GOVERNOR : Feinstein, Wilson Differ on Approach for the Final Days : Republican: He utilizes advantage of his role as a candidate and senator. L.A. Police Academy is the setting for a surprise honor.

Using the Los Angeles Police Academy as a backdrop, Republican Pete Wilson demonstrated Friday that he can take advantage of his status as an incumbent U.S. senator even while campaigning for another office, governor of California.

Police Chief Daryl F. Gates attempted to elevate above politics Wilson’s address to a class of graduates when he told the cadets, their families and other well-wishers that “this has nothing to do” with the senator’s campaign against Democrat Dianne Feinstein for governor.

“He is here as a senator. He is here because of his longtime interest in law and order,” said Gates.

In his speech, Wilson told the blue-clad cadets the story of his maternal grandfather, Michael Callahan, a young Chicago police detective who was shot and killed while breaking up a robbery and cocaine gang in 1908. “He also got the man who got him,” Wilson said.

Wilson added that once he reached the U.S. Senate, he had the opportunity “to pay (Callahan) back” by sponsoring legislation to impose the death penalty for the slaying of a law enforcement officer during the commission of a crime involving drugs.

When Wilson finished, Gates welcomed him as a member of the brotherhood and sisterhood of law enforcement, saying that “once a cop--or a family of a cop--always a cop.” And he presented Wilson with a sparkling silver-and-gold “certified copy” of Detective Callahan’s badge, No. 2842, which Gates said has been “retired and enshrined” by the Chicago Police Department. The badge presentation had been a long-planned surprise for Wilson, his aides said.

Wilson then stepped just outside the entrance of the academy grounds and put his campaign hat back on, standing by while officials of several law enforcement agencies endorsed his candidacy for governor--some of them for at least the second time.

Among them was Lt. Terry Bristol, first vice president of the California Peace Officers’ Assn., who said her organization decided to endorse Wilson because of his record and longtime support for the death penalty.

“Pete Wilson has stood by law enforcement for over a quarter of a century,” she said.

Wilson does not often boast of his Senate record, because most of the campaign issues differ from the typical decisions he faces as a senator. He is just as likely to refer to his three terms in the Assembly, in addition to his years as mayor of San Diego, which serves as a point of comparison with Feinstein’s record as mayor of San Francisco.

Yet his status as an incumbent gives him a distinct advantage.

Should he lose the race for governor Tuesday, Wilson still has four more years in his Senate term. That puts him in a position to help many of those who support him in his quest for the governorship regardless of the outcome. If he wins, he has the added power to pick the person who will succeed him in the Senate until the next election two years from now.

Wilson’s Senate service is a constant asset, even though he uses it sparingly. For the farmers of the San Joaquin Valley, Wilson has gone to bat for them on water issues and in his program of aid to farm exporters. While the Sierra Club has endorsed Feinstein, Wilson can produce letters from club leaders thanking him for his critical support during the formulation of the new federal Clean Air Act.

While Feinstein visited a state smog lab Friday and promised to work for cleaner air, there was a chance that President Bush would sign the new Clean Air Act during a joint appearance with Wilson today in Thousand Oaks.

Also today, Wilson will bask in the reflected glow of another President, as Ronald Reagan campaigns for the senator. Former First Lady Betty Ford spoke for Wilson earlier in the week as did Carla Hills, a Californian who serves as Bush’s trade representative. Vice President Dan Quayle has campaigned on Wilson’s behalf several times this year.

Wilson’s Senate service also gives him instant entree with scores of statewide groups by virtue of serving as a convention speaker for them over the years. When he addressed the state American Legion convention in Redding this summer, Legionnaires hailed him as a returning friend.