CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR : Candidates See No. 2 Post as Step Up Political Ladder

Based on recent history, the office of California lieutenant governor may seem like a political dead end, but not to two ambitious Republican state lawmakers facing off in their party’s June 7 primary.

Sen. Cathie Wright of Simi Valley and Assemblyman Stan Statham of Oak Run see the contest as their chance to move up the political ladder and give the state’s No. 2 office a higher profile.

But whoever wins might not have long to savor victory.

The Republican nominee can expect a tough fight in the November general election against Democrat Gray Davis, who also sees the office as a coveted prize. The upwardly mobile, two-term state controller already has amassed a whopping $1.9 million in campaign funds and faces only token opposition in his party primary.

On paper, the lieutenant governor holds limited authority to act in the governor’s absence. Among the job’s duties are chairing the Economic Development Commission, serving on other panels such as the University of California Board of Regents, and the largely ceremonial and seldom exercised role of presiding over the Senate.

The candidates are attempting to succeed Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, who has sought to upgrade the office over the past 12 years only to be overshadowed by two successive Republican chief executives.

McCarthy, once the powerful Speaker of the state Assembly, said the office can be influential but it takes a concerted effort. He said he was forced to work “20 times harder to do something in this office than I did as Speaker.”

The office has only rarely been a launching pad for higher elective office. In the past 50 years, only Goodwin J. Knight managed to step up to the governor’s chair and that was only because Gov. Earl Warren was appointed in 1953 to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The two Republicans and Democrat Davis maintain that they will give the office renewed clout. Davis said he wants to help revive the state’s economy. Statham sees himself as a super-legislator. Wright’s aim, in part, is to be the eyes and ears of Gov. Pete Wilson.

A recent Field Poll showed Wright leading Statham, 23% to 13%, with 64% of Republicans contacted saying they were undecided.

Wright enjoys an early fund-raising lead, with $77,000 in the bank compared to Statham’s $2,300, according to campaign reports. She also won the endorsement of the strongly conservative California Republican Assembly. Statham has served in the Assembly since 1976 and faces term limits that prohibit him from seeking reelection in 1994. Wright, first elected to the lower house in 1980, won a four-year Senate term in 1992, allowing her to seek higher office this year without relinquishing her seat.

They both have exhibited a willingness to speak out and split with their GOP colleagues.

In 1988, with Assembly Speaker Willie Brown’s leadership in jeopardy, Wright abstained rather than join most of her Republican colleagues in voting to oust the liberal San Francisco Democrat. That same year Statham, too, broke ranks with the GOP, accusing then-Assembly Republican leader Ross Johnson of trying to “blackmail” him and two other GOP members into opposing Brown.

But there are differences, especially on women’s health issues. Wright, 64, a sharp-tongued former insurance underwriter, is an unapologetic opponent of abortion while Statham, a former TV anchorman, favors abortion rights but opposes public financing of abortions.

To woo women voters, Statham, 55, trumpets his support for a 1993 law that raised cigarette taxes by 2 cents a pack to pay for increased breast cancer research and prevention. Wright opposed the law, saying she was against new taxes.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee debate this year on another anti-smoking proposal, Wright vigorously denied a charge, leveled by a witness, that her views are influenced by tobacco company campaign contributions.

Wright denied it, but then seemed to suggest the opposite.

“Now,” Wright admonished the witness, “when you want to start donating funds to people here on this (committee) because they either vote or don’t vote for (what) you believe in, then you have a right to complain.”

In a recent interview, Wright said she had not meant to say that witnesses need to contribute money to have their voices heard in the Legislature.

Wright drew attention outside her San Fernando Valley-Ventura County area district once before. Five years ago, she became mired in allegations that she improperly sought to use her clout to help her daughter retain her driver’s license despite being given 27 traffic tickets. However, a district attorney’s investigation determined there were no clear-cut criminal violations that could be prosecuted.

Statham, who represents the rural, northeastern corner of the state, is best known for championing a controversial drive to allow voters to decide whether California should be broken into three states.

But he seems to be soft-pedaling what started out as the centerpiece of his campaign, at least in Southern California. Now, Statham says, voters should be presented the breakup option only if he fails in his effort to overhaul state government.

Wright said she is adamantly opposed to breaking up the state, saying Statham fails to tell voters, especially in rural counties, how costly that would be.

Gov. Pete Wilson is not publicly playing favorites. Dan Schnur, a Wilson spokesman, said either GOP rival would bring special qualities to the ticket: Wright as a vote-getter among women and Statham for his appeal to rural voters.