Lungren Opposes Wilson’s Running for President in ’96 : Politics: State attorney general is the first major California Republican to publicly express concerns about governor being replaced by a Democrat.

State Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren said Tuesday he believes that Gov. Pete Wilson should not run for President in 1996, saying he can “barely tolerate” the idea of allowing the California governorship to fall to a Democrat for two years should Wilson go to Washington.

Lungren, considered by many California Republicans to be their brightest upcoming political star, declined to say whether he would endorse Wilson if the governor seeks the White House.

By speaking out at a meeting with political writers, Lungren broke a virtual cone of silence among leading state Republicans who have given Wilson considerable leeway in making his presidential decision by not voicing criticism of the possible consequences in California.

Some legislative leaders have expressed their frustration, however, and Tuesday at least 20 GOP state lawmakers announced their endorsement of Texas Sen. Phil Gramm for the Republican presidential nomination at the 1996 national convention in San Diego.

Top state GOP officials also have been irked that Wilson has discussed his potential candidacy with business leaders, but not with them. Lungren became the highest-ranking Republican officeholder to pointedly tell Wilson that he should remain in Sacramento.

“I wish the governor every good wish,” Lungren said. “He’s the Comeback Kid. He’s done a good job as governor. I’d like to see him remain as governor.”

At the same time, Lungren disclosed that he is forming a campaign committee in preparation for a bid for governor in 1998 after serving eight years as the state’s top legal officer. That also would mark the conclusion of Wilson’s second and final four-year term.

In Sacramento, Wilson’s office released a statement saying that a number of Californians are asking Wilson to remain in California to pursue his programs of economic, welfare and education reform.

But, the statement said, “there are those who want him to go to Washington and bring this type of reform to the nation . . . (and) to see tougher judicial appointments on the federal bench.”

“The governor has no decision at this point,” the Wilson statement said. “Discussion by anyone is just speculation.”

Lungren said he also is considering a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1998, but that his preference is the governorship. Lungren long has been considered Wilson’s most likely GOP heir apparent. Wilson and Lungren have differed on some issues--Lungren generally is considered to be somewhat more conservative--but there have been no open political spats between them.

Lungren, 48, a former congressman from Long Beach now living in a Sacramento suburb, said Wilson has not discussed a possible White House bid with him even though they spent 2 1/2 hours together last week working on state issues.

Nor had Lungren raised his concerns with the governor because “I’ve never been asked,” he said.

Lungren said he now is convinced, on the basis of “political street talk,” that Wilson will soon form a presidential campaign committee.

If Wilson won national office, he would have to resign the governorship in the middle of his four-year term. The lieutenant governor automatically becomes governor in the event of a vacancy. The lieutenant governor is Democrat Gray Davis, a former state controller, Assembly member and chief of staff for the last Democratic governor--Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.

Lungren was asked Tuesday if he was concerned about the political effect on his own future if Wilson went to Washington, leaving Lungren to face an incumbent Democrat in the 1998 governor’s race.

“I’m not really concerned from a political standpoint,” he said. “I would be very concerned from a government standpoint.”

Lungren said he has always believed that a governor’s most lasting legacy is judicial appointments.

“And to me, to give up the position of governor for two years to allow somebody like Gray Davis (to) make those appointments to the bench is something that I can barely tolerate,” Lungren said.

So he would prefer that Wilson remain in Sacramento?

“Yeah,” he said. “That’s right.”

Lungren later said he had been prepared to endorse Jack Kemp, a former congressman and Cabinet member, for President. Kemp has decided not to run.

“Right now I’m somewhat neutral,” Lungren said.

Lungren was asked if that meant he would not endorse Wilson.

“I didn’t say that,” Lungren said.

A Wilson campaign for the presidency could hurt Republicans in California even before the presidential election--in the opportunity of winning control of the Legislature, Lungren said.

He also disclosed that former GOP Senate candidate Mike Huffington approached him during the Republican state convention over the weekend to say that he is considering running for either governor or the Senate in 1998.

“I told him I appreciated him being upfront about it, but I hadn’t made a decision and didn’t need to do so at this time,” Lungren said.

At the convention in Sacramento, state party leaders tried to avoid questions about Wilson running for President and shrugged off the impact of handing the governorship to Davis.

At one point, however, Tirso del Junco of Los Angeles, the outgoing state party chairman, said of the Davis situation: “If that was not an issue, Pete Wilson would be running for President today.”