families are “worried by the possibility that all they have worked for and saved for during a lifetime may be lost in a matter of months to pay for the high cost of getting sick or injured in this country.”

He said the United States “is one of only two industrialized countries in the world that do not provide basic health security for working families. The other is South Africa. That’s not very good company, ladies and gentlemen.” Dukakis added that 38 million Americans currently have no health insurance, “almost 6 million of them in California alone.”

Two months ago, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to enact a universal health care law. And Dukakis said Tuesday: “I look forward to the day I can sign the same kind of bill into law for all Americans--as President of the United States.”

Dukakis, who has carefully attempted to avoid being vulnerable to the charge of being obligated to so-called “special interest” groups, used the word union only twice in his address. He characterized AFSCME, one of the nation’s largest unions with 1.1 million members, as an organization with “a deep and abiding commitment to democracy, to public and community service--and to the fundamental values that have made this country what it is.”

He attempted to link himself to the audience--most of whom are government workers--by stressing that “I’m proud of my vocation as a public servant.” Then Dukakis concluded his speech with a pointed reference to the current defense contracting scandal: “If a President goes to Washington and is contemptuous of public service, it shouldn’t surprise you that the people he brings with him are contemptuous of public service. Washington is not a place to go for a year or two and then go out and make a lot of money.”