CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: GOVERNOR : Wilson Rallies Around Flag Before Veterans

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) elicited cheers, whistles and standing ovations from two veterans’ organizations Saturday with a pledge to fight on for a constitutional amendment that would prohibit burning the American flag.

The senator presented his audiences with crisp American flags that had flown over the U.S. Capitol, declaring, “I know damn well that no scruffy’s going to take it away from you and burn it.”

In his third post-primary weekend of campaigning for the California governorship, Wilson addressed the state convention of the American Legion in the upper Sacramento Valley town of Redding. He then flew to the San Joaquin Valley town of Visalia to make a similar appearance before the Amvets state convention.

Never mind that the U.S. House of Representatives last week effectively killed the anti-flag-burning amendment for the year. Wilson vowed to fly overnight Monday to Washington so he could cast his vote Tuesday for what he acknowledged will be a largely symbolic vote for the Senate’s version of the amendment.

And never mind that flag burning has not been an issue high on the California state government agenda. Both veterans’ groups were well-primed for an emotional demonstration on the flag issue.

Even if Wilson is not considered a stem-winding stump speaker, he managed to press all the right buttons when he vowed to fight for the flag. And he knew his audience.

The previous night, scores of Legionnaires stood respectfully and held hands in a cocktail lounge in a Redding hotel as the four-piece combo struck up a jazzy rendition of “America” and then slipped into the heavy beat of “Born in the USA.” Candidates for state Legion offices sprinkled their literature heavily with pledges to carry on the crusade against what they perceive to be desecration of the flag.

In presenting the flag to the Amvets, Wilson declared: “It represents all that you stand for, all that you fought for, all that you hope for--for your children and their children and down through the generations: an America of hope and opportunity.”

Wilson accused the U.S. Supreme Court of engaging in “tortured logic” in declaring destruction of the flag a form of freedom of expression. He claimed that such action does not constitute free speech, but is “conduct” that he said “represents the ultimate obscenity” against those who carried the flag into battle for the United States.

Legion officials said that Wilson’s Democratic opponent, former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, declined an invitation to address the convention. Feinstein generally has shunned public appearances since her June 5 primary election victory over state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, while her campaign focuses on fund-raising efforts to replenish an empty treasury.

An aide said that Feinstein would favor a constitutional amendment to allow the prohibition of flag burning, but one that is more narrowly drawn than the version defeated in the House. Feinstein has not decided how such an amendment should be worded, the aide said.

Wilson brought more than flags to Redding and Visalia. He promised that if elected governor, he would work to build more veterans’ homes like the one that exists in Yountville in the Napa Valley, especially in Southern California, home to a majority of the 500,000 California veterans who are 65 and older.

He also drew standing applause when he vowed to stop the proposed federal sale of “surplus” land at the Department of Veterans Affairs facility in Westwood and to get federal funds to repair the VA hospital in Palo Alto, damaged in last October’s earthquake.