CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : GOVERNOR : Candidates at a Standoff in Fight Over 2 Debates

The standoff over gubernatorial debates continued Thursday, with Gov. Pete Wilson accepting an invitation to debate state Treasurer Kathleen Brown on Oct. 14, while Brown announced that she plans to debate Wilson two days later, even if he doesn’t show up.

Dan Schnur, Wilson’s chief campaign spokesman, said the governor has agreed to face Brown on KVIE-TV, a public broadcasting station in Sacramento, at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 14. Because Brown has said she will accept any debate invitation from a legitimate sponsor, Schnur said he was confident that the one-hour debate would take place, to be aired by public TV stations throughout the state.

Not so fast, said the Brown campaign, which has been skewering Wilson all week for his refusal to participate in a proposed Oct. 16 debate, hosted by the California Broadcasters Assn. and KGO-TV in San Francisco.

“We will be delighted to accept KVIE only if and when Pete Wilson accepts (the) offer from the CBA,” said Julie Buckner, a spokeswoman for Brown. Buckner accused Wilson of deliberately choosing a small TV station in a less populated media market to host the Oct. 14 debate. She called that “just another step in his continued strategy to delay, deny, defer, dodge and duck debates with Kathleen Brown.”

Nine weeks of negotiations over the Oct. 16 debate broke down last week after the Wilson campaign insisted, among other things, on playing a role in choosing the panel of reporters who would ask questions. On Thursday, the CBA’s executive committee announced that because they have spent a year planning the forum--and because 25 TV stations and 11 radio stations have expressed interest in airing it--they have decided to host it even if Wilson does not attend.

Brown immediately issued a statement urging Wilson to “stop hiding,” and saying, “I’ll be there; will he?”

Wilson’s campaign initially said no, neither the candidate nor a representative of the candidate would attend.

“The format is not acceptable,” said Schnur, Wilson’s spokesman, who has repeatedly derided the broadcasters’ proposed format for having too many “bells and whistles” and other distractions. “This is a gubernatorial debate. It’s not MTV. The only thing they haven’t proposed is a sky cam.”

But late in the day, the Wilson campaign reversed itself, announcing that a surrogate will attend the broadcasters’ debate on Wilson’s behalf: none other than Schnur.

A letter faxed to CBA Executive Director Vic Biondi from Larry Thomas, senior counsel to Wilson’s campaign, advised that “Gov. Wilson will be represented by his campaign Press Secretary Dan Schnur, who is looking forward to the encounter.”

John Whitehurst, Brown’s press secretary, said Wilson’s response “underscores the silliness and the insincerity that they have approached this whole debate process with.” He said Brown would not debate Schnur, adding, “sending Dan Schnur to debate is like sending Gomer Pyle to fight a war.”