Herschensohn Ads Oppose Bilingual Laws, Defense Cuts

Appealing to the most conservative segments of the California electorate, U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn launched a television advertising campaign Tuesday that calls for no defense cutbacks and an end to bilingual laws and congressional perks.

Herschensohn, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the seat held by retiring Sen. Alan Cranston, uses the commercials to attack Congress and, indirectly, his chief rival, the more liberal U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell.

The two ads--at 30 and 10 seconds--began airing Tuesday throughout the state and will continue as long as it takes for them to “penetrate,” said Rick Manter, Herschensohn’s deputy campaign manager.

Compared to some of the other political advertising creeping onto California television screens, Herschensohn’s spots are relatively simple. The veteran television commentator is shown talking straight into the camera in an office setting. He stands in front of a flag and leans against a desk as he delivers his short, to-the-point message.

“Here is where I stand,” he says in the 30-second commercial. “Keep America strong, so no defense cuts. Prejudice is dumb, so no quotas.”

He also criticizes Congress for attaching “more importance to rats and fish than to your jobs. That’s crazy.”

Campaign aides said the reference is to both the Endangered Species and Desert Protection acts, which some critics maintain rank the preservation of land and animals above the economic needs of farmers and miners.

By touching, even briefly, on these issues, Herschensohn distinguishes himself clearly from Campbell, a moderate Republican congressman from the Silicon Valley.

Campbell, whose own television ad campaign began last week, is also an indirect target as Herschensohn zeros in on the familiar anti-incumbent theme that congressional reform is long overdue.

“Congress gave us a deficit and a recession, and themselves a pay raise,” Herschensohn says in the 10-second spot. “That’s crazy! Take away the pay raise and all their perks. That’s reform.”

Herschensohn, a former speech writer for Richard M. Nixon, also advocates an end to laws that require public schools to offer some bilingual instruction.

“One language unites us, so repeal all bilingual laws,” he says in one of the ads.

Herschensohn’s campaign staff denied that the reference to bilingual laws was an anti-immigrant slap.

“The people we talk to, whether they are Anglo, Hispanic, Asian-Pacific American or what have you, tend to agree that the glue that holds America together is its language and its values,” Manter said. “Language needs to be universal. It can help keep the country what it is today.”

In contrast to other candidates for the Senate, Herschensohn’s aides refused to discuss how much money is being spent on the ads and exactly how long they will run. The campaign plans to air advertising from now until June 2, the day of the California primary, if that’s what it takes to get Herschensohn’s message across, the aides said.

A week of television commercials in California can easily cost a quarter of a million dollars or more. Campaign finance reports filed last week showed that the Herschensohn campaign had $430,930 in cash on hand.

Herschensohn, according to the most recent California Poll, holds a small lead over Campbell. The third candidate in the GOP primary for the six-year seat is Sonny Bono, whose term as mayor of Palm Springs ended Tuesday.