Sen. Wilson Will Run for Governor, Friends Say

Friends of U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson say he has decided to run for governor in 1990 but may continue to withhold the announcement a while.

State Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) said Thursday, “I just came back from Washington, where I talked to Pete and others, and I am now quite confident that he will make an announcement fairly soon and that it will be in the positive.”

A major power broker in the California Republican Party who has talked to Wilson recently said, after requesting anonymity, “It looks like he’s going to do it.”

And another source familiar with Wilson’s plans said: “I’m not sure he totally wants to do it, but he has concluded he has to do it. There’s just a lot of pressure.”

Seymour had said earlier that he wanted to run for governor if Wilson did not and hoped for a quick Wilson decision so that he could get started. But on Thursday he said his own sense of urgency was gone after talking to Wilson.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates announced Thursday, as expected, that he is forming a committee to explore running for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Gates, who said he had tried unsuccessfully to reach the senator Thursday, said a Wilson candidacy would not end his own exploratory effort.

“Pete Wilson is a friend of mine, and I think he makes a good senator,” Gates said at a press conference called to announce the formation of his gubernatorial exploratory committee. “I am going to test the waters. Maybe I’ll find that I have as much popularity” as Wilson.

Wilson himself would not comment Thursday, but his top political adviser, Otto Bos, said: “I am not in a position at this point to do much confirming. All I can say is that under the law, if you want to take a poll or raise a nickel you have to form an exploratory committee and we haven’t done that yet.”

Bos also asked rhetorically why Wilson would not go ahead and announce his decision if he had already made it.

But Democratic consultant Paul Ambrosino said the answer to that question was directly linked to the fact that Wilson just finished a reelection campaign.

“Wilson has to explain to Californians why he is turning around and running for governor so soon after being reelected to the Senate,” Ambrosino said. “He needs the time to create the impression that the party faithful have drafted him for an urgent task.”

Several Republicans agreed and added that if Wilson were not going to run, he would have already announced it because they believe that he is under the same obligation that led Gov. George Deukmejian to announce on Jan. 5--nearly two years before the election--that he will not seek a third term.

Deukmejian made his announcement so early in part because of the state’s new campaign reform law, passed last year as Proposition 73.

It requires candidates for state office to raise contributions by fiscal year rather than by election cycle. Since the current state fiscal year ends June 30, candidates have only five months to raise contributions for this period or lose them forever.

One Republican political consultant predicted that Wilson will announce his decision around the time of the GOP state convention in Sacramento, the weekend of Feb. 17, in order to take advantage of that opportunity to get party activists and others behind him.

Wilson and his wife, Gayle, have become fond of their life in Washington, and Wilson particularly likes the national security matters he deals with on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Also, his friendships with President Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle could be expected to enhance his stature in the Senate, where he is already in demand as a fund-raiser because of his California base.

But Wilson has longed to be governor for years and some of his advisers have told him that he will never get a better chance.

Not only will his party thank him for taking on the task, the advisers have told Wilson, even if he loses the race he will still be a U. S. senator with four years to repair the damage before he is up for reelection.

Sources of Pressure

Pressure on Wilson to run for governor has come from two sources within the California GOP.

Republican politicians want their own governor when new political districts are drawn after the 1990 census. Democrats in the Legislature will draw those districts to their advantage, but the governor can veto them.

Since Deukmejian’s announcement, Republican businessmen have also become anxious at the prospect of getting a Democratic governor who would favor tougher regulation of business. Already, the Democratic hopefuls for the job are sounding a pro-consumer theme.

“We need a Republican governor, it’s that simple,” said Donald G. Livingston, a powerful business lobbyist with close ties to a number of Southern California corporations.

Privately, some top Republicans are mixed on whether Wilson would be their best gubernatorial candidate, although they say they will happily support him.

His major strengths, they say, are that he is a proven public servant, he is a top fund-raiser and he has been through a number of campaigns and would not be expected to make a mistake in a high-stakes race.

But some of the same Republicans wonder if Baseball Commissioner Peter V. Ueberroth might be a better gubernatorial candidate because of his potential star quality and because he has no political record to defend.

Ueberroth has made it clear he would not pursue the governorship if Wilson does. The major drawback to a Ueberroth candidacy, his fans say, is he has never run for office before and there is no way to know how good a campaigner he would be.

Gates alluded to that potential problem at his press conference Thursday.

“At least I know water is important,” Gates said, referring to a statement Ueberroth made recently to The Times, in which he said that he did not know what priority water would have in a list of possible issues facing a gubernatorial candidate.

Opinion on Candidates

Some Democratic strategists say Wilson would be easier to beat in the governor’s race than Ueberroth.

One expressing that opinion is an adviser to Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, who will seek the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Speaking on condition that his name not be used, the Van de Kamp adviser said: “Ueberroth would be potentially a big problem for any Democrat because he could reach out and get Democratic votes. He also has star quality, something Wilson does not have.”

Kip Hagopian, a venture capitalist who was a close adviser to former Rep. Ed Zschau’s 1986 U.S. Senate race, said: “They are both high-quality candidates and I would give the nod to Wilson because he has been through campaigns. But if I could be convinced that Ueberroth would come out clean on the microscope he’ll be put under, I think he might be the stronger of the two because he has such a favorable image with the public. He’s got no political baggage.”

But such debates will be moot if Wilson, as expected, announces he is running.

A decision to come back from Washington and run for governor would have a partial precedent in California history, one that did not have a happy ending for Republicans.

The late William F. Knowland was minority leader of the U.S. Senate in 1958 when he decided to come back to California to run for governor. Gov. Goodwin J. Knight, also a Republican, ran for Knowland’s Senate seat.

Both lost, and the election that year of Democratic Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown led to the revival of the California Democratic Party.

But there is a major difference in the two cases since Wilson, unlike Knowland, would still have his Senate seat to go back to.

Meanwhile, Gates’ potential candidacy will give Wilson and Ueberroth something to think about.

Gates not only has high name recognition in Southern California, but he is expected to be popular with the California Republican Party’s conservative wing. And he has strong credentials on law and order, an issue that looms large in many state campaigns.

Gates also said he believes that his strength as a gubernatorial candidate would be that he is not viewed as a politician at a time when some Sacramento legislators are being investigated by the FBI.

The chief said he has discussed his plans to explore the governor’s race with two members of the Los Angeles Police Commission, including its president, Robert L. Talcott.

“I was told they are very comfortable with my decision to explore this race,” Gates said.

Talcott was out of town and could not be reached.

Commissioner Reva Tooley said Thursday she wants Gates to step down immediately as police chief because of his interest in the governorship.

“I do not think in this city you should be police chief and be a candidate,” she said.