Davis Wins Mixed Reviews for Backing Wilcox, Braly

Allies and antagonists of state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita) disagreed Thursday over whether he sustained any political damage--real or perceived--by supporting two Assembly candidates who were defeated in this week’s primary election.

Davis gave relatively strong backing to one present and one former aide--Hunt Braly and Rob Wilcox--in Tuesday’s election, but both men lost. Besides endorsing them, Davis urged his financial supporters to give them money and attended their fund-raising events. He and his wife also contributed $2,000 to each candidate.

Braly failed in his bid to wrest the GOP nomination from Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) in an acrid, high-profile battle in the 37th District. Wilcox ran second to real estate broker Paula Boland in a five-way struggle for the GOP nod in the 38th District, where Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge) is retiring this year.

Wright and Boland were backed by ex-Rep. Bobbi Fiedler of Northridge. Fiedler and Davis have been political antagonists since they ran against one another in 1986 for the GOP nomination for U. S. Senate. Both have denied backing opposing candidates as part of an ongoing feud.

Davis’ boosters insisted that the defeat of Braly, Davis’ top aide, and Wilcox, a La Follette aide who once worked for Davis, produced no political ricochets that hit the popular former Los Angeles police chief.

“It means absolutely nothing. Ed Davis is strong,” said Eric Rose, a GOP campaign consultant and former Davis aide.

“It’s disheartening to have your friends lose, but any potential political damage to Ed doesn’t exist,” he said.

Davis agreed that he suffered no political injury in the losses, noting that Wilcox ran a fairly strong second to Boland and arguing that political endorsements by themselves rarely sway voters.

But Wright said that by backing another Republican against her, Davis was “tearing the party down.” She added that his move also alienated grass-roots Republicans in her district by forcing them to choose between two Republicans.

“The average person, they like me and they like Ed. He was twisting their arms and putting pressure on them, so they had to decide between us. . . . That’s got to be wearing on their relationship with Ed.”

Wright acknowledged that she knows of no potential challengers to the 73-year-old Davis in 1992, when he plans to run for a fourth term, although she said they may materialize later.

Davis said he disagreed that contested primaries are unhealthy for the Republican Party. On the contrary, he said, such races encourage higher voter turnout and vitalize GOP members for general election races against Democrats.

Davis noted that Wright herself explored the possibility of running against him in 1988. “So she can’t believe” that contested primary elections hurt the party, he said.