CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: GOVERNOR : Wilson in Senate; Feinstein Still Attacks : Campaign: Dogged by charges of absenteeism, he resumes his legislative activities at a busy pace.

Sen. Pete Wilson, under pressure to show voters he can fulfill his elective duties while campaigning for governor, returned to the capital and, in his words, “hit the ground running.”

Arriving in Washington late Monday night, the Republican senator scurried to Capitol Hill in time to join a Senate-House conference committee that did not conclude its work on farm legislation until shortly before 4 a.m. Tuesday.

He was back at work by noon, and late Tuesday night was still immersed in budget deliberations while his opponent, Democrat Dianne Feinstein lobbed criticism at Wilson from afar.

Late in the night, Wilson joined other Republicans to vote against a revised civil rights bill that he contended set up a quota system for hiring. The Senate, defying President Bush’s threat of a veto, approved the measure 62 to 34.

Wilson, in an interview, expressed frustration that Congress did not vote promptly on deficit-reduction measures--the reason he gave for temporarily abandoning his California campaigning to return to Washington.

Wilson’s presence in Washington for the first time since the August recess followed weeks of criticism by Feinstein, who scored him for remaining in the state rather than looking out for California’s interests in the capital. During Wilson’s absence, the Senate confirmed Supreme Court Justice David Souter and worked on a budget bill and other major pieces of legislation.

Last Friday, the senator missed what could have been a tie-breaking vote on a bill requiring parental consent for some abortions. Wilson said he would have opposed the bill, which passed on a tie.

“There’s total uncertainty to your schedule as a senator,” Wilson said. “I’m here to do what is necessary to move legislation, but it’s hard to tell how long it will take.”

Wilson said he did not plan to make any speeches or public appearances in Washington this week.

“The public appearances I wanted to make all are in California,” he said. “I’m only here to be a legislator.”

Wilson’s trip East forced postponement of a second debate with Feinstein. Originally set for Thursday, it is now expected to take place Oct. 25.

Wilson also gave up a star-studded Republican fund-raising schedule in California that included appearances with former President Ronald Reagan, Vice President Dan Quayle and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu. A Reagan fund-raiser in San Diego on Tuesday fetched Wilson’s campaign as much as $125,000, a Wilson aide said.

In the interview, Wilson said he took pride in Tuesday’s legislative work. For example, although the 1991 agriculture bill was not scheduled for an immediate vote, he said that in closed-door conference he had used his position on the Senate Agriculture Committee to preserve funding for the “target export assistance program.” The program, which he sponsored five years ago, promotes exports of agricultural products.

Wilson left the pre-dawn farm-bill conference in time to catch some sleep at his Capitol Hill townhouse, then returned for a weekly Republican policy luncheon to discuss budget issues with colleagues.

Later, in remarks on the Senate floor, he said he agreed with GOP Leader Bob Dole of Kansas that a tax proposal being pushed by House Democratic leaders would hurt middle-class working families by raising their taxes by about $300 next year.

“It’s not going to benefit most families,” Wilson said of the plan being urged by Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D--Ill.), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. “There’s got to be a better way.”

Back in California, Feinstein sought to kept the pressure on. She began airing three commercials that not-so-subtly play on Wilson’s absence from the Senate. She also sent Wilson a letter asking that he speed up action on a bill that he has held back at the behest of a campaign contributor.

The legislation would require improvements in heavy-duty bolts whose failure has caused many construction and aerospace accidents. Wilson has said he stalled the bill’s progress because he and a campaign fund-raiser, Ron Cedillos, want it strengthened with amendments that would require testing of fasteners by outside firms.

Cedillos, of Long Beach, operates one such firm. He has also sponsored fund-raisers for Wilson, including a gathering last year that brought in an estimated $140,000.

While Wilson has insisted he wants the bill strengthened, critics contend that his actions threaten to kill it--a notion Feinstein played up in her letter to the Republican.

“Sen. Wilson, if you will not join this issue, please step out of the way,” she wrote. “The public safety is at stake.”

Replied Wilson: “She doesn’t understand that people sometimes put a hold on bills that aren’t good. . . . This is a dangerous bill that permits in-house fraud. It allows companies to have outside inspectors check the nuts and bolts they produce, but it does not require outside inspections.”

Without their candidate in the state, Wilson’s campaign staff kept busy Tuesday by sending out a flyer accusing Feinstein of flip-flops on a number of issues, including her promise last week to halt all campaign activities if Wilson went back to Washington.

Times political writer Cathleen Decker contributed to this story from Los Angeles.