CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS/GOVERNOR : Feinstein Backs Tax to Fight Drugs; Wilson Leans in Favor

Declaring that Californians are locked in a fight for their lives with international drug lords, Democrat Dianne Feinstein on Monday endorsed a ballot initiative that would add half a cent to the state sales tax to fight the state’s war on drugs.

In a move that underscored some of the similarities between the candidates for governor, Republican Pete Wilson promptly declared that, while not endorsing the measure, he “may very well” vote for it.

Feinstein announced her support for Proposition 133, which is sponsored by her running mate, Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, after Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies briefed her in Carson on their battle with street gangs and drugs.

McCarthy’s “Safe Streets Act” would raise an estimated $7.4 billion over four years, with 42% going for anti-drug education programs, 40% for new law enforcement efforts, 10% for prisons and jails and 8% for drug treatment. The McCarthy measure would also mandate full prison terms, without time off for good behavior, for felons convicted more than once on a variety of crimes, including the sale or possession for sale of drugs.

Both candidates spent Monday emphasizing their anti-drug and anti-crime programs, and Wilson unveiled a new campaign commercial praising his efforts to reduce California’s crime rate.

“It’s not easy for me to support any increase in the state’s sales tax,” Feinstein said. “But the truth is we’re locked in a battle for our lives in California.”

She acknowledged that the action is likely to allow Wilson to brand her as a tax-and-spend Democrat, but she said the war on drugs cannot be waged with words alone. Any anti-drug program that does not have money to back it up is “pie in the sky,” she said.

Drug dealers, Feinstein added, “don’t pay much attention to talk. They pay attention to uniforms and undercover agents, a speedy trial and long sentences and knowing that they are going to be outgunned and they are going to lose the war. . . . They don’t pay attention to politicians flexing their muscles, but can’t deliver anything.”

Wilson did indeed try to tag Feinstein with the tax-and-spend label in a noon address to the Jewish Federation Council in Los Angeles--but he specifically exempted the drug war from his criticism.

“I can’t oppose the McCarthy initiative,” he said when asked his position. “I don’t think it is the ultimate, but I can’t oppose it because it is true we need big dollars to fight drugs.”

Pressed as to whether that meant he supported the measure, Wilson first answered “not necessarily.” Asked if he would vote for it, he replied, “I may very well vote for it.”

In making her case for the initiative, Feinstein noted that California’s counties, with primary law enforcement responsibility for much of the state, are near fiscal insolvency. Butte County, for one, has been on the verge of bankruptcy for months and at times can put only one sheriff’s deputy into the field because of the financial squeeze, Feinstein said.

The Democratic candidate acknowledged that voters are skeptical of giving politicians the power to spend more money. She said she believes voters would be willing to support the tax increase because Proposition 133 specifies exactly how the funds would be spent.

Provisions of Feinstein’s crime program include mandatory jail sentences for first-time drug sale convictions, appointment of a Cabinet-level drug czar in state government, longer jail terms for violent criminals, a speedup in the trial process, better interdiction of narcotics with use, if necessary, of full-time National Guard employees, and expanded drug rehabilitation treatment.

Feinstein’s recitation of her record irked Wilson, who also has favored mandatory jail time, longer terms for violent criminals, sex criminals and those who sell drugs to children, and a more vigorous battle against drugs.

“Virtually everything in her platform is an implicit endorsement of not only the things that I have proposed, but things which I have actually done in the federal level,” Wilson said.

During his speech to Jewish community leaders, Wilson came under sharp questioning for some of his positions. One questioner criticized Wilson’s statement that he would seek to know the personal feelings of judicial candidates about the death penalty, while refusing to ask about their positions on abortion. Another asked Wilson, who says he favors abortion rights, how he could justify his votes against federal funding of abortions.

A third questioner drew a sharp retort from Wilson when she asked about a recent newspaper column in which Feinstein expressed concern that Wilson’s campaign may be anti-Semitic. She made the statement to columnist Ben Wattenberg in an apparent reference to Wilson’s criticism of Feinstein’s husband, Richard C. Blum.

“I find that not only offensive but truly shocking,” Wilson said. “I must say I think that is an example of the kind of thing that makes you wonder how much pressure people are going to be able to take before they do things they shouldn’t do.”

CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: THE AD CAMPAIGN

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

Wilson, the Republican nominee, on Monday unveiled a campaign commercial targeted to address the issue his aides see as his most potent campaign weapon--crime. The 60-second ad, airing across California, lauds Wilson’s support for criminal justice legislation and, particularly, for Proposition 115, the initiative on the June ballot that overhauled the state’s trial system to speed up trials and make it easier for prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

The Wilson ad follows by several days the airing of a commercial by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dianne Feinstein that underscored her support for the death penalty.

Ad: The commercial opens with Wilson talking to crime victims, traveling on a campaign bus and in a cafe. “This man has been on a mission for 10 years to change a criminal justice system that was more responsive to the criminals than to the people,” an announcer says. Wilson replies: “When you see something that is wrong, the purpose of being in government is to have the ability to fix it.”

“And fix it he did,” the announcer says, “with a series of bold and sweeping reforms which became law in June.”

The ad goes on to quote Ventura County Dist. Atty. Mike Bradbury praising the initiative, and crime victim Colleen Campbell thanking Wilson for his support.

At its close, the ad takes aim at Feinstein, saying she “didn’t lift a finger for the crime victims initiative.”

Analysis: Wilson did forcefully support the initiative, and its principal political organizers were closely allied with Wilson’s campaign. He does not get credit for personally changing the law with “bold and sweeping reforms”; that goes to the voters who overwhelmingly approved Proposition 115.

Feinstein, while saying she supported the measure, downplayed it during her primary campaign against Democratic Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, who opposed the measure on the grounds that it would endanger abortion rights in California. Since its passage, Feinstein has vowed to enthusiastically enforce it, as has Wilson.

Wilson has proposed anti-crime legislation since 1982 from his post in the Senate. But Wilson’s interests have been diversified, and it would be oversimplification to say he has been “on a mission” regarding crime.