CAMPAIGN TALK

A weekly window on the California elections.

10 days left of register to vote before the May 7 deadline.

39 days left until the June 5 primary election. INTELLIGENCE

Looking ahead: By next week, Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Van de Kamp will finally get a load off his back by turning in the last of the signatures to qualify his three ballot propositions for the November ballot. The environment initiative was turned in Thursday, with ethics and crime to follow. Environmental advocates announced that 800,000 signatures had been collected in favor of placing the “Big Green” initiative on the ballot; it needs 372,178 valid signatures to qualify.

The three initiatives were to be Van de Kamp’s platform for the general election. But when they were launched, he was not counting on an all-out primary fight like he has on his hands now with Dianne Feinstein.

Next step for both campaigns is to chart their final bouts of television advertising--and prepare for face-to-face encounters. The prospect of prime-time TV debates, however, now appears dead. The best the campaigns have been able to do so far is secure an hour at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 13, on KPIX in San Francisco.

Edging closer: Rep. Barbara Boxer (D-Greenbrae) of Marin County is still publicly coy about whether she will run against Democrat Sen. Alan Cranston in 1992. But she has enlisted veteran Los Angeles political consultant Joseph Cerrell to help raise money--for her congressional reelection campaign, of course. Boxer denied that the move has anything to do with a possible Senate race. However, if she were to run for the Senate, Boxer has to boost her name identification and fund-raising beyond her Northern California base. A Southern California-based political consultant wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

FBI cash: Democrat Paul Carpenter, running for reelection to the Board of Equalization, stands accused of extorting campaign contributions while he was a member of the state Senate. But he’s all for truthfully reporting where those contributions come from. So now he has filed an amendment to his campaign disclosure statement to show that $15,000 he collected in 1986 was contributed by the U.S. Justice Department and not by Gulf Shrimp Fisheries, a phony firm the FBI created as part of its Capitol sting operation. Carpenter said he does not intend to return the money. “They gave it to me as a legitimate campaign contribution, and I’m very grateful,” he said.

CALIFORNIA PRIMARY VOTING Who should register or re-register to vote

Those who fall into one of the following categories should register or re-register to vote: Will become 18 years old on or before the date of any election. will become a citizen before the date of any election. Have changed their residence since they last registered. Have changed their name since they last registered. Want to change their political affiliation. Note: A person on parole or in jail for a felony conviction is not eligible to register to vote, nor is someone who has been deemed by an appropriate court to be mentally incompetent.

To get a form for voter registration, call the Secretary of State’s office at 1-(800)-345-VOTE, or the county registrar-recorder’s office.

Source: Secretary of State’s office

Soundings

From Sen. Pete Wilson, Republican candidate for governor, in a speech to Friends of the River:

“It has been my observation that vision in a politician is more a function of political nerve than of the optic nerve. Many have eyes to see what is the right thing to do. But not all who see have the stomach to do it.”

From Dianne Feinstein, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, scoffing at suggestions that her family’s $7.4-million income in 1989 paved the way for success this year:

“You can’t buy this election . . . . What it does do is give me a certain independence from special interests.”

From gubernatorial candidate John Van de Kamp, warning Fresno residents about pesticide contamination as he promoted the “Big Green” environmental initiative:

“No one in this valley is safe.” EXIT LINE

” . . . Eight years of nothingness.”

Former Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, assessing Gov. George Deukmejian’s stewardship of California.