Brown Leads Campaign Race for Cash : Politics: With $5.2 million in her coffers, Democratic gubernatorial candidate easily outpaces Wilson and Garamendi.

As the campaign for governor begins, state Treasurer Kathleen Brown has twice as much political money on hand as fellow Democrat John Garamendi and Republican Gov. Pete Wilson combined, according to reports filed Monday with the secretary of state.

Brown reported ending 1993 with $5.2 million in her campaign war chest, enough to pay for at least five weeks of television commercials in every major metropolitan area of the state.

Garamendi, the state insurance commissioner and a former legislator, had just over $1 million on hand for his underdog battle to wrest the Democratic nomination from Brown, who has long been favored in opinion polls and among political insiders.

Wilson reported having $1.2 million in his campaign bank account as he geared up to run for a second term.

Brown’s huge cash reserve apparently makes her the best-funded candidate ever at the beginning of a California governor’s race. At this time four years ago, Wilson, then a U.S. senator, had $4.6 million on hand and eventually spent $24 million to defeat Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

Brown’s money gives her “phenomenal momentum” entering the primary campaign, said Michael Reese, her campaign spokesman. He said she raised $5.7 million in 1993.

“The foundation is firmly in place,” Reese said. “The structure has begun to be built upon it. It’s got to be a daunting indication of support for those who would challenge her.”

Garamendi’s campaign manager, Darry Sragow, said his candidate met a personal goal of having $1 million on hand by the end of 1993. Garamendi raised $1.2 million in 1993 through his gubernatorial committee and transferred another $480,000 from the committee he formed as insurance commissioner.

“We felt we needed to have $1 million in the bank to avoid conclusions that we just weren’t viable,” Sragow said. “That was the threshold we felt we had to meet for insiders not to write us off altogether. That’s where we are.”

Sragow said he believes it will take about $5 million for Garamendi to mount a credible campaign for the nomination. He said Garamendi’s campaign has lower overhead than Brown’s and will be able to operate with less money.

“John has assured me that we will have the money we need to win,” he said.

Wilson’s representatives downplayed the governor’s relatively paltry campaign kitty, noting that Wilson has spent much of the past three years raising money for efforts not directly tied to his reelection campaign.

Wilson, for example, spent about $1.5 million to underwrite the Republican effort to influence the drawing of new legislative and congressional districts in 1991. He also raised money for his failed Proposition 165, which would have slashed welfare payments and increased the governor’s fiscal powers, and for Proposition 172, which extended a temporary half-cent sales tax and gave the money it raised to local government.

While Brown was “hoarding cash” in an attempt to frighten Garamendi out of the race, “Pete Wilson was working tirelessly on behalf of candidates and causes he believes in,” said George Gorton, Wilson’s campaign director.

Wilson’s two committees reported raising $5.9 million in 1993. Gorton said he expected the campaign to raise between $20 million and $25 million by the time the general election is held in November.

The voluminous campaign reports were mailed Monday to the secretary of state and were not available for inspection. Each campaign supplied The Times with the summary sheets that show only the total amounts the candidates raised, spent and kept in the bank.

Both the Wilson and Brown campaigns sought to highlight what they said was the broad-based nature of their fund-raising efforts, though the reports will almost certainly show that most of the money they raised came from individuals, business and labor groups with a stake in state policy.

Gorton said Wilson’s average contribution was $143. Brown’s spokesman said her average contribution was $210, and 11,207 of her 16,934 contributions were for amounts less than $100.

But Garamendi’s campaign took a different tack, claiming that the candidate’s receipt of several large loans showed confidence in the insurance commissioner’s chances of winning the nomination.

Sragow said Garamendi received loans of $200,000 from Claremont lawyer and investor Herb Hafif, $100,000 from Dame Construction Co. of San Ramon, and $50,000 each from Palo Alto investor George Marcus, Los Angeles developer Robert Abernethy, and Guess? Inc., the clothing manufacturer.

“These people aren’t doing this for fun,” Sragow said. “These are sophisticated business people and investors who assess risk very carefully. They obviously feel John’s chances of winning are excellent.”

Cost of Running for Governor

The campaign has scarcely begun, yet the three major candidates for governor already have raised more than $14 million. The totals shown include money raised in 1993 by the candidates’ gubernatorial committees as well as money transferred into those accounts from committees the candidates established to raise money for other offices or purposes.

Total Raised *Cash on Hand *Kathleen Brown (D) $6.96 million $5.20 million *John Garamendi (D) $1.69 million $1.05 million *Pete Wilson (R) $5.91 million $1.23 million

*As of Dec. 31, 1993