Fear of Discord Cancels McCarthy Appearance

Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy canceled a visit to the San Joaquin Valley town of McFarland on Saturday out of fear that his appearance would be disrupted by an extremist group and contribute to divisions within the community.

McCarthy, a Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate against Republican Sen. Pete Wilson, had planned to promote efforts to establish a health clinic in McFarland that would treat children who are suffering from cancer.

The small farming town north of Bakersfield is the site of an unusually high number of childhood cancers that many residents believe resulted from pesticide exposure. State scientists have been unable to determine a cause of the cancer cluster.

Steve Hopcraft, a spokesman for the lieutenant governor, said the trip was canceled at the last minute after the International Committee Against Racism circulated leaflets calling on residents to “kick McCarthy out of McFarland.”

The lieutenant governor also was concerned that his appearance would widen a rift between some members of the United Farm Workers and parent activists over the best strategy for tackling the health problem, said Kam Kuwata, a spokesman for McCarthy’s campaign.

“There was concern there would be divisiveness,” Kuwata said. “We felt it better to not divert attention away from the need for a clinic. Therefore, we canceled the event.”

Although McCarthy’s trip was not billed as a political event, its cancellation is just one more difficulty in a Senate campaign that has had trouble getting off the ground. McCarthy trails Wilson both in fund raising and public opinion polls.

The lieutenant governor had planned to pick up medical supplies donated in Fresno and deliver them to McFarland, where they would be stored until money was donated to open the clinic. Now, children suffering from cancer must travel many miles for treatment.

Both Kuwata and Hopcraft said McCarthy would continue to seek donations to open the clinic but has no plans to go to McFarland at a later date.

Hopcraft said his primary concern was that the International Committee Against Racism, based in New York, would engage in violent disruption of the McCarthy event. The organization, which contends that all state officials are in cahoots with big growers, has been involved in violent demonstrations in other parts of the country, most frequently in clashes with members of the Ku Klux Klan.

“We just did not want to be part of a political circus that INCAR was planning to orchestrate,” Hopcraft said. “We have pulled the rug out from under them.”

However, McFarland police officer David Moore said the Police Department was prepared to quell any disturbance that might have occurred.

A spokesman for the International Committee Against Racism, who declined to identify himself, acknowledged in a telephone interview that the group had planned a protest of McCarthy’s visit but said, “I can’t say we planned to disrupt anything. . . . I would say the worry was somewhat unfounded.”