McCarthy Reportedly Opts Against Governor Race, Backs Van de Kamp

Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy will announce next week that he does not plan to run for governor next year and will urge the state Democratic Party to get behind the gubernatorial candidacy of Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, according to sources close to McCarthy.

The sources, who requested anonymity, said they also expected McCarthy to announce that he will seek reelection to the job he has held since 1983, although he has talked about the possibility of returning to private life after this term.

McCarthy could not be reached Friday, but his deputy chief of staff, Roy Behr, said he will have an announcement Wednesday. Behr would not elaborate.

The sources familiar with McCarthy’s political plans said the lieutenant governor has ruled out running for governor because Van de Kamp is solidly established with many of the same party activists and financial contributors McCarthy would need to mount a gubernatorial candidacy.

Also, the sources said, McCarthy does not relish the massive fund-raising job a gubernatorial candidacy requires, especially since he just finished such a chore in his losing bid to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson last year.

Wilson’s announcement last week that he will seek the Republican nomination for governor next year played a part in McCarthy’s decision to give Van de Kamp an early endorsement, according to the sources familiar with his thinking.

As one of them put it, “The prospect that Pete might win, and Leo would have to be his lieutenant governor is just too much for Leo to stomach. So he really wants a Democratic governor to work for, and he thinks John can win it if he’s not cut up too bad in the primary.”

Van de Kamp faces potential opposition from Controller Gray Davis and former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, both of whom have formed exploratory committees.

One of the sources familiar with McCarthy’s plans also said the lieutenant governor had a particular interest in dealing a blow to Feinstein’s gubernatorial hopes by trying to get Democrats unified behind Van de Kamp.

This stems, the source said, from McCarthy’s displeasure with Feinstein. She never endorsed McCarthy in his race against Wilson for the Senate, and she praised Wilson several times publicly, in part because of the senator’s efforts to make San Francisco the home port of the battleship Missouri.

McCarthy opposed that idea, citing the ship’s nuclear capability.

On the other hand, McCarthy’s decision not to enter the gubernatorial race could help Feinstein because both draw from the same San Francisco Bay Area political base.

If McCarthy decides to seek reelection, the sources said, he wants a more expanded role than he has had under Republican Gov. George Deukmejian.

A source close to Van de Kamp said the two men had discussed an expanded role for the lieutenant governor in a Democratic Administration.

Times political writer John Balzar contributed to this report.