CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / GOVERNOR : Wilson Stakes Out Turf on Environment, Women Issues

In his first weekend as the official Republican nominee for governor, Sen. Pete Wilson aggressively pursued two campaign themes that normally are considered sure-fire Democratic vote-getters: support of women’s issues, including the right to choose abortion, and protection of the California environment.

On Sunday, Wilson went rafting on the American River not far from the state Capitol office he hopes to occupy next January. When a candidate wants to boast about his environmental record, a river trip becomes an almost mandatory campaign fixture. The American was appropriately telegenic Sunday.

And in Van Nuys on Saturday, Wilson began a direct assault on whatever gender advantage Democratic nominee Dianne Feinstein may enjoy with female voters coming out of Tuesday’s primary victory over state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp. As they left the voting booths, 60% of all voters participating in The Los Angeles Times Poll agreed with the statement: “It’s time we had a woman governor.”

Appearing with 100 female supporters--including his staunchly anti-abortion running mate, state Sen. Marian Bergeson--Wilson rejected this notion and said he would not cede an inch to Feinstein on the subject of who could best serve California women.

Wilson was praised by a parade of prominent GOP women, at least one Democrat and the event’s master of ceremonies, television personality Mary Hart, who said the senator has “a 24-year record with an unwavering commitment to women and women’s issues.” Hart said Wilson has been a consistent advocate of a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion, adding: “Pete Wilson has been there on choice. He can be depended on because he has been there on choice.”

Wilson criticized as “a terrible idea” Feinstein’s promise to reserve half the jobs in a Feinstein Administration for women and to allot proportions, according to population, for minorities. Wilson said he would choose his judges and administrators on merit but only after removing any trace of sexual or racial discrimination from the selection process. “The very best: That should be the criteria and no other,” he said.

While Feinstein’s proposal may be well-intentioned, Wilson said, “she cannot escape being unfair with quotas.” Of those he has appointed or nominated in the past, Wilson said, “I think they would be deeply insulted by the implication that they are tokens rather than the high achievers they are.”

If Wilson attempted to undermine a Feinstein strength on Saturday, he happily indulged himself in exploiting one of his own Sunday by lazily rafting a mile down the sun-splashed lower American River in suburban Sacramento with his wife Gayle and her sons Todd, 24, and Philip, 22. Wilson touted his long environmental record, including protection of the California coast against assaults even from Republican administrations in Washington and his successful sponsorship of California wilderness and wild river laws in Congress.

The senator denounced the “Big Green” Nov. 6 ballot initiative sponsored by Van de Kamp, Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) and conservation organizations, in part because it would create the independently elected position of California environmental “czar” with the power to sue to enforce the law.

“I’m going to be the environmental czar,” Wilson declared. “The governor should be the czar. You don’t want to Balkanize his authority.”

Environmental groups working under the umbrella of the League of Conservation Voters did not endorse in the primary, but were clearly allied with Van de Kamp. In its assessment of records, the league gave its most favorable rating to Van de Kamp, followed by Wilson and then Feinstein. The league acknowledged that Feinstein’s record is more difficult to judge because she did not have to deal with many environmental issues as mayor of San Francisco. Her campaign statements and promises sounded good, the league said, but her record revealed “relatively little mastery or forcefulness on specific environmental issues.”

The report praised Wilson highly on some issues--his clean air proposals and his opposition to offshore oil drilling--but said he was weak on others, including desert protection legislation and support of nuclear power.

Wilson gave Feinstein credit Sunday for having been in a city office that did not naturally deal with such subjects, but as he did with the women’s issue, he emphasized his record over the past 23 1/2 years as state assemblyman, San Diego mayor and U.S. senator.

“The most reliable indicator of future performance is past performance, both in campaigning and on these two issues,” he said partly in response to a question about his latest television commercial airing today. The ad couples criticism of Feinstein’s final television commercial of the primary campaign with an appeal to support Wilson because of his commitment to the environment.

The message to environmentalists is that their first choice, Van de Kamp, lost the Democratic primary because of dirty tactics in the last-minute Feinstein ad that harshly criticized the attorney general for failing to prosecute Hillside Stranger suspect Angelo Buono Jr. for murder. But the Wilson ad--the third he has launched since last Wednesday--says that in Wilson, there still is a strong environmentalist on the ticket.