CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR : McCarthy and Seymour Clash on ‘Safe Streets’

They both support the death penalty, tougher sentences for criminals and more funding for local police, but Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy and Republican opponent Sen. John Seymour clashed Tuesday over who would do the most to keep California streets safe.

In his first campaign appearance with a Republican opponent, McCarthy highlighted the provisions of his so-called safe-streets initiative, which would raise the state sales tax by half a cent to pay for a sweeping crackdown on crime and drugs.

“This initiative may be the most important task I have ever undertaken,” McCarthy said at a convention of the California Peace Officers Assn. “It is the most comprehensive plan to combat drugs and drug-related crime ever proposed in this or any other state.”

Seymour, a state senator from Anaheim, attacked one provision of the measure in an effort to show that it was really “soft on crime.” But he was forced to modify his comments later when McCarthy pointed out that Seymour voted for a bill in January that was used as the model for that portion of the initiative.

“Leo is right,” Seymour said after checking the vote. “That bill is very similar to Leo’s initiative, and I did vote for it.”

The provision would require murderers and rapists to serve full terms after their second conviction. Currently, convicted criminals are eligible for parole regardless of their number of convictions. The bill Seymour voted for in January would have required criminals to serve a full term only after their third conviction.

Seymour said, however, that his vote in January was an enhancement of existing sentences, and that he still supports a requirement that rapists, murderers and felony drug criminals be required to serve a full term after their first conviction.

Seymour also blasted McCarthy’s record as a crime fighter. He noted that after McCarthy came out in support of the death penalty, he still supported the confirmation of former state Supreme Court Justice Rose Bird, who was accused of blocking the death sentences of convicted killers.

“I won’t quarrel with the fact that after two decades of fighting against the death penalty that you searched your soul and your conscience, and you decided to support it,” Seymour said to the convention. “But I find a little inconsistency with your born-again philosophy for the death penalty and your broad support for Rose Bird.

“Trying to nail you down on law and order issues is like trying to nail jelly to a wall,” he said.

Seymour is facing fellow Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) in the June 5 primary for the GOP nomination in the lieutenant governor’s race. Bergeson’s campaign officials said she could not attend the peace officers convention Tuesday because she was in Santa Monica taping a cable television program.

McCarthy, who is seeking a third term as lieutenant governor, has long been an environmentalist and he supports abortion rights. But he has been attacked by Republican opponents as weak on crime, and has been haunted by his previous support for Bird.

“I don’t begrudge John saying this, he’s got to make his best hits,” McCarthy said after their morning speeches. “I think he feels he’s swimming upstream on this one.”

McCarthy said the most important difference between him and Seymour on crime is that his proposal includes the funding needed to make a difference in the issue.

“Tough guy rhetoric is not enough,” McCarthy said.

Seymour told the police officers that he is a fiscal conservative and cannot justify a tax increase to pay more for law enforcement. McCarthy said, however, that his measure would generate $1.6 billion per year for law enforcement, judges and drug-education programs.