Dukakis Proposes 100 New U.S. Agents for Southern California’s War on Drugs

From Los Angeles to Chula Vista, Democratic presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis on Friday sought to counter Republican charges that he is soft on crime by offering specific proposals for stepping up the war on drugs.

“I want you to know I will do all I can in the White House to give you the support you need to fight--and win--the war against drugs and crime,” Dukakis told cadets at the Los Angeles Police Academy.

If elected, Dukakis said, he would send 100 new federal agents to Southern California to fight the burgeoning drug trafficking problem here.

Dukakis noted that Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, who was in attendance, had recently sarcastically thanked the Reagan-Bush Administration for “the crumbs” it sent to fight the drug war here, a reference to the eight federal agents Los Angeles got when it requested 10 times that many.

But Gates, who will not state his preference in the presidential race, has been noticeably warmer toward Vice President George Bush in his campaign stops here.

Stern Advice

The chief put his palms together exactly four times at the end of Dukakis’ remarks to the police cadets Friday, and Gates had some stern advice for the Democratic candidate.

Although he said he does not question Dukakis’ sincerity when he talks about fighting crime, Gates said: “The one thing I would do if I were him . . . I’d burn that ACLU card so fast. You can’t be strong on law and order and be a member of the ACLU.”

Bush has ridiculed Dukakis for being “a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union,” a group that fights many civil liberties and First Amendment battles, including filing a court brief on behalf of former Col. Oliver L. North in the Iran-Contra affair. But the group also opposes the death penalty and favors the right to abortion, which means Dukakis fails at least two litmus tests for many conservative voters.

In public, Dukakis has not done much to counter Bush on the ACLU issue, but at a private fund-raising event Thursday night in Los Angeles he said: “There’s no left or right on civil liberties. There’s one Bill of Rights.”

Dukakis is now clearly struggling to wrest the crime issue away from Bush, who has been a more aggressive campaigner for weeks. The Democratic nominee acknowledged the historical importance of the issue in California elections Friday by talking about it everywhere he went.

He criticized Bush for saying two days ago that he did not think government would solve the problems--including drugs--facing inner-city children, offering instead to be a “gentle persuader to rally our people to help our children.”

Dukakis retorted Friday: “My friends, American children don’t need our pity. They need strong leaders and first-rate law enforcement officers and dedicated teachers. . . .”

High School Crowd

He said essentially the same thing to an enthusiastic crowd of students at Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles, preaching his message of “competence” and urging the mostly Latino audience not to feel “you’re not as good as some other parts of town.”

California Assemblyman Tom Hayden, who was traveling with Dukakis on Friday, said he thought the campaign was finally getting off the ground in California, a state many political professionals believe Dukakis must win to take the White House.

But Hayden said he would differ with Dukakis over theme, particularly in California.

“The element at stake is change,” Hayden said in an interview. “I don’t think it’s competence, as Dukakis would have it, or ideology, as Bush would have it.”

The Dukakis campaign surprised local television reporters Thursday by canceling one-on-one interviews, often viewed by campaigns as their best chance to communicate a message as contrasted with press conferences.

“The problem is Boston,” said KABC-TV reporter John North, referring to the Dukakis national headquarters. “The L.A. campaign office scheduled TV interviews yesterday with all of us and then it was all canceled.”

North said his station now refuses to schedule live interviews with Dukakis because the campaign has canceled so many times.

Acknowledged Problem

Anthony Podesta, Dukakis’ California campaign director, acknowledged that canceling the interviews has become a problem.

“It isn’t a problem of coordination or confusion,” Podesta said. “It’s just that Thursday he (Dukakis) needed to do other work and the TV interviews were the one thing on the schedule that could go.”

Dee Dee Meyers, California press secretary for the campaign, said: “We made him available to the entire press when he got into Los Angeles Thursday. He is a lot more available to the press than Bush is.”

Meanwhile, campaign chairman Paul P. Brountas said Friday that Dukakis will hold his first “preliminary session” in Boston on Sunday to begin preparing for his two debates with Bush. The first debate is scheduled for Sept. 25 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Brountas said Dukakis would review the debate format, and “see if he agrees” with materials being prepared under direction of campaign manager Susan Estrich and adviser Tom Donilon. Brountas said he also would encourage Dukakis to try a mock debate with a Bush stand-in later in the week to hone his technique.

“I think it’s probably a good idea,” he said. “Going through the exercise in real time is probably helpful.”

Debate Veterans

Among those preparing materials are several advisers who helped Dukakis write his best debate lines in the primary season, as well as veterans of his debate in 1982 with then-Gov. Edward King in Massachusetts. Dukakis’ strong performance that night helped him resurrect his political life by beating an incumbent.

Brountas also began the political ritual of trying to lower expectations. More people are expected to watch the nationally televised match-ups than any other campaign event, and the victor is often seen relative to how well he was “expected” to do, rather than how well he actually performs.

“I don’t apply the word critical to them,” Brountas said. “They’re important, but lots of events are important in the next eight weeks.”

In an interview with The Times on Thursday, Dukakis laughed when asked about the Bush campaign’s attempts to downgrade their expectations. Bush and his aides have sought to portray Dukakis as a professional debater who would have a natural edge when the two men match wits.

“These guys are ridiculous,” Dukakis said. “Don’t forget, Bush did pretty well in his debates.”

Staff writer Bob Drogin contributed to this story.