Wilson Awaits Bush’s Word on Drilling : Politics: Fund-raiser may be the forum the President wants to offer his words on a very sensitive subject.

The politics of oil spills has reached the Oval Office.

The oil slick that ate some prime Orange County beaches already has Gov. George Deukmejian and his wannabe successor, Sen. Pete Wilson, feuding over what to do about offshore drilling. The governor says a ban would be “shortsighted.” The senator says drilling must stop.

Enter President Bush on Feb. 28. In San Francisco to address a Wilson fund-raiser, the President may, sources say, use the occasion to make an announcement about the future of California offshore drilling. Earlier this year, he received a variety of drilling options from a presidential task force.

At a Century City dinner held before the Orange County oil spill, the President called Wilson a “a great environmentalist.” Key to the senator’s reputation is his opposition to offshore drilling, but the President didn’t explicitly comment on that.

After the spill, Bush said he would not order a moratorium on offshore drilling, since the slick was the result of a tanker accident, not a malfunctioning oil rig. He added that the accident reinforced his view that in opening new offshore drilling sites, extreme care must taken to safeguard the environment.

All this complicates Wilson’s gubernatorial ambitions. He knows that Sen. Alan Cranston in part owed his narrow victory over Rep. Ed Zschau in 1986 to a last-minute mailer to coastal swing voters that re-emphasized his opposition to drilling in sensitive areas. Those same voters, Wilson worries, may punish him if Bush calls for more offshore drilling.

Republican National Chairman Lee Atwater, who has said that winning the California governorship is his party’s top priority this year, backs Wilson’s anti-drilling views. He’s also concerned that Bush’s pro-oil sympathies might hurt Wilson’s chances.

But a state Republican strategist with longtime White House access says that Bush would only hurt himself if he calls for coastal-oil exploration and production now. The consultant recommended that the President ought to go for a moratorium and more study.

Bush’s budget proposal for fiscal ’91 does contain some possible good news for Wilson. The Administration apparently will delay an oil-lease sale off the Central California coast until at least 1992.

Dianne Feinstein, running slightly ahead of John Van de Kamp in the Democratic gubernatorial primary according to a new California Poll, has put together a grass-roots strategy she hopes will win her the nomination. Her manager, Darry Sragow, says that Assembly Speaker Willie Brown’s endorsement of the former San Francisco mayor is the first step toward assembling a coalition of blacks, Latinos, Jews, Asians and women. Such a coalition is needed, Sragow believes, to offset Van de Kamp’s expected support from Democratic special-interest elites, including organized labor.

Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti is also said to be edging toward Feinstein. His support, coupled with Brown’s, would help Feinstein blunt the possible endorsement of Van de Kamp by the state Democratic Party.

Percy Pinkney, Feinstein’s political director and a top black official, said the former mayor is attracting strong support in black communities throughout the state. Several mayors have endorsed her. And in the Latino community, Feinstein’s grass-roots effort is headed by Assemblymen Charles Calderon (D-Montebello) and Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles).

Although her TV ads have neutralized a disastrous early showing among male voters, Feinstein still is counting on women to respond positively to her quest to be the state’s first woman governor. The California Poll showed her lead among Democratic women widening.

An circulating initiative that would limit Los Angeles elected officials to two consecutive terms continues to roil City Hall politics. Should the measure qualify for the November ballot--and few political observers doubt that it will--virtually all current city officeholders would be out of a job when their term expired. One of them would be Joel Wachs, who would be unable to run again next year. So the only lawyer on the City Council is said to be eyeing the seat of City Atty. James Hahn, who, per the initiative, would be forced to seek another office in 1993.