CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: THE AD CAMPAIGN

The race: Governor. Whose ad: Republican Pete Wilson.

In his third television ad unveiled since formally winning the GOP gubernatorial primary over little opposition last Tuesday, Sen. Pete Wilson presents himself as the best candidate on environmental issues. At the same time, the ad attacks campaign tactics used by his Democratic opponent, former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, in defeating state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp--the closest ally to environmental groups--in the Democratic primary election.

Environmental leaders say that Feinstein has made “strong positive campaign pledges” on environmental issues, but her mayoral job did not give her the opportunity to build a comprehensive record on statewide issues. The League of Conservation Voters credited Wilson with a strong record in some areas, but said he was notably weak in others. It gave the strongest assessment to Van de Kamp.

Ad: “If you supported John Van de Kamp in the primary, remember how Dianne Feinstein beat him. The Times said Feinstein’s brutal negative ad ‘tastelessly exploits film of a murdered woman’s body’ to make ‘false accusations’ against Van de Kamp.”

Analysis: The ad quotes an editorial from June 2 editions of the Los Angeles Times that criticized the Feinstein commercial for claiming that Van de Kamp “tried to drop murder charges against the Hillside Strangler.” In fact, as Los Angeles County district attorney, Van de Kamp declined to prosecute Angelo Buono on murder charges because he thought the case was too weak and he instead planned to bring sex charges against Buono while investigators sought more evidence to support a murder charge. Buono was convicted of murder in a trial on charges brought by the attorney general’s office under now-Gov. George Deukmejian. The same Times editorial also criticized Van de Kamp for unfairly claiming that Feinstein was “a pawn of the insurance industry.”

Ad: “But you can still vote for a candidate who has won praise from the Sierra Club on his fight for clean air, whose environmental record was judged better than Feinstein’s by the League of Conservation Voters and who fought three national administrations to stop offshore drilling.”

Analysis: Wilson did receive strong praise in a letter from Sierra Club President Richard Cellerius this spring for “your overwhelming support for strengthening amendments to the Senate version of the Clean Air Act.” Cellerius expressed thanks for Wilson’s “consistent support of strong legislation for clean air as well as other environmental protection measures.”

While the League of Conservation Voters did not rank the candidates in any order, its assessment of their records gave the strongest marks in seven categories to Van de Kamp followed by Wilson and then Feinstein. It was difficult to compare Feinstein’s record to those of Wilson and Van de Kamp, but the league commended her for support of coastal protection, sewage pollution control and San Francisco’s municipal transit system; said she had a moderate record on toxics but no leadership role, and gave her mixed, but generally negative, marks on growth control in downtown San Francisco.

Wilson has been a consistent leader in the Senate in opposition to additional offshore oil exploration and drilling in federal waters off the California coast, putting him in direct opposition to the policies of the Reagan and Bush administrations.