Quayle Says Fed-Up Voters Will Oust Many Incumbents

Vice President Dan Quayle said Thursday that both parties are going to pay a political price for their wrangling over the federal budget, and when frustrated voters go to the polls next month, “I think you are going to see a lot of incumbents surprised.

“People are quite disgusted by the congressional spectacular they have seen in the last few weeks,” Quayle said at a brief airport press conference when he arrived in Orange County on a Republican campaign swing. “Their mood is one of frustration and one of cynicism . . . and the question is how people will channel that frustration on Nov. 6.”

Quayle strongly supports California’s Proposition 140 to limit the terms for state lawmakers as an effective way to address the public frustration and clear government roadblocks. He even suggested the same remedy for Congress.

“Why stop at state legislators; why not extend it to Congress and the Senate?” Quayle said. “The President of the United States is limited to two terms; my point is, what’s good for the President is good for Congress.”

Pete Wilson, the Republican nominee for governor and the biggest beneficiary of Quayle’s two-day campaign swing through California, announced his support for Proposition 140 last week.

Critics, including Wilson’s Democratic opponent, Dianne Feinstein, say that limiting the terms of lawmakers will leave a naive Legislature vulnerable to manipulative lobbyists and empire-building bureaucrats.

But speaking about the federal government, Quayle responded: “Well, let me tell you something folks, the bureaucrats and the lobbyists and the special interests are running Washington today.

“People want change, they want progress, they want reform,” he said. “You get a much better individual coming to Washington if you limit terms.”

Proposition 140 would limit Assembly members to three two-year terms and state senators to two four-year terms.

Quayle attended fund-raisers Thursday morning in Century City for Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, and Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove).

Just after 10 a.m. he flew to El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Orange County for a luncheon fund-raiser with Republican attorney general candidate Dan Lungren, arriving shortly after a minor earthquake shook the area.

Quayle’s motorcade stopped on the way to the Lungren event at a Burger King in Santa Ana where the vice president got out and ordered a large diet Coke.

“I’ve got to have one of these to keep me going,” he told the manager.

Quayle also campaigned for Wilson on Thursday in San Francisco and Stockton before returning to Los Angeles for another day of appearances in Southern California today . David Beckwith, spokesman for the vice president, said they expected to raise about $1.2 million for Wilson during the two days.

Wilson was scheduled to attend the events with Quayle but, facing relentless criticism from Feinstein, he returned to Washington earlier in the week to participate in the debate on the federal budget.

The House and Senate have both passed differing versions of the budget that are to be negotiated and returned to both chambers for a final vote expected by midnight tonight.

Some senators tried on Wednesday to kill a proposed 9 1/2-cent gas tax increase in the version favored by the White House. Quayle defended the gas hike Thursday, saying that it should encourage motorists to conserve fuel.