Bush Arrives as Clergy Scorns GOP Rally : Campaign: The President will stump for Pete Wilson today on a Lutheran campus. But church leaders call it a misuse of a private school.

President Bush arrived in Ventura County on Friday to stump for gubernatorial candidate Pete Wilson as Lutheran church leaders complained that a Republican rally scheduled for California Lutheran University today is partisan and a misuse of the university’s role as a private institution.

The Rev. Stanley Olson, a former Los Angeles Lutheran bishop and past CLU regent, and the Rev. John Simmons, who described himself as one of the founders of the university, said they had sent letters to CLU President Jerry H. Miller protesting appearances by Bush and Sen. Wilson on the Thousand Oaks campus.

Bush “is not coming as the president, he’s coming as head of the Republican Party pushing for a candidate for the governor of this state,” Simmons said in an interview. “That is outrageous.”

But the hundreds of people who gathered at Point Mugu waiting for Bush’s arrival on Friday were more concerned about his plans for the Mideast than state politics and the gubernatorial election.

About 500 people, many of them wives and relatives of men stationed overseas, arrived as early as 5 p.m. at the Point Mugu Pacific Missile Test Center to wait in the cold night air for Bush’s 8 p.m. arrival. Children worked on an 18-foot-long welcome sign.

The White House had invited wives of Seabees from the Port Hueneme Naval Construction Battalion Center who were deployed to Saudi Arabia earlier this fall, a Navy spokeswoman said.

“We wanted to see if we could find out anything that might be happening,” said Zoraetta Matthews, 24, whose fiance, Rick Goodell, 22, was deployed in August. “He’s missing his daughter growing up and taking her first step.”

The crowd cheered and clapped as Bush stepped out of Air Force One and made his way over to the crowd to shake a few hands. Then he climbed into his limousine and said, through the loudspeaker: “Thank you. Thanks for the warm welcome.”

Some members of the audience were dissatisfied.

“It was short and cold,” Paula Furman, 31, said.

Cindi Connelly, 30, said she and her friends thought the President was going to address the wives. “All he said is, ‘Thanks for the warm welcome.’ Something is wrong here. I think publicity stunt comes to mind.”

When Bush arrived at the Westlake Hyatt half an hour later, about 50 well-wishers were waiting to greet him. Liz and Jeff Block of Westlake Village, along with their three children, waved as the President drove past the crowd in his limousine.

“I can’t believe he took the time to wave,” said Liz Block, 36, of Westlake Village.

Officials at Cal Lutheran University said they were expecting some demonstrators at the Wilson rally today.

Simmons said he had invited other clergy to protest the Bush-Wilson appearance.

In his letter to CLU president Miller, Simmons called the rally “disgraceful and shameful” and raised questions about who authorized, promoted and paid for the event.

CLU spokesman Dennis Gillette defended the rally. He said the university is “nonpartisan in nature” and cited appearances by Democrats on the campus, including a speech Friday by Sen. Gary K. Hart of Santa Barbara at an anti-drug conference.

Gillette said today’s rally, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., is sponsored by the Republican Students’ Speakers Bureau at the request of the Wilson campaign.

“This particular event is sponsored by a student organization, as any event of this type would have to be,” Gillette said. “We would accept the same thing if a candidate from another party would make a similar request through an authorized organization.”

The two clergymen were joined in their criticism by Bishop J. Roger Anderson of the Southern California West Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The synod represents 60,000 Lutherans in 160 congregations in Ventura, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Kern counties.

“If this were a general appearance of the president . . . as a lecturer or as a featured speaker, I would say yes, this is a wonderful opportunity, “ Anderson said. But he called the rally “strictly a campaign appearance which creates the appearance that California Lutheran University is endorsing Sen. Wilson’s candidacy for governor.”

He added: “There may well be strong reactions to using California Lutheran University, a private university, as a political stomping ground.”

Anderson said he found out about the rally after the annual meeting last week of the convocators, a group of more than 80 representatives of five Lutheran synods and other at-large members who act as a board of directors for CLU and elect its Board of Regents. He said the convocators were not told about the rally.

“I personally wish the matter would have been more widely discussed with the constituents before this decision was made,” Anderson said.

Olson said the university employee who organized the rally should be fired and CLU should “write a letter of apology to congregations in California that are supportive of the college.”

“I do not see us giving exclusive rights to either political party,” Olson said. “I would be just as upset if it was the Democratic candidate who was appearing on campus.”

Gillette said the Bush-Wilson appearance has generated little, if any, controversy among students.

“On campus, there has been, almost across the board, acceptance and enthusiasm over the fact that the President of the United States is coming,” Gillette said. He said Wilson’s campaign committee in Sacramento would reimburse the university for costs other than personnel expenses.

Times staff writer Psyche Pascual contributed to this report.