BAY AREA QUAKE : Politicians Often Tripped by Natural Disasters : Politics: Quayle’s failure to meet with Agnos in tour of quake destruction results in long-distance shouting match.

Disasters are times of peril for politicians. The wrong move or a misspoken word at a crucial moment can damage a career. Just ask former governors Edmund G. (Pat) Brown and his son, Jerry, and, perhaps now, Vice President Dan Quayle.

The senior Brown, touring a catastrophic North Coast flood during his second term, proclaimed to the news media that “this is the worst disaster since I was elected governor.” Everybody got a good laugh except Brown and his advisers.

Two decades later, his governor son became the subject of ridicule and criticism for not taking the Medfly seriously and delaying spraying until the tiny fruit pest had spread almost out of control. His career suffered severely and he lost a Senate bid in 1982.

On Wednesday, Quayle flew into San Francisco to tour earthquake destruction and did not meet with Mayor Art Agnos. Both sides offered conflicting reasons. Only one thing was known for sure: the Republican vice president and the Democratic mayor got into a long-distance, public shouting match.

Agnos said he was “ticked off” and added: “I have real questions about what he was doing here. It may have been just a publicity stunt.” Quayle responded by denouncing Agnos’ “political rhetoric.” And White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater accused the mayor of “not cooperating.” But Agnos probably got the better of the exchange.

Observed one California political strategist for Republican candidates, who did not want to be identified: “The predominant wisdom is that he (Quayle) isn’t very capable. So whenever there’s a doubt about something he does, that wisdom is reinforced among the public. It may be unfair, but he’s the loser. What you can’t do is what he did. You can’t just stiff somebody.”

Quayle’s visit illustrated again that when a disaster strikes, the resulting public spotlight attracts politicians like moths and, like moths, they can get burned.

San Francisco this week has been inundated by politicians--Gov. George Deukmejian, Republican Sen. Pete Wilson and Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston, and countless members of Congress and the Legislature. President Bush will visit Oakland and Santa Cruz today.

All these elected officials have legitimate reasons for touring scenes of disaster. They represent the afflicted citizens and hold the power to help ease suffering. But, as Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) pointed out Thursday, “what you don’t want to do is to look like--or be--an ambulance chaser. That is totally inappropriate.”

State Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights), who toured the Bay Area Wednesday in his capacity as chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Disaster Services, acknowledged:

“Politicians invariably suffer from foot-in-mouth disease. And the chances of a severe attack are greatly enhanced during the time of a disaster. The desire to see their name in print or face on television is all-consuming. And you don’t know if it’s going to come out good or bad.”

Generally, disasters are more fraught with peril than they are ripe with opportunity for politicians.

Steven A. Merksamer, former chief of staff to Gov. Deukmejian, recalled that “my biggest fear always was of not being prepared for a major disaster--and one thing about living in California is we have them. How they are handled can make or break elected officials.”

Merksamer disclosed that during the governor’s first term “we spent a lot of time drilling for disasters. We would have mock prison riots, mock earthquakes--eight-hour drills when we would practice making decisions, several times a year.”

Always fresh in the mind of Deukmejian and his top advisers, Merksamer said, was Jerry Brown’s “Medfly crisis.” And they also indelibly remembered another chapter of California political history: When Pat Brown was on vacation in Greece during the Watts riot. “Where was Pat?” became a one-liner in Ronald Reagan’s victorious campaign against Brown in 1966.

Thus, it was Deukmejian’s instant reaction to immediately return home when he heard of the disastrous earthquake shortly after 1 a.m., local time, while on a trade mission in Frankfurt, West Germany. That was part of the drill practiced time and again in his office.

“When the ship’s in trouble it’s appropriate for the captain to be in charge,” noted Merksamer. “But there’s a fine line public relationswise. It’s bad government and it’s bad politics to be seen as trying to take advantage of any kind of a disaster for personal political reasons.”

Stuart K. Spencer, a veteran political consultant who managed campaigns for Reagan, said candidly that during a disaster “the biggest problem is not doing something. You do something--even if it’s wrong. The real peril is getting frozen in inaction--being afraid to make a mistake. If a person goes by their natural instincts, they’re going to do the right thing.”

Bush is the most recent example of a politician accused of inaction during a crisis. He was sharply criticized for responding sluggishly to two disasters--the Exxon oil spill and Hurricane Hugo. When he got a third chance, after the Northern California earthquake, the President moved quickly and with high visibility to, as he said, “take every step and make every effort to help the Bay Area.”

A page in the chapter of Pat Brown’s Grecian vacation was that his lieutenant governor, Glenn Anderson, got frozen in inaction. “He hesitated when he should have acted” in calling out the National Guard during the Watts riots, a blue-ribbon commission later asserted. And it probably cost Anderson reelection in 1966. He was later elected to Congress.

For a few hours Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, until Deukmejian arrived back in California, Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy was the acting governor. And “one of the things on his checklist,” recalled chief of staff Kim Cranston, was to “seriously consider” calling out the National Guard. He decided against it after conferring with local officials who reported little looting.

“These (disaster) situations bring out the best and worst in people because you’re under stress,” said Cranston, son of the senator. “You have to make quick decisions. You can’t sit back and develop strategy. There’s no time for that.”