GOP Treasurer Targeted : Conservatives Lend Support to Buchanan

Flanked by the likes of Robert H. Bork and former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr., conservative stalwart Patrick J. Buchanan stood among the party faithful on the damp patio of his suburban Virginia home and reflected on his sister’s political future.

If Angela (Bay) Buchanan of Irvine is successful next year in her bid to win the Republican nomination for treasurer of California, her likely opponent would be Kathleen Brown, sister of Edmund G. Brown Jr., California’s former governor and longtime lightning rod for conservative pique.

Buchanan’s first fund-raising event in the Washington area emphasized what many consider her strongest political assets: the backing of prominent Reagan conservatives, and her famous brother, Pat, a magnet for support for conservative causes.

“I really hope I could get some time off to go out and debate Jerry Brown,” Patrick Buchanan, former communications director in the Ronald Reagan White House, said with a grin. “I’ve been working out on the light bag, I’ve been doing some roadwork, and if I have to go up against him, I’ll clean his clock.”

Added Bork, whose nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court was turned down in 1987 by the Senate: “Jerry Brown was (once) a student of mine, or I should say he was in the classroom where I was trying to teach. . . . If there is anything to genetics . . . it is clear I would prefer somebody who shares Pat Buchanan’s attributes.”

But many of the politically savvy among the 250 or so guests, who paid between $100 and $1,000 to attend the Buchanan fund-raiser Tuesday night, said the event’s real target was Thomas Hayes.

A former state auditor general, Hayes officially became a Republican after he was appointed state treasurer earlier this year by Republican Gov. George Deukmejian. Deukmejian is backing Hayes in the GOP’s 1990 primary.

“The problem that you’ve got now is not the Brown problem, it’s the Hayes problem,” said Lyn Nofziger as he stood under a yellow-and-white canopy, dodging the drizzle. Nofziger in the early 1980s served as Reagan’s director of political affairs. He was convicted last year of violating government ethics laws by lobbying his former colleagues within a year of leaving the White House. He is appealing the conviction.

The presence of Bork, Haig, Nofziger and other conservative Republicans closely associated with Reagan “will tell a lot of the old Reagan people out in California that indeed (Buchanan) has the support of the conservatives,” Nofziger said.

“She needs to get that across because Duke (Deukmejian) is apparently supporting Hayes so strongly,” he added. “I think she’s got to point out that this guy . . . has never been a Republican until it became politically expedient. . . .”

Others who were listed as members of the host committee for the fund-raiser were former White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan, the Rev. Pat Robertson, former Atty. Gen. Edwin M. Meese III, and Republican Sens. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, Jesse Helms of North Carolina, and Orrin G. Hatch and Jake Garn, both of Utah.

Bay Buchanan, 40, was Reagan’s campaign treasurer in 1980 and 1984. In 1981, she was appointed treasurer of the United States, a post she left two years later. She has also worked as a party consultant and volunteer nationally and in Orange County.

Questions about the validity of Hayes’ party credentials prompted Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) to withdraw his previously announced support for the treasurer and line up behind Buchanan, Dornan said.

Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), who was one of the fund-raiser’s sponsors, is also backing Buchanan. But Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who attended the event, said he is still “friendly to all.”

Dornan said he had originally backed Hayes only because he had been assured that no other candidates intended to enter the GOP primary.

“I assume, that like a Coast Guard icebreaker, that I’ve broken some ice here and we’ve parted some of the ice floes, so I expect that a few more hard-charging conservatives will join us in the quest” to win the GOP nomination for Buchanan, Dornan said.

The public display of conservative support Tuesday night was intended, in part, to accomplish just that, said candidate Buchanan.

“It’s tough to raise money. It’s tough to get (an issue) that will attract people to it who would not otherwise be watching the race,” Buchanan said. Making a show of the support of prominent Reagan conservatives, and talking up a potential match with Brown’s sister are two ways to attract attention to the campaign, she acknowledged.

“For me, coming in as an underdog, I have to do that,” she said. “Because I’m Pat Buchanan’s sister and she’s Jerry Brown’s sister, that gives us the national appeal to help with name I.D. . . . and help me raise money.”

Before Tuesday’s event, the Buchanan campaign had raised about $100,000, compared to an estimated $200,000 to $300,000 raised by Hayes, according to officials in both campaigns.

The fund-raiser at Pat Buchanan’s home in McLean, Va., grossed about $30,000, said Scott B. Mackenzie, who chaired the event. Buchanan expects to spend as much as $2 million on the primary campaign, and perhaps $6 million or $7 million on the general election, Buchanan’s political consultant Roger Stone said.

Hayes’ campaign manager, Brian Lungren, said Wednesday that his organization does not “welcome a costly primary,” but added: “We are prepared to run an aggressive, fact-oriented campaign. . . .

“The voters are going to decide on the issues and the quality of both candidates. We don’t see this race as a statement on conservative versus moderate versus liberal.”

Steven M. Glazer, media consultant for Kathleen Brown, said of Buchanan’s candidacy: “She has her hands full with Tom Hayes. . . . We’re looking forward to debating the issues of California, and the failure of California to invest in the future, and would relish that debate with either of the Republican candidates.”