Hayes Camp Claims 24% Edge in Poll : Irvine Opponent for State Treasurer Questions Survey’s Veracity

State Treasurer Thomas A. Hayes released a poll Wednesday giving him a 24% edge over Angela (Bay) Buchanan of Irvine, his only rival so far for the 1990 Republican nomination for the post of California’s chief financial officer.

But Buchanan’s political consultant said the poll was skewed in favor of Hayes. “You can always structure a questionnaire to show your candidate in a stronger position, but it ignores the human side of politics,” said Roger Stone, the Washington-based consultant who is advising Buchanan in her challenge of Hayes.

Hayes’ campaign director, Brian Lungren, said the poll reinforced Gov. George Deukmejian’s appointment of Hayes “as the strong, solid and right choice.”

“It also sends a message to those potential supporters and contributors who may have been temporarily swayed by the bravado coming out of our opponent’s camp,” he added.

Called ‘Career Bureaucrat’

Buchanan announced April 18 that she would challenge Hayes for the GOP nomination, describing him as a “career bureaucrat” who had “never lifted a finger” for the conservative movement.

The poll was conducted by Richard Wirthlin, a GOP pollster whose most famous client was former President Reagan. It was taken May 23 to 25 of 250 registered Republicans and has a 6% margin of error, according to Lungren.

The survey described Hayes, 43, as the person selected by Deukmejian to fill the post vacated when former Treasurer Jesse M. Unruh died last year. Registered voters were told that Hayes was previously state auditor general for 10 years and was a former Marine Corps officer and Vietnam veteran.

Buchanan, 40, was described as a political consultant and businesswoman who was Reagan’s U.S. treasurer for two years. Registered voters were also told that Buchanan had been treasurer of the Reagan-Bush presidential committees.

Asked whom they would support if the primary were being held now, the respondents gave Hayes a 55%-to-36% edge over Buchanan. When those who were undecided were pressed as to which way they lean, another 5% favored Hayes; less than 1% favored Buchanan. The final tally favored Hayes, 60% to 36%.

But Stone views the poll as leaving out certain pieces of important information, such as the fact Hayes registered as a Republican only after he was nominated for state treasurer. Hayes has said that, in his role as auditor general, he declined to state his party preference because he needed to work in a nonpartisan way with both parties in the Legislature.

Stone added that Buchanan’s own credentials among conservatives would strengthen her standing in the Republican primary, as would her association with her brother, conservative Washington commentator Patrick Buchanan.

Stone said Buchanan has not as yet taken any polls on the race.

“I’m not sure polling today would show you a whole bunch,” Stone said.