CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS GOVERNOR : Wilson Silent on Who HeWould Pick to Fill Senate Seat

Sen. Pete Wilson is feeling the heat.

If he wins the California gubernatorial race next month, one of his first duties will be to appoint a Senate successor.

Wilson, a Republican, is not saying whom he has in mind, only that he’ll look for someone who shares his political views.

“When the necessity arises I will share it in detail,” Wilson said.

Sherri Bebitch Jeffe, senior associate at the Center for Politics and Policy at Claremont Graduate School, says the issue puts Wilson in a no-win situation.

“He makes one friend and innumerable enemies,” she said about Wilson’s dilemma if he makes a choice before the election.

Wilson and Democrat Dianne Feinstein are locked in a neck-and-neck race for the state’s top job. A recent poll showed Wilson with a narrow lead of 47% to 42% for Feinstein.

Feinstein says she’s more concerned about Wilson’s attendance record in the Senate than whom he’ll choose as a successor, but she has challenged him to reveal his choice.

“Will that successor be pro-life or pro-choice?” she asked. “Will that successor be pro-Medicare or (for) more cuts in Medicare? Will that successor be pro-Social Security or not?”

Speculation on the short list of possible successors includes moderate former Rep. Ed Zschau, the GOP nominee who was narrowly defeated by incumbent Democrat Alan Cranston in a race for California’s other U.S. Senate seat in 1986.

Another possibility is conservative television commentator Bruce Herschensohn, who also ran for the Senate in 1986.

Palm Springs Mayor Sonny Bono, half of the former singing duo of Sonny and Cher, is one of those who has expressed an interest in Wilson’s Senate seat.

Wilson tries to make light of that.

“How about Cher?” Wilson said when asked about Bono.

Wilson is also fighting criticism that he’s missing votes in Washington.

“In the Senate, there are no golden parachutes,” says Feinstein, the former mayor of San Francisco. “I don’t know of any other Californian who can take two months off to look for another job.”

Like the successor issue, Wilson’s attendance record places him in an uncomfortable political position: If he stays in California, he gets accused of absenteeism; if he goes to Washington, he could get tied to the budget mess.

It’s not uncommon for a member of the Senate to vote 99% to 100% of the time. Wilson’s attendance record was 92% in 1989. In the fall term, Wilson missed votes on the David Souter Supreme Court nomination, Middle East resolutions and the budget.

He blames his absences on an appendectomy, time spent in California after the San Francisco earthquake and the demands of the current campaign.

He stressed he has kept in touch with the White House and Senate leaders during the budget process to protect California’s interests.

Responding to questions about his absences, Wilson says he’ll return to Washington to vote on a budget reconciliation bill. Earlier, he had said he would return only if his vote were critical. Friday, he missed a vote to table an amendment requiring parental notification in some abortions. Because of that, the bill, which Wilson opposes, survived.

At a recent news conference, Wilson showed his irritation when a reporter noted that at least 30 senators are up for reelection but have still voted in Washington.

“I’m the only one who is running for governor of California,” Wilson snapped. “You cannot campaign for office in California if you are in Washington.”