CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / CLOSE-UP : Traveling With the Enemy: Wilson Aide Tape-Records Brown Events

Damian Jones, 24, works for Gov. Pete Wilson. But he spends far less time with the Republican governor than he does with Democratic challenger Kathleen Brown.

Stop by most Brown campaign events in the Los Angeles area and you’ll find Jones standing near the back of the crowd. He aims his tape recorder at the state treasurer. And sometimes, Brown aims her words at him.

“We have a special guest here today,” she told the crowd at a recent campaign stop in Orange County. “He’s at as many of my events as (deputy campaign manager) Michael Reese, who travels with me. His name is Damian Jones, and he works for Pete Wilson.”

Jones waved. The crowd booed. But Brown added warmly, “He’s very respectful. I have faith that we can turn him.”

If he wore a disguise, Jones might be called a spy. Wilson’s campaign prefers to call him deputy director for Southern California broadcast media. He is paid $2,625 a month to keep the region’s radio reporters apprised of Wilson’s campaign news. Then, in his spare time, Jones gets Brown on tape.

Most voters never see Jones, but he leaves a definite mark on the race for governor. Because of him--and other Wilson campaign workers like him in San Diego and the Bay Area--no Brown comment goes unmatched, no charge unanswered. At least not for very long.

“The sooner after she says something (that) we know about it, the sooner we can respond,” said Dan Schnur, Wilson’s chief campaign spokesman, explaining the importance of the information Jones provides to Wilson headquarters in Sacramento.

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All politicians keep tabs on their opponents--reading their direct mail, watching their television ads, even researching their backgrounds. But in the midst of a campaign, nothing beats following the enemy around.

The Brown campaign has a few high-level employees--press secretary John Whitehurst, for example, and senior adviser for research Michael Rice--who sometimes attend Wilson events throughout the state. After Wilson speaks, these people often hold their own news conferences to poke holes in his claims. Other times, they attempt to persuade reporters one-on-one, passing out Brown campaign materials and offering instant analysis.

At the least, they want reporters to hear Brown’s side. At the most, they hope to refocus the day’s news through a Brown lens, not just rebutting Wilson but promoting Brown’s alternative. Such is the art of on-the-spot “spinning,” and when Wilson’s campaign wants to do it, they usually unleash the sharp-tongued Schnur.

But a high-level employee can’t always be spared to attend every photo opportunity. In these instances, the Brown campaign sends no one at all.

“Pete Wilson is a career politician,” said Julie Buckner, a Brown spokeswoman. “He also gives programmed, controlled responses to reporters’ questions. We can almost script his answers for him. So there doesn’t seem to be a need to listen to his every word.”

Wilson’s campaign takes the opposite approach--shadowing Brown so relentlessly that one Brown aide compared it to “stalking.” Jones, a 1992 graduate of Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, never speaks for the Wilson campaign. He goes to Brown events to listen. And what he hears is put to strategic use.

After Brown was quoted in the National Journal as saying Sen. Dianne Feinstein had changed her position on the death penalty to run for higher office, Jones tagged along at one of the state treasurer’s campaign events in Hollywood. When reporters asked Brown why she had taken such an undeserved poke at her Democratic running mate (who in fact had decided to support the death penalty many years before she ran for higher office), Jones got her answer on tape.

Jones immediately called Wilson’s Sacramento office and played the tape into the phone. From there, Brown’s words were transcribed and faxed to reporters across the state who had not been at the Hollywood event.

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Keeping an eye on the enemy can, at times, cause disruptions. Earlier this year, Wilson’s campaign sent someone to two Brown events armed with a video camera. The Brown campaign tried to block him from shooting. And on the governor’s birthday, a California Democratic Party staffer interrupted a bill signing to present Wilson with a crumb cake.

In the wake of these events, the campaigns agreed upon what one aide called a “Geneva accord” under which each is allowed to attend and tape the other’s events.

Jones is so personable and polite that even as he works against Brown, his rapport with her seems to grow. “Damian’s playing it safe,” joked one person who has watched him work. “No matter who’s elected governor, he’ll have a job.”

After witnessing more than 20 Brown events, Jones--who hopes to work either in government or public relations after the campaign--does a pretty good Brown impression, complete with her favorite jokes.

“I was up in Eureka the other day and this local newscaster introduced me as Kathleen Brown, sister of Jerry Brown and daughter of Willie Brown!” Jones said, mimicking the now familiar Brown delivery. (Brown’s father is Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, the former two-term governor.)

“She’s very nice,” Jones added. “She’s definitely a very nice lady.”

So has he ever thought about switching allegiances? Jones offers the response he gave at the Orange County event: “I held up two fingers, as in the peace sign, and said, ‘Pete.’ ”