Dannemeyer Launches His Bid for Senate

Rep. William E. Dannemeyer announced Monday that he will run against fellow Orange County Republican John Seymour for the U.S. Senate next year.

Dannemeyer said he is “the only viable conservative in the race to confront Seymour,” a middle-of-the-road Republican appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson to fill Wilson’s old Senate seat.

Dannemeyer, 61, has been in Congress 12 years and is one of its most conservative members. He is best known for his unflagging condemnation of homosexual lifestyles and opposition to environmentalists. Among his supporters are television evangelist Pat Robertson and Oliver North, a key figure in the Iran-Contra arms scandal during the Reagan Administration.

He ran for U.S. Senate in 1986 but lost in the primary.

As he had said he would, Dannemeyer made his announcement during a swing through California, stopping in Redding, Sacramento, Fresno and Burbank.

He said he needs $15 million to $20 million to win the nomination and has hired a Washington, D.C., firm that raised funds for conservatives Jesse Helms and Ronald Reagan.

Dannemeyer said he favors freezing government spending, returning to the gold standard and exploiting untapped Alaskan oil fields, including those now in wildlife refuges. He was especially critical of environmentalists who have lobbied for laws on coastal and redwoods protection, oil drilling bans and chemical spill cleanups.

Former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who lost her campaign for governor last year, has said she will run for Seymour’s seat, and former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. has all but announced that he, too, will run.