<i> Snapshots of life in the Golden State.</i> : Covering All the Bases at Secretary of State’s Office

There is “no person in the state more qualified or better suited” to assume the duties of California secretary of state than Tony Miller.

Now, that’s the kind of praise you’d expect to come from the campaign headquarters of Tony Miller. But the warm endorsement of Miller is out of a press release, mailed at taxpayers’ expense, from Miller’s boss, Secretary of State March Fong Eu.

The press release was intended to allay Californians’ panic at being secretary of stateless if President Clinton appoints Eu to an ambassadorship, as expected. As her chief deputy and longtime aide, Miller would take over the job until the 1994 elections, or until the governor appoints a replacement.

Irony abounds. The person the governor might appoint, says the Sacramento Bee, and who may also decide to run for the job himself, is Republican and state Board of Equalization member Matt Fong . . . March Fong Eu’s son.

Foreign-Language Periodicals

One sign of California’s growing multiculturalism is the number of newspapers and other periodicals published entirely or partly in a foreign language. Below are the numbers of California dailies, weeklies and monthlies in foreign languages:

LANGUAGE & NUMBER 1. Spanish: 48 2. Japanese: 7 3. Vietnamese: 7 4. Chinese: 6 5. Korean: 4 6. Armenian: 3 7. German: 3 8. French: 2 9. Portuguese: 2 10. Hungarian: 1 11. Italian: 1 12. Lithuanian: 1 13. Tagalog (Filipino): 1 14. Russian: 1 15. Swedish: 1

Sources: 1993 Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media, 1993 Editor & Publisher International Year Book.

Compiled by Times researcher TRACY THOMAS

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Come home, all is forgiven: Californians who pull up stakes for out of state are getting treated like toxic waste. Ex-San Diegans Janet and Tom Wing spent only 13 months in Coeur d’Alene, Ida., before Caliphobia in Famous Potatoland drove them out. “Our neighbors have been wonderful. The lake is beautiful. But we’ve heard for the past year that strident voice: ‘We don’t want you here,’ ” Janet Wing says. They advertised their moving sale with a flyer inviting people to send back two pesky Californians. Someone sent a $5 bill and a note, “Glad we could help you go. . . .”

Other refugees are wondering how far is far enough. The recent 5.7 quake at Klamath Falls, Ore., scared the blueberries out of folks who’d left the Shaky State for allegedly stabler ground: Steve Anderson, a tattoo parlor owner who “was in L.A. for that big one . . . I can honestly say this one felt worse”; John Dees, a Klamath Falls police officer who left L.A. to get away from earthquakes; and Kathy and Charles Heard, who abandoned Whittier after the ’87 quake. When a big aftershock hit Klamath Falls, Heard told his wife: “Maybe we should try Wyoming.”

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Hot airing: Scenes from a state Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on a smoking ban bill.

Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley): “I don’t disagree that smoking is injurious to your health. I don’t disagree that people should not smoke. But I think that is an individual decision. I do not think that government should be here. You’re always concerned about minorities, those less fortunate. Then, pray tell, are not our smokers in this state our minority and less fortunate? You should be making allowances for them. I would suggest maybe we should vote for a division in the state and throw all the smokers in one section of the state.”

Sen. Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward): “Oooo, a new apartheid. Who gets the coast?”

Wright: “I don’t think we could have them on the coast, because the coastal breeze comes in.”

Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Brentwood), who authored the bill: “Well, there’s some breeze in the room.”

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Bang bang, they shot you down once before: Republican Sonny Bono, former mayor of Palm Springs, former candidate for U.S. Senate, former singing straight man to Cher, may be going for another sidekick job: lieutenant governor. One definite lieutenant gov contender already: Assemblyman Stan “Three State” Statham (R-Oak Run), the man who’s proposed subdividing California. Bono would have a ready-made campaign song for that: “I’ve Got You and You and You, Babe.”

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Cover charge: The latest San Diego magazine has a cover blurb on “The High Cost of Growing Old.” It’s unclear whether that refers to an article inside about long-term care, the magazine’s 45th birthday issue (the first issue was two bits, now it costs two bucks), or the dozens of ads for services that can give you new and younger-looking teeth/buttocks/skin/chins/noses/breasts. . . .

EXIT LINE

“Do you think he needs to study the map of the Central District more closely once again?”

--U.S. District Judge Alicemarie Stotler. She was speaking of accused Mission Viejo embezzler-socialite Danny Hernandez, who drove to court in a white Mercedes convertible to be disciplined for violating bail terms by traveling outside California’s seven-county judicial Central District. Hernandez admitted that he went to Las Vegas, Denver, Napa Valley and New Orleans--the latter reportedly to watch a basketball game. Hernandez will hereafter be under electronic house arrest (perhaps at least until he buys a good atlas).