CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS/GOVERNOR : Support for Schools, New Taxes at Issue

The candidates for governor dived into the highly partisan debate over the state budget Tuesday, with GOP nominee Pete Wilson announcing he would oppose any new taxes unless they were accompanied by a bipartisan reform of state spending.

Democratic candidate Dianne Feinstein, meanwhile, defended state spending for education and took issue with Wilson’s position that fiscal reform could require cuts in money directed to schools.

Campaigning separately in the state capital, both candidates hewed closely to party lines in defining their priorities in the tight fiscal atmosphere in Sacramento.

Wilson, speaking to several hundred guests at a meeting of the Comstock Club, echoed Gov. George Deukmejian’s frequently voiced frustration that most of the state’s spending is mandated by statutes, legal decisions and the federal government.

At first, Wilson drew his fiscal line in the sand in what seemed to be an impossible location with his pledge to hold off any discussion of new taxes unless there is budget reform.

“There (should be) no talk of new taxes until there has been achieved what should in fact first occur--basic budget reform, fundamental restructuring of the state budget,” Wilson said, adding that his goal is to allow both the governor and the Legislature more flexibility to assert their priorities.

But some of the current restrictions can only be lifted with voter approval, which Wilson acknowledged could not be achieved until 1992 at the earliest, two budget cycles from now.

Asked later whether it was possible to delay discussion of new taxes until reform was accomplished, Wilson said he would meet with legislative leaders immediately after the election to begin “building a consensus.”

“That is a precondition to any discussion of new taxes,” he said.

Neither of the gubernatorial candidates has ruled out new taxes as a way of dealing with what is expected to be a deficit next year. On Monday, however, Wilson did rule out any increase in income tax.

Also on Monday, Wilson criticized the impact of Proposition 98, the 1988 voter initiative that guarantees that more than 40% of the general fund budget will be set aside for education spending.

While “education is a priority,” Wilson said, “we may very well shift some resources.”

Feinstein on Tuesday flatly refused to sanction any change in the education funding equation. She called such spending “absolutely necessary.”

“We’re slipping with our skilled work force and we need to regain that slippage and the only way to do it is by saying, ‘Look, this is a priority,’ ” she told reporters after touring a California Highway Patrol academy.

Like Wilson, Feinstein declined to say where she would cut government spending. Also, neither of the candidates has listed where they would get the money for most of the programs they have floated.

“I think I’m going to have to take a good look at the budget and see what we can do to be sure the taxpayers are getting as much bang for their taxpayer dollar as possible, and do some things on both the expenditure side and the revenue side to keep it in balance,” Feinstein said Tuesday.

In his speech, Wilson continued to focus his verbal firepower on Feinstein. He followed up his Monday criticism of her stands on crime by portraying her as a “taxer” and “spender.”

Wilson ticked off a list of taxes he said she endorsed during her tenure as mayor of San Francisco. According to his campaign, per capita taxes in San Francisco rose 34% during Feinstein’s tenure, but in San Diego during Wilson’s term as mayor, taxes dropped almost 10%.

“The past is prologue to the future,” Wilson said. “Dianne Feinstein has never met a tax she didn’t like--or want to hike.”

Feinstein has said that she came into office facing a deficit and had to deal with an aging city infrastructure as well as an expanding AIDS crisis. She has also pointed out that she took office in the post-Proposition 13 era. More than half of Wilson’s term, she said, occurred before that voter initiative slashed money going to local government.

Feinstein’s campaign manager, Bill Carrick, also said Tuesday that because San Francisco is both a city and a county, it has broader responsibilities than a city alone. “She did what she had to do to meet her responsibilities,” Carrick said.

Despite Wilson’s effort, some similarities between the two candidates were visible Tuesday.

Like Wilson, Feinstein has complained about the automatic nature of much of the state’s spending.

Earlier this year, in a debate with Democratic contender John K. Van de Kamp, the state attorney general, Feinstein said that as governor she would place all state programs on the table when trying to work out a budget compromise. Wilson has said essentially the same thing.

Both Feinstein and Wilson have said they would try to protect cost-of-living increases for stipends for the poor, the elderly and the ill. And both supported the recently approved increase in the state’s gasoline tax.

Feinstein has advocated extending the 0.25% increase in the state’s sales tax, originally imposed as a temporary measure to pay for damages caused by the Oct. 17 Bay Area earthquake.

She has also left open the possibility of adjusting income tax brackets to come up with additional state revenue, a suggestion that Wilson on Tuesday derided as “a fancy phrase for raising income taxes.”