Debate Statements Fall Under Scrutiny

Democrat Dianne Feinstein, during her debate with Pete Wilson, contended that California could run a successful lottery and still provide education programs with 50% of the proceeds from Lotto and other games.

Wilson disagreed, saying education could end up the loser under the plan. The Republican said experience elsewhere has shown that the more money is taken from prizes to support government programs, the less people are likely to play, driving lottery revenues down.

On Monday, in the aftermath of the debate, lottery officials tended to back Wilson.

On other issues during the debate, such as his Senate attendance and a reference to his authorship of the California Coastal Act, Wilson did not fare as well. The fact is, both candidates took substantial liberties during the debate.

Regarding the lottery, Chon Gutierrez, director of the California State Lottery, said that the state now devotes 50% of its take to prizes. Gutierrez said states that have put a smaller percentage of receipts into prizes have witnessed sales falling dramatically.

Feinstein’s suggestion is that education’s cut of lottery money be boosted from the current minimum of 34% to 50%, with the additional money used to pay for early childhood education “jump start” programs.

Supporting her argument is the fact that during 1989, the lottery was able to earmark 39% of its take for education--substantially more than the 34% minimum in the law. There also have been suggestions by lottery critics other than Feinstein that additional revenue could be earmarked for education by cutting lottery overhead, including advertising expenditures.

On other issues left in dispute:

* Wilson falsely claimed that he authored the legislation to create the California Coastal Commission. Criticizing Feinstein’s proposal to create a growth management commission modeled after the Coastal Commission, Wilson said the coastal agency was a “specialized application--which I remind you, I authored.”

According to the League of Conservation Voters, Wilson while in the Assembly authored a bill to create a coastal protection agency. However, it was opposed by environmentalists as leaving control over land use in the hands of local government, which was seen as doing a poor job of protecting the coast. As mayor of San Diego, Wilson later supported the citizen-drafted coastal protection initiative that was passed by state voters in 1972.

* Feinstein contended that Wilson had the third-worst attendance record in the U.S. Senate. Wilson called his record “excellent.”

Wilson voted on 92% of the Senate’s 312 roll calls during 1989, according to Congressional Quarterly. Just as Feinstein said, it was the third worst record. Twenty senators voted on every bill, achieving a 100% record. In the Senate, a 99% or 98% record is commonplace.

Wilson, during the debate, explained that 14 of his absences came because he was in California during last year’s Bay Area earthquake. A spokesman for Wilson said Monday if those votes were counted in the total, the Republican lawmaker would have a 97% rating.

* After being challenged by Wilson to release her income tax records, as he has been doing, Feinstein contended that she and her husband, investment banker Richard C. Blum, had made 17 years of tax returns available to the public and press.

“We have made those tax returns available to press scrutiny whenever they’ve asked,” she said. She also said, “I don’t think there has been any couple in American political history that’s made the kind of disclosures we have.” The Times has a two-week-old request with the Feinstein campaign for the couple’s tax records and still has not received an answer.

* Feinstein, in reply to criticism over her tax returns, charged that Wilson is keeping his assets in a blind trust that is administered by his former law partner and best friend. “One might question how blind is blind?” Feinstein said.

Wilson, in fact, has his assets in a trust administered by John Davies, a close friend since the two attended law school. The trust, which consists mainly of wealth accumulated before their marriage by Wilson’s wife, Gayle, had a cash value as of March 31 of $295,302.

* Wilson said Feinstein “did not manage well” as mayor of San Francisco, and he contended that she left her successor with a $172-million budget deficit. Feinstein denied it.

San Francisco, like most cities, is prohibited from ending the fiscal year in the red, and Feinstein balanced the budget every year she was mayor. Her final budget included a $16.2-million surplus. After she left office, however, budget analysts projected that if spending and revenue continued at their same rates for a year, the city would have been $172.4 million short.

Contributing to this story were staff writers Virginia Ellis and Daniel M. Weintraub.