CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : CLOSE-UP / THE ’94 CAMPAIGN : Dog-Eat-Dog Race Spawns Faxes That Bite

It read more like a letter to Dear Abby than a piece of political propaganda. Under the heading “I NEVER THOUGHT YOUR STORIES WERE TRUE BEFORE, BUT AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO ME THIS WEEK I CHANGED MY MIND,” there was this:

So I met this really cool woman in the Capitol the other day. . . . Well, she kind of blew me off, but she did give me her home phone number. She’s really smart, but I’m not sure if she’s going to be employed much longer. What should I do? Sincerely, Sleepless in Sacramento.

Most Californians would have been baffled by this item in Schnur Shots, a weekly fax-letter penned by Gov. Pete Wilson’s campaign spokesman, Dan Schnur. But the 160 reporters and political insiders on Schnur’s mailing list knew exactly what he was spoofing: Kathleen Brown’s recent well-publicized visit to Wilson’s office, where she gave Schnur her phone number and demanded that the governor call her to talk about debates.

You’ve seen the television ads. You’ve heard the sound bites. But some of the most scathing and entertaining stuff of the 1994 campaign is not on the airwaves but on the fax machine. Lately, shiny-papered missives from the various camps are rolling off the printer at an alarming rate. These tip sheets are packed with sarcastic, self-serving and often hilarious commentary--a far cry from the all-too-sober official countdown to Election Day.

But chances are you’ll never see them, because they aren’t meant for you.

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Why in a state of 17 million voters would a political campaign waste its time trying to amuse just a few hundred journalists and opinion-makers? With just five weeks to go before the Nov. 8 election, why would Schnur spend even a few precious moments writing about why Brown reminds him of Imelda Marcos? Or thinking up headings like: AS LONG AS SHE’S DROWNING, THROW HER AN ANCHOR?

“I needed an outlet,” said the hyper, sharp-witted Schnur. But that’s only part of the reason for Schnur Shots.

Another part is that it’s a cheap way to get a campaign’s message out--if not to the masses, then at least to the people the masses are likely to listen to. Moreover, a fax-letter lacks the formality of a press release, allowing its author to gloat, scold, needle, nit-pick--and, Schnur hopes, “plant the seed of an idea for a story or even for a question in a reporter’s mind.”

This ain’t highbrow stuff. To command attention, Schnur irreverently alludes to nudie magazines, sports legends and O.J. Simpson’s murder trial. (When he questions the veracity of a Brown statement, he files it under: KATO KAELIN MEMORIAL QUOTE OF THE WEEK).

In the view of the Brown campaign, Schnur’s efforts are in bad taste.

“Dan has gone over the line,” said Steve Glazer, a Brown aide who himself recently faxed two pages of what he called “snide and obnoxious comments” about Wilson. “This is about maintaining a sense of credibility with the press corps. Does that mean you can’t be funny? No. But in my mind, (when) it becomes a cute way of insulting your opponent, that is destructive.”

Lighten up, says the Wilson camp. “There’s a big gulf between the news that a campaign can make by having a press conference or putting out a news release and what I would call the need for some regular background chatter about what’s happening,” said Larry Thomas, senior counsel to Wilson’s campaign and one of three people who screen Schnur’s raw prose to make sure it’s appropriate.

“Schnur Shots is the ‘90s equivalent of hanging out at the press club in the ‘50s, going out and drinking beers with the guys on the campaign trail,” said Thomas. “It’s background noise.”

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The Brown campaign makes its share of noise as well, though its occasional spin sheets lack a title and usually even a hint of humor. (“While Wilson’s fiscal mishaps are sinking in,” reads one, “Brown’s been talking about her plan, ‘Building a New California,’ to turn things around.”)

Though the news media is the primary audience for such barbs, there are other targeted readers for this campaign-sponsored wit. Darry Sragow, who authored the bitingly funny Garamendi Gram while he was managing Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi’s gubernatorial campaign earlier this year, says he tried to use the campaign fax-letter to help his underdog candidate raise money.

“The game here is to suggest that a challenger is viable,” Sragow said, recalling the way the Garamendi Gram used to poke fun at the Brown campaign. “If the insiders didn’t believe that the Brown campaign was flawed, then it would (have been) much more difficult for us to be able to raise the money we needed to be able to affect the perceptions of non-insiders-- real voters.”

Faxes can also be used to mess with a rival’s head. Though no campaign puts its opponent on the mailing list, all campaigns assume the enemy is reading every word. “You very definitely want your opponent to see these things,” said Sragow, whose most memorable Garamendi Gram announced that Brown had quit the race (it was dated April Fools’ Day). “That’s part of the reason you put them out--to drive them crazy.”

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Sragow didn’t invent the form. He got the idea from Otto Bos, the late Wilson adviser who faxed out a tip sheet called Otto Graphs during the 1990 gubernatorial campaign.

“Otto got the first spin of the day,” Sragow said admiringly. “This is the throw-a-bunch-of-marbles-down-in-your-opponent’s-path strategy. They can step around a few of them, but inevitably they will slip and fall. That’s what these (faxes) are: little marbles.”

Sometimes the faxes get personal. After Brown press secretary John Whitehurst suggested that First Lady Gayle Wilson, who had criticized Brown, had been “unleashed like an attack dog,” he became Schnur Shot material. The comment, Schnur wrote, was “just a totally inappropriate, nasty, ugly, disgusting and potentially misogynistic put-down by a pathetic waste of skin.”

But usually, glibness prevails. Often Schnur will excerpt newspaper articles, then invent what he imagines to be a voter’s reaction. The San Jose Mercury News, for example, quoted Brown as saying the key difference between herself and Wilson was “the hope thing. Hope is a really different thing. Pete Wilson is a joyless person.”

Schnur’s imaginary voter responded this way: “Y’know Marge, I think Pete Wilson’s better on crime and jobs and immigration. But that Kathleen Brown just looks so darn joyous! And so hopeful!! I think I’ll vote for her instead.”

Political Scorecard

35 days to go before Californians go to the polls.

THE GOVERNOR’S RACE

* What Happened Monday:

Gov. Pete Wilson, appearing in Fresno, offered again to meet Democratic nominee Kathleen Brown in a one-hour debate at a Sacramento public television station on Oct. 14. Brown aides reiterated their position that Brown would only debate if the event is carried on a network of commercial stations in prime time. Thus there was no change in the deadlock that led each side to conclude last Friday that there will be no debates. Brown met with reporters at a luncheon in Washington and attended a Democratic governors fund-raising dinner featuring President Clinton.

* What’s Ahead:

The governor addresses the third annual Gov. Pete Wilson Conference for Women at the Long Beach Convention Center and then holds campaign news conference. Brown goes from Washington to New York City for more fund-raising.

THE SENATE RACE

* What Happened Monday:

Both U.S. Senate candidates--Rep. Mike Huffington and Sen. Dianne Feinstein--were in Washington, where Congress is in session. Feinstein’s campaign released a new television commercial attacking Huffington’s background in business.

* What’s Ahead:

Both candidates today will remain in Washington. Huffington’s wife, Arianna, speaks at a women’s political conference in Long Beach.

NOTABLE QUOTES

“When men and women go into the dry cleaners to pick up their shirts, they should pay the same price. That comes down to fairness, pure and simple.”

--Kathleen Brown, saying she would have signed a bill--vetoed by Wilson--that would have banned gender-based price discrimination.