Campaign E-Mail : Wilson Fields Voters’ Questions on Crime, Education Via Computer Network

Gov. Pete Wilson on Wednesday took his reelection campaign on the road--the information superhighway.

Sitting in front of a computer at a Silicon Valley manufacturing company, Wilson pecked out answers on his keyboard to questions from constituents with cyberspace handles like Tecnonut, Annecat, Mermaid and Miz beyond.

The exchange, carried out on a network organized by the San Jose Mercury News, started out well enough.

“Hi, this is Gov. Pete Wilson,” the governor typed.

“Welcome Pete!,” came the first reply. Others chimed in: “Hello Mr. Wilson.” “*Applause*”.

Then they got down to business.

“What is your highest priority, schools or crime?” came the first question.

Wilson, showing that the future of politics may well resemble its past, waffled.

“They are the two priorities I announced when I was running for governor and they are very much related,” he tried to say.

But Wilson typed “governor” as “gobernor” and had to start over to correct the error. The audience, already upset because Wilson kept them waiting for more than hour as they were paying by the minute, grew restless.

“Tick tick tick . . . “ said “Miz beyond,” apparently wondering when Wilson would complete his reply.

“ZZZZZZZZZZZZ” snored Tecnonut and Tropicman.

Unfazed, Wilson continued: “There can’t be learning or teaching in a classroom where fear for personal safety preoccupy teachers and students.”

Then, in response to a question about the cost of the “three strikes” sentencing bill he signed Monday, Wilson showed that he could be just as verbose on the computer as he can be in the flesh.

“I ask what price or value they place on preventing the rape of a wife or daughter or the molestation of a grandchild,” Wilson wrote, “by the kind of dangerous repeat offender whom Three Strikes will keep away from new victims rather than continuing to suffer the intolerable revolving door justice--which is not justice if you are one of the victims.”

That answer filled the space of three messages, and as Wilson typed on, new questions rolled across the screen. “No interruptions!” came the word from the hosts at the Mercury News.

One question Wilson apparently never saw came from state Sen. Tom Hayden of Santa Monica, a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Hayden, signed on from a Wilshire Boulevard law office, tried to ambush the governor with a query on political reform.

“Hi governor, nice day to travel the information highway, isn’t it?” Hayden typed. “Since we have all this amazing information technology, why raise $20 million from special interests to buy meaningless 30-second spots? Why not limit contributions and spending and rely on free press? Begin the future now.”

But by the time all of Hayden’s message had appeared on the screen in Santa Clara--in three pieces--Wilson had completed his experiment and turned away from his screen.

Hayden’s unsuccessful attempt to sideswipe the governor, and Wilson’s lapses, were evidence that political networking may still best be done face-to-face. Dan Schnur, Wilson’s campaign press aide, said later that sitting at the computer probably is not the most valuable way for an incumbent governor to spend his time.

Instead, the campaign will distribute press releases and speeches over the network and perhaps assign staff members or surrogates to answer questions on particular topics.

Indeed, if the reaction of Wilson’s computer audience was any indication, the governor should probably stay off the information highway unless he intends to take a good, long drive.

When Wilson signed off Wednesday after his 15-minute stint, the electronic dialogue erupted into a series of quick and unhappy messages. Most complained that they felt the event was more of a political gimmick than a sincere effort to answer their questions.

“It appears this was nothing more than a publicity stunt.”

“Yeah.”

“Here, here.”

“Yeah, it’s all crime,” complained another. “Whatever the question, the answer is crime.”

“Listen,” said another participant with the computer name, Llama mama. “The Info Superhwy maybe was just a little too fast for him?”

Weintraub reported from Santa Clara, Lesher from Los Angeles.