CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / GOVERNOR : Feinstein Supports Rival’s ‘Big Green’ Initiative

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dianne Feinstein used the Earth Day stage to proclaim her support of the so-called “Big Green” environmental protection initiative co-sponsored by her rival, Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp.

Feinstein’s announcement, during remarks at a Santa Monica beach celebration and later at Exposition Park, was an abrupt departure from her longstanding refusal to announce her position on the initiative until it qualified for the ballot.

In endorsing it, Feinstein said it didn’t matter that her opponent was a major sponsor of the measure. “I think it’s the right way to go for the state,” she said.

Supporters have collected more than 600,000 signatures in support of placing Big Green on the November ballot, well over the 375,000 valid signatures needed. Proponents have until Friday to turn their petitions in to the secretary of state.

The former San Francisco mayor’s decision to endorse the measure ended a difficult political conflict for her. Under vocal pressure from Van de Kamp and environmentalists to back it, she also has been pressed by her supporters in the Central Valley to oppose the measure.

Central Valley farming interests have charged that the initiative’s ban on 23 pesticides would decimate the state’s agriculture industry. As recently as Thursday, Feinstein said she was troubled by Big Green’s pesticide restrictions.

On Sunday, Feinstein said she had satisfied herself that the measure would not place too much of a burden on California agriculture. She said the measure allowed for a three-year delay in banning some pesticides if no safe alternatives were available.

“I think if the initiative passes, the next governor has to put the state on a fast track to come up with real, integrated pest management (alternatives),” she said.

In their battle for the party’s gubernatorial nomination in the June 5 primary, Van de Kamp has made the sweeping Big Green initiative his environmental platform. Feinstein, in contrast, has offered a more cautious agenda, free of the specifics and restrictions laid out in the initiative.