Reagan Joins Push for Governor to Run Again : ‘Disaster’ for State GOP Foreseen if Deukmejian Chooses Law Practice Rather Than 3rd Term

Now, President Reagan has added his voice to the chorus of Republicans urging Gov. George Deukmejian to run for a third term in 1990, it was learned Tuesday.

President-elect George Bush also will be asked to encourage the governor to run, according to state Republican Chairman Robert W. Naylor.

“The tom-toms are starting to reach Washington,” observed a Deukmejian political adviser. “What Californians were aware of two, three weeks ago now is just reaching the Potomac. People are starting to get concerned. . . . The governor’s definitely feeling the pressure, no question about it.”

Deukmejian lately has been besieged by people urging him to seek reelection rather than retire at age 62 to earn big money in a private law practice.

Business leaders are worried about the pro-regulatory and tax policies of Democrats. GOP politicians are anxious about the 1991 reapportionment of congressional and legislative districts. Party activists are concerned about judgeships and political appointments.

All are appealing to the governor’s sense of duty, arguing he is the Republican with the best chance of holding the office and keeping the Democratic Legislature in check.

But the consensus of people who have recently heard Deukmejian agonize out loud about his decision is that he will not run--that, after having spent nearly three decades in elective office, he feels he has run the course, is burned out from fighting Democrats and tight budgets, hungers for privacy and wants to use his remaining productive years to build a financial nest egg for his family.

One confidant put the odds at 55%-45% against running. Another agreed, “There’s definitely a leaning against.”

However, still another insider cautioned: “The governor often becomes his own devil’s advocate. Many times, I’ve seen him talk about his options, but it’s not always a good indicator of how he’s going to go. He’ll discuss it one way and actually act another.”

‘It’ll Be a Disaster’

The idea to have the President phone the governor came from veteran political consultant Stuart K. Spencer, who ran Deukmejian’s first two campaigns for the state Legislature and Reagan’s first race for governor and has been a major strategist in each of the last four presidential contests. Spencer has been telling people that if Deukmejian does not run for reelection, “it’ll be a disaster” for the California GOP.

Reagan telephoned Deukmejian on Monday afternoon from the White House, catching the governor as he was about to preside over the California Electoral College’s formal casting of ballots for George Bush and Dan Quayle.

Deukmejian later refused to say what he and Reagan talked about, other than that the President passed along his “very good wishes” and the governor, in turn, said, “We (Republicans) are looking forward to giving our support to the incoming President . . . and will do everything, I’m sure, that we can to be of service”--words ripe for all kinds of political interpretation.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater confirmed Tuesday that Reagan encouraged Deukmejian to seek a third term.

“The President told him he had been an outstanding governor, that he appreciated his support over the years and that he hoped he would consider running again,” Fitzwater told The Times.

Last week in Washington, state GOP Chairman Naylor conferred with incoming national party Chairman Lee Atwater and Vice President-elect Dan Quayle and was promised by both that they would urge Bush to phone Deukmejian.

“If the President-elect were to call and underscore how important it is to the party for him to run again, it could be one of the few things that has a chance of influencing him,” Naylor said.

U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson, a possible, though reluctant, candidate himself if Deukmejian bows out, paid an unannounced visit to Sacramento on Dec. 13 and urged the governor to run. “You’re my favorite candidate,” Wilson reportedly told Deukmejian during a private, one-on-one lunch in the governor’s office.

Deukmejian, according to secondhand reports, told Wilson the same thing he had been telling everybody else: He had not yet made up his mind. But the governor also left the impression that he was about to toss in the towel, that his heart was not in running again, even if politically he is in a good position to become only the second governor in California history to win a third term. (Earl Warren was the first.)

The Legislature’s two Republican leaders--Sen. Ken Maddy of Fresno, who also is a potential candidate, and Assemblyman Ross Johnson of La Habra--spent a long time in the governor’s office Dec. 7 exhorting him to run.

“To be completely candid about it,” Johnson said, “the sense I got was of a man genuinely torn. On the one hand, he is a man with a sense of duty who wants to accomplish things as governor. On the other hand, he is a man conscious of the need to provide financial security for his family.”

Deukmejian--not a wealthy man--earns $85,000 plus many life style perks as governor. If he were to retire in 1991, his public pension would be in the $50,000-plus range.

Sometimes lately, exasperation has shown through Deukmejian’s ordinarily calm demeanor.

“I hear ya. I hear ya,” he chided one of his closest advisers the other day, impatiently cutting off another recitation of the arguments about why he should seek a third term.

Ad Campaign Quashed

When a Los Angeles political consultant--Fred Karger of the Dolphin Group--began developing a $100,000 campaign of “Run Duke Run” newspaper ads on behalf of Republican business interests, the governor quickly ordered the effort quashed. Deukmejian considered it a waste of political money.

“He already knows how these people feel,” said his press secretary, Kevin Brett. “Newspaper ads are not an element the governor needs to make a decision.”

Other times, Deukmejian has seemed to enjoy all the speculation.

“I want to indicate to you what my plans are for the future,” he told a private luncheon of California’s Electoral College on Monday. “I plan to quietly spend the holidays with my family in Long Beach.” The audience of Republican VIPs responded with “nervous chuckles,” according to Naylor.

“There is growing nervousness that he might not run,” the party chairman said. “Therefore, there is growing pressure on him to run.”

Michael R. Frost, the governor’s chief of staff, said Deukmejian “has probably consulted with everybody he wants to consult with”--his principal confidants being Frost, former Chief of Staff Steven A. Merksamer, veteran political strategist Ken Khachigian and longtime fund-raiser Karl M. Samuelian.

Frost added, “I don’t believe he’s made up his mind. He told me he will make up his mind over the holidays.”

Deukmejian’s holiday at his modest Long Beach home will begin Thursday and continue through Jan. 2. Advisers expect the governor to announce his decision during the first two weeks of January--most likely after the Legislature votes on whether to confirm his latest nominee for state treasurer, Thomas W. Hayes, he delivers his annual State of the State Address and he sends the lawmakers a new state budget proposal. This will all be completed by the evening of Jan. 10.

“I still wouldn’t bet either way,” said a member of his inner circle of adviser-friends

If Deukmejian does not run, political attention immediately will turn to Republicans Wilson, Maddy, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and outgoing baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth. On the Democratic side, speculation has centered on state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, state Controller Gray Davis and former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein.

Times staff writer Lee May contributed to this story from Washington.