Crime Issue May Aid Wilson’s Campaign : Elections: The Polly Klaas case turns public attention to the question of violence. It is a hazardous topic for Democrat Kathleen Brown, especially her stand on capital punishment.

The kidnaping death of 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma has escalated violent crime to a frenzied pitch as a political issue in California, just as candidates for governor in 1994 are mapping out their plans for voter attention and support.

The emotional issue of violence and crime may breathe life into the reelection prospects of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson while posing a particular hazard for prospective Democratic challenger Kathleen Brown, political experts said last week.

Election issues come and go--often seemingly by whim as they flash across the attention span of the voting public. And nearly 11 months remain before Californians choose a governor--a huge amount of time in the evolution of a political campaign.

But the question of crime and the safety of California’s citizens is not likely to subside during 1994, said Mervin Field, veteran California political observer and founder of the Field Poll.

“It’s like the tides in a storm,” Field said. “Each succeeding tide is heavier.”

Voter concerns about crime are likely to be a factor in the primary race between the two major prospective Democratic challengers to Wilson: state Treasurer Brown and state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi.

As Wilson’s popularity in the polls plummeted to historic lows over the past year, along with the depressed California economy, the governor’s prospects for reelection appeared to be grim.

But Wilson began hitting the crime issue hard this summer, well before Polly’s kidnaping.

Through the summer and fall, Wilson made frequent appearances in the Los Angeles area, standing grim-faced before television cameras to denounce “random, senseless butchery . . . cowardly thugs . . . and murdering cowards.”

In his statewide campaigns for the U.S. Senate and governor, Wilson has repeatedly had success with the issue of crime and has developed close rapport with crime victims groups.

Thus, no one was surprised to see an emotional Wilson at the memorial service for Polly on Thursday night vowing that “we must turn our grief to action and see that this never happens again. That must be our tribute to Polly.”

Nor was there surprise when Wilson endorsed a proposed ballot initiative that would send a convict to prison for life upon conviction on a third felony, a measure referred to as “three strikes and you’re out.” Or when he announced that he will convene a summit conference on crime to be held in Los Angeles in January.

The political course of the crime issue could take a critical turn Monday when Brown delivers a major address in Burbank on crime and violence.

In particular, experts will watch how she addresses the death penalty. Brown has said that she personally opposes the death penalty, but that if elected governor she would follow the public will in carrying out the law. In recent years, Californians have overwhelmingly favored capital punishment. Support for executions continues to grow and is around 80%, according to Field and the Los Angeles Times Poll.

“The death penalty is Kathleen Brown’s Achilles’ heel,” said one Garamendi supporter.

Indeed, the Garamendi campaign has been nipping at that heel in recent months even though Garamendi does not plan to launch a full-blown campaign until after New Year’s.

On Oct. 1, Garamendi startled a state Democratic Party fund-raising dinner--the sort of affair where intraparty foes usually put aside their differences--by scoffing at Brown’s position on the death penalty.

“That does not sell, nor is it honest,” he said.

Wilson and Garamendi back the death penalty, as did U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein when she ran successfully for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1990 (Feinstein also appeared at Polly’s memorial).

Indeed, there is a parallel between the 1990 primary and the looming Brown-Garamendi battle.

The 1990 Democratic primary matched Feinstein, the former San Francisco mayor, and then-Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, the early front-runner. Although once a death penalty foe, Feinstein had long expressed support for capital punishment. Van de Kamp’s position was similar to that espoused by Brown: He personally opposed capital punishment, but vowed to enforce the law if elected governor.

Feinstein was soundly booed during the Democratic State Convention in the spring of 1990 when she told the delegates, dominated by party liberals, that they would not like it, but she was compelled to support the death penalty. Van de Kamp won the convention endorsement, but was drubbed by Feinstein in the June primary.

Now, as the 1994 campaign approaches, Brown has been outlining her positions on a variety of issues, beginning with illegal immigration and education reform. Her crime address, at a luncheon sponsored by the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs on Monday, is the third in the series of issues speeches.

“It’s lousy timing for her,” said one Democratic official who asked not to be quoted by name. But other sources said the timing could be fortuitous, giving high visibility to her speech without putting her at risk of appearing to exploit the Polly case.

Brown’s address will draw the attention of the political community because she does not have any appreciable record in public office on crime, serving on the Los Angeles school board, one term as state treasurer and in the appointed job of Los Angeles public works chief.

By contrast, Garamendi cast hundreds of votes on crime-related measures during his 15 years as a state legislator, including votes to override death penalty legislation vetoed by former Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr., Kathleen Brown’s brother.

By coincidence, Wilson last week accepted an open invitation to meet with an organization of Southern California political reporters Monday morning, so news stories about Brown’s announcement of her crime agenda may be contrasted virtually side by side with Wilson’s expected tough-on-crime rhetoric.

The governor has begun raising concerns about crime almost daily, and he frequently finds ways to attack Brown, at least indirectly.

On Friday, Wilson distributed to the press a letter to state Assemblyman Dean Andal (R-Stockton) announcing his support for Andal’s legislation to deny conjugal visits in state prisons to persons convicted of violent crimes.

Although Andal’s bill will not come up for action until January at the earliest, Wilson urged him to make his legislation even tougher and said: “It is essential that we undo the Jerry Brown-Rose Bird laws that prevent the prison system from performing its function.”

In fact, conjugal visits in California prisons were first allowed under a pilot project developed by the Administration of Gov. Ronald Reagan. But Wilson said Andal’s bill should repeal all provisions of “something shamefully known as the ‘Inmate Bill of Rights’ signed into law in 1975 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown.”

This is a not-so-subtle means of pointing out that Kathleen Brown is the sister of former Gov. Jerry Brown, something she sometimes neglects to mention while usually pointing with pride to the fact she is the daughter of another former governor, Edmund G. (Pat) Brown Sr.

Rose Elizabeth Bird, who served as Jerry Brown’s appointed chief justice of California, was the target for conservative wrath because of her outspoken opposition to the death penalty. Bird was removed from the court after she failed to win reconfirmation by voters in 1986. Republicans like to employ the names Jerry Brown and Rose Bird to denote softness on crime.

Even the image of the popular Pat Brown may not help Kathleen Brown much when it comes to crime. Brown lost a bid for a third term in 1966 after Reagan attacked him for being too easy on lawbreakers on California college and university campuses.

Pat Brown also suffered an image of indecision when he wavered and agonized over whether to allow the execution of kidnaper Caryl Chessman--something he later said was his toughest decision as governor. Finally, after rejecting pleas from his son, Jerry, Pat Brown allowed the execution of Chessman to take place in 1960.

Pollster Field said that Kathleen Brown will have a problem disassociating herself with both her father and brother on the capital punishment issue.