CAMPAIGN JOURNAL : Ruling Means More Money, Morale Boost for Feinstein

One judge, one ruling, $2 million at least--including a $50,000 check from comedian Chevy Chase.

That is the boon for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dianne Feinstein from U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton’s ruling last week tossing out campaign contribution limits of $1,000 per person, a top adviser says.

Added to this infusion of sorely needed money has been an injection of exuberance and spirit--a renewed confidence by the candidate and her aides that on Nov. 6 she will be elected the first woman governor in state history. Now, they believe, she will be able to match Republican Sen. Pete Wilson’s television ads in the final month of the race.

The judge’s ruling--upheld Wednesday by a federal appellate court--clearly has been the single most significant event of the fall gubernatorial race.

“It’s a bonanza, a whole new world,” campaign director Bill Carrick said. “Now, Chevy Chase can write a $50,000 check.”

John Plaxco, campaign finance director, estimated that scrapping the $1,000 limits and allowing people to donate as much as they want will gain Feinstein “$2 million--at least.”

“A lot of people have been coming to us,” he said. “We haven’t even asked.”

One such person was Chevy Chase.

As Chase and Feinstein recounted to intrigued supporters at a $1,000-per-plate fund-raising dinner Tuesday night at the Beverly Hilton, the actor telephoned the candidate’s headquarters out of the blue last Friday, asking to talk to “a campaign person” about possibly helping out.

Chase was given a telephone number and told he could call it the next morning. When he did, the person who answered was Feinstein’s husband, Richard Blum.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Chase told the banquet crowd of about 1,000. “I had their home phone and I felt like I had wakened them up. And I got directly to Dianne--and here I am.”

But there was no talk of a campaign contribution in the telephone conversation. Feinstein only asked Chase to say a few words at the dinner, which already was headed toward an $800,000 net even without Chase’s supplement.

Feinstein picked up the story of the donation after Chase left the microphone, announcing: “Believe it or not, he walked in this evening and he wrote a check for $50,000.” There were gasps, cheers, whistles and loud applause.

Later, Chase said in an interview that he and his wife had talked it over and decided to write a big check because they like Feinstein’s positions on such issues as the environment and education. For him, giving to political candidates is rare, he emphasized.

“Don’t spread the word. Everybody’s handing me their cards already,” Chase said, pulling some from his pocket.

Blum said Wednesday, “We had absolutely no idea he was going to give us 50 cents until the banquet last night.”

It is one of the largest donations Feinstein has received since the judge junked the contribution limits. But there have been several big ones, aides said--many of them not yet announced.

Hadley Roff, Feinstein’s veteran chief of staff, in an interview, disclosed two more large donations at a campaign labor rally in San Francisco’s Union Square Wednesday. He reported that the carpenters union has given Feinstein $150,000 and the California Teachers Assn. $50,000. It already was announced last week that California Highway Patrol officers had donated $150,000.

“It’s obviously a boost,” Roff said of the judge’s ruling. “It gives us a sense that we’re going to be significantly more competitive. It pumps the adrenaline.”

Said Feinstein spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers: “It was a shot in the arm for the campaign emotionally as well as financially.”

Noting that Wilson had been outspending Feinstein by roughly 3 to 1 on TV commercials, Myers said:

“This campaign has been like an Indiana Jones movie--a snake bites Dianne on the leg, alligators are about to eat her up, then she gets a court ruling and a favorable poll. There’s a certain energy that comes from getting out of a tight situation.”