Wilson May Be Vulnerable on Quake Issues : Politics: But Brown may have trouble turning key bond measure’s defeat into a campaign weapon. Although effects will be serious, polls show recovery is not among voters’ top concerns.

The voters’ rejection of Gov. Pete Wilson’s $2-billion bond measure this month makes a shambles of the governor’s plan to finance recovery from the Northridge earthquake and could tarnish Wilson’s reputation for steadily managing the disasters that seem to hit California on a regular basis.

But the Republican chief executive appears well positioned to withstand any attack on the issue from state Treasurer Kathleen Brown, the Democratic nominee who is seeking to deprive the governor of a second term.

Wilson already has won kudos for cutting red tape to speed the reopening of two key Los Angeles freeways, a job that was financed entirely by federal taxpayers.

In contrast to that highly visible accomplishment, the ill effects from the bond defeat, although serious, will be more narrowly felt. Some homeowners will not be able to rebuild, and work scheduled on freeways elsewhere may be delayed as the state shifts funds to complete the earthquake repairs.

Most voters, moreover, do not consider the earthquake a major issue, according to recent polls. Just 1% of those leaving polling places on Election Day cited the quake recovery as an issue important to them, according to the Los Angeles Times Poll.

Brown hopes to use the bond measure defeat as a symbol for one of her central campaign themes.

“This is a failure of leadership,” said Michael Reese, a top Brown adviser. “He didn’t sell it. He didn’t make a case. He didn’t explain a strategy. And the worst thing is he didn’t have a contingency plan.”

Compared to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that devastated parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, the state’s financial response to the Northridge quake can fairly be described as puny.

After the 1989 earthquake, the Legislature met in special session and passed a quarter-cent increase in the sales tax, which was signed into law by then-Gov. George Deukmejian. When the levy expired 13 months later, it had generated $761 million for the repair of state buildings and for grants and loans to individuals, businesses and local governments.

Since the magnitude 6.8 Northridge quake struck Jan. 17, the state has spent $22 million, according to the Department of Finance. The state may yet spend several hundred million more, but it is unlikely to match the earlier effort, even though this temblor caused much more damage.

Wilson aides say none of that matters to voters.

What is important, they insist, is that the governor marshaled his Cabinet members and ordered them to do everything possible to speedily return public services to pre-quake levels and to help the private sector rebuild.

The most obvious example of this was the reconstruction of the Santa Monica Freeway. The repair job, originally expected to take five months, was completed 74 days ahead of schedule. One reason was that the state waived a host of rules and regulations and crafted a contract that offered a big financial incentive if the builder finished early.

When the Santa Monica Freeway reopened, and later when the Interstate 5 job was complete, Wilson personally pulled the barriers away in late-night events televised in Los Angeles.

Although the federal officials who doled out the money grumbled that Wilson grabbed the spotlight, his campaign now trumpets his performance as one of the highlights of his term.

“The rebuilding effort after the Northridge earthquake is one of the great successes of the Wilson Administration,” said Dan Schnur, the chief spokesman for the governor’s reelection campaign. “Pete Wilson fought bureaucracy and cut through red tape to get those freeways open much faster than anyone thought possible. That’s something the voters are going to remember.”

The opening of the freeways, however, tells just part of the story of Wilson’s performance in this crisis. The failure of his bond measure means a bigger budget deficit and fewer services for the quake’s victims, plus inconvenience for residents throughout the state.

Some of the effects:

* The governor is abandoning a $575-million program that was supposed to give loans to the owners of homes and apartment buildings who suffered damage but have not qualified for aid under existing federal programs. As a result, many of these homeowners and landlords may have to walk away from their mortgages and allow banks to foreclose.

The program was created by the Legislature and Deukmejian after the Loma Prieta quake. But Wilson says the aid is “not an entitlement” and is one program the state cannot now afford.

* Future highway projects throughout the state will be put on hold so Caltrans can afford to finish repairs on the downed freeways and strengthen bridges that did not fall in this quake but are in danger of collapsing in the next one.

In the Bay Area, the cost of strengthening toll bridges will have to come from the revenue generated by the structures. This could put pressure on bridge operators to increase the tolls.

* Construction of new schools may be delayed in fast-growing suburban neighborhoods as building funds are shifted to repair classrooms damaged in Los Angeles.

Wilson has said he will not consider a temporary tax increase to help defray the costs of the recovery effort. Any costs the state cannot avoid will be folded into the year-end deficit and dealt with as part of the state’s broader budget problem.

Brown, as state treasurer, weighed in earlier this year with her own plan to pay for the recovery.

She proposed a 17-month, quarter-cent increase in the sales tax to raise $1 billion, and said another $387 million could be found by selling bonds already authorized by the voters. She endorsed Wilson’s idea of stretching over three years the $334 million California owes the federal government in matching funds as a condition for receiving more than $9 billion in federal earthquake aid.

Polls taken after the quake showed that voters preferred a temporary tax over a bond issue.