CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : GOVERNOR : Brown Assails Wilson Over College Fee Hikes

Democrat Kathleen Brown, moving quickly to frame newly proposed college fee increases as a political liability for Gov. Pete Wilson, said Thursday that the Republican incumbent had engineered such hikes as hidden tax increases on the middle class.

In a hastily arranged appearance in front of the Long Beach headquarters for the California State University system, Brown said that as governor she would refuse the proposed 10% fee increase voted upon by CSU trustees two hours earlier.

The trustees did not formalize the increase, saying they would prefer that the Legislature and the governor find enough money to cover their shortfall for the coming year.

The 1995-96 fees for undergraduate students would rise to $1,740 if the increase is implemented, up from $1,584 this year. Graduate fees would rise to $1,830.

“This is a system that used to be affordable and accessible for all,” said Brown, whose father, Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, was instrumental in developing the state’s university system.

“Well, it isn’t affordable and it isn’t accessible anymore.”

Brown has long derided Wilson for the dramatic fee increases that have occurred during his term as governor, and she has gained substantial support from college students who are angry over the high cost of education.

Her effort Thursday was meant to broaden that support beyond students who vote in low numbers to their more dependable--politically speaking--parents. She targeted her arguments toward the “middle class,” a term she repeated several times, and cast them along classic Republican lines.

“This is just another example of Pete Wilson trying to levy yet another tax on middle-class Californians,” she said. “As we all know, these so-called fee increases are really simply hidden tax increases, hidden tax increases on middle-class families who are trying to send their kids to college.”

Wilson spokesman Dan Schnur sharply rebuked Brown for criticizing the fee increases in an election year when, he said, she had not objected previously.

“If she has any evidence of any lobbying she did, any letters she wrote, any written correspondence, we’d love to see it,” he said. “What Kathleen Brown didn’t say today is how she would pay for this fee increase: She would raise taxes,” he said.

Brown, who has sworn she will not raise taxes, contended that Wilson’s support for past fee increases and her refusal to allow them next year signaled a clear demarcation between the candidates.

“The incumbent governor believes California can solve problems by raising taxes and fees,” she said. “I think we’ve got to cut, not tax.”

Such conservative language is meant to attract the ear not only of tuition-paying parents but also moderate voters who may be fearful of stereotypes about Democratic spending and Republican thriftiness.

Wilson is targeting those same voters with television commercials alleging that Brown would sharply increase taxes if elected.

In seeking to turn party stereotypes on their ear, Brown faces an uphill struggle: In Los Angeles Times polls taken in September and early October, voters rated Wilson as the candidate best equipped to handle the economy. He also was rated better than Brown on fighting crime and grappling with illegal immigration. Brown’s strength was seen as the subject she addressed Thursday: education.

The Democratic nominee, when pressed by reporters, said she would be able to fund education at current levels without harming any other state programs because she would generate savings through a performance review of all state functions.

Brown says that such a review would pinpoint $5 billion in savings over four years. Since the review has not been undertaken, she cannot say specifically where the savings would occur, but insisted Thursday that she was confident of finding the excess.

“My budget plan does not contemplate fee increases at community colleges and CSU next year, and I’ll be fighting to hold the line,” she said.

In her brief remarks, which were applauded by a few college students gathered nearby, Brown cited college system studies that blamed Wilson-era budget cuts for slicing 5,000 courses out of the CSU schools. In the last three years, as fees have risen 130%, nearly 200,000 students have dropped out of the state’s colleges and universities, including 30,000 CSU students, Brown said.

Schnur, however, countered that the University of California system recently reported record high enrollments, suggesting that higher fees have not dissuaded students there.