In Bold Strategy, Brown Assails Wilson on Crime

Gov. Pete Wilson has prospered politically through the years by painting his opponents as weak-kneed wimps who are soft on crime and criminals.

But now the Republican chief executive, locked in a close fight for reelection, has found himself the victim of just the kind of accusation he has made an art of leveling.

Wilson’s Democratic opponent--state Treasurer Kathleen Brown--is using Wilson’s parole policy as the centerpiece of a bold political strategy.

Brown is trying to make the case that a governor who built his career as a no-nonsense leader in the fight against crime is all talk and no walk, a phony who postures with the best of them but fails when it comes to taking action to make the streets safer.

Hopscotching the state, Brown has appeared with crime victims’ relatives at several sites where parolees killed people whose deaths, she argues, the Wilson Administration could and should have prevented.

Brown’s tactics bring back memories of Willie Horton, the Massachusetts murderer who raped a woman while on a weekend furlough granted by then-Gov. Michael Dukakis. Supporters of Republican George Bush used Horton’s image during the 1988 presidential campaign to portray Dukakis as hopelessly out of touch with the American people’s concerns about crime.

But Pete Wilson is no Michael Dukakis.

The Massachusetts Democrat, after all, was a member of the American Civil Liberties Union and a supporter of alternatives to prison for certain criminals. He personally approved the order that allowed Horton to get out for his furlough.

Wilson, by contrast, since 1982 has helped qualify two pro-prosecution initiatives for the state ballot, supported the ouster of former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird, and, as governor, appointed judges who tend to be skeptical of defendants’ courthouse claims. Wilson is the patron saint of a loose-knit coalition of victims rights groups, whose leaders have been known to weep while praising his dedication to their cause.

Brown has no record of her own on the crime issue other than the pronouncements and proposals she has put forth during her campaign.

At one level, Brown is trying to undercut Wilson’s drumbeat of criticism about her personal opposition to the death penalty. The governor is an ardent supporter of capital punishment who oversaw the first California execution in a quarter century. He revels in the fact that he and 80% of the state’s voters share the view that killers ought to be put to death. Brown has said she would implement the death penalty law even though she opposes it.

But beyond that, Brown’s tactics on parole and crime fit into a broader strategy through which she seeks to contrast Wilson’s words with his deeds.

On taxes, on schools, the environment, Brown says, the incumbent has promised one thing and delivered another. The parole issue is a perfect example, she says, because he has talked about longer sentences for criminals while implementing a policy that let more of them stay on the streets.

“You have the worst of both worlds,” Brown said in an interview. “Tough talk and weak action.”

Paraphrasing Ronald Reagan, Brown asks voters, “Do you feel safer today than you did four years ago?” She knows that the answer, for most, will be no, despite Wilson’s harsh rhetoric on criminals. And she hopes that will make them more skeptical of his many other claims as the campaign heads toward November.

Wilson’s Administration has scrambled to respond to Brown’s every charge, publishing reams of fact sheets, arranging briefings for reporters and sending out surrogates from law enforcement to counter her claims.

Yet the governor’s advisers insist they are delighted every time Brown brings up the subject because it gives Wilson and his troops another opportunity to remind voters of Wilson’s record and Brown’s lack of one.

Dan Schnur, Wilson’s campaign spokesman, says it’s as if Bill Clinton, rather than focusing on the economy in his campaign against George Bush, had repeatedly tried to remind voters of the nation’s victory in the war with Iraq.

“The more time she spends talking about crime or any aspect of the crime issue, the more she increases the saliency of an issue that cuts very favorably for us,” Schnur said.

Brown’s tactics also risk alienating liberals and policy experts who have wondered aloud whether her pronouncements are genuine or simply political posturing. Some find it difficult to believe that she is staking out positions so different from those once espoused by her more liberal father and brother, each of whom served two terms as governor.

Assemblyman John Vasconcellos, the liberal Democratic chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he has been disappointed with Brown’s tactics on parole.

“I find that to be just painful to hear that coming from people on my side,” Vasconcellos said. “Drug rehabilitation and job training are in the long run beneficial for people to become able to lead constructive lives rather than dangerous ones. When people criticize folks for trying that, they make the whole thing much harder.”