CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: THE AD CAMPAIGN

The race: Lieutenant governor. Whose ad?: Republican Marian Bergeson.

Bergeson’s 30-second commercial will begin airing today in Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento. The campaign says it has bought $60,000 in television time for the next three days.

Bergeson, a state senator from Newport Beach, is running against state Sen. John Seymour of Anaheim.

Elements of the ad, with an analysis by Times staff writer Dave Lesher:

Ad: “He says he’s against offshore oil drilling, but he voted to allow offshore oil drilling 12 times as a state senator.”

Analysis: The League of Conservation Voters has given the two Republican senators similar ratings on the environment. Seymour and Bergeson voted on opposite sides in only six of these votes, some of which were oil-related but not necessarily intended to allow offshore drilling. Some of the 12 votes the ad counted also include times when Seymour did not vote. Of those where they differed, Seymour voted against a 1988 bill to prohibit oil drilling off the coast of Mendocino and Humboldt counties. And he voted in 1987 against a resolution opposing President Reagan’s offshore oil-leasing program. Seymour’s staff said the senator was concerned about the country’s energy independence but that his voting record changed to favor more protection for the coast after the Exxon Valdez oil spill last year.

Ad: “He calls himself a tax fighter, but he opposed Proposition 13.”

Analysis: Seymour flatly denies this assertion. Bergeson’s evidence is a 1978 questionnaire from the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce on which Seymour checked a box that said he opposed Proposition 13, but he scribbled in the margin “see comments.” Bergeson’s campaign does not have the comments and Seymour claims it would reveal that he had concerns about the tax-cutting measure, but he was going to vote for it.

Ad: “And now he says he’s pro-choice, but he voted against choice 26 times.”

Analysis: Last fall, Seymour announced a reversal in his position on abortion so that he now favors abortion rights as well as public funding for low-income women seeking abortions. Seymour said he was persuaded to change his position by the Supreme Court’s Webster decision last July that granted states more authority over the issue. The 26 votes cited by Bergeson date back to 1982 when Seymour opposed abortion rights. Bergeson, who opposes abortion rights, voted the same on almost all of the 26 votes.