CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / GOVERNOR : First Lady Unleashes Volley Against Wilson

In a spirited address on behalf of Democrat Kathleen Brown’s campaign for governor, Hillary Rodham Clinton ridiculed Republican Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday as a nagging pen pal who is constantly writing to President Clinton to blame others for California’s problems or to whine for more federal money.

Speaking to about 1,000 loyalist Democrats, the First Lady said the election of state Treasurer Kathleen Brown would give the President a true partner who will accept responsibility for her actions and work with Washington for the good of California and the nation.

“It would be an enormous help,” Clinton chuckled. “It would cut down on our mail.”

Clinton’s speech followed an aggressive one by Brown, who said that California cannot afford four more years of “do-nothingness, of aloofness, of passivity in the face of the biggest economic challenge that we have faced in our history.”

“We need a governor who cares, who is a fighter. California needs a governor with a vision and a passion about this state and our people,” Brown added, pledging to be that type of governor.

Among those attending the $500-a-plate luncheon was Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), who often has seemed cool to the Brown campaign and questioned her chances of winning. On Thursday, however, Speaker Brown said he thought that Brown had crystallized her message and her manner of delivery.

“It’s the best speech I’ve heard her give,” the Assembly leader said, adding that he now believes Brown will win on Nov. 8.

The Speaker said he had predicted in January that the contest would be a tossup by September. Many Democrats have expressed concern that Kathleen Brown has allowed a double-digit lead in the polls to wither to nothing.

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Hillary Clinton’s appearance, which helped bring an estimated $500,000 to the Brown campaign treasury, was the first of at least two planned by the White House to boost Brown’s candidacy. The President is scheduled to address a fund-raising dinner at the 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles on Sept. 17.

Many Democrats seeking election around the country this year are shunning Clinton and his record because of the President’s growing unpopularity.

But Brown has welcomed the Clintons’ help. She has contrasted Wilson’s contentiousness toward Washington with her pledge to work with the White House in attacking California problems such as defense conversion, crime and illegal immigration.

The Clinton appearances also underscore the importance of California to the President’s reelection prospects in 1996. Most political experts believe that Clinton must carry California, with its monster prize of 54 electoral votes, to win a second term.

Her husband, the First Lady added, is a chief executive “who is not in the blame game. He does not have any pen pals. He takes responsibility.”

In like fashion, she said, Brown would be a governor who “gets up every day and worries about how to fix the problems of California. . . . We can’t solve our problems unless we are all pulling in the same direction.”