Wilson in East; Conservatives Growl at Home

As Gov. Pete Wilson tested his infant presidential campaign in the East on Sunday, he was roundly berated at home by conservative activists who accused him of putting personal political ambition ahead of the interests of the Republican Party and the state of California.

Delegates to the annual convention of the conservative California Republican Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution accusing Wilson of breaking faith with voters after pledging last fall to serve a full four-year term in Sacramento.

Jon Fleischman of Irvine, the new president of the volunteer group that claims up to 10,000 members, said, “This organization is dead opposed to the idea that the sitting Republican governor of California abandon the governorship to run for President.”

Should Wilson win national office, he would automatically be succeeded by a Democrat, Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, as state chief executive for the final two years of his second term. Davis also will hold the full powers of the governorship whenever Wilson leaves the state to campaign.

But Wilson insisted Sunday that he can keep his contract with California voters at the same time he runs an all-out national campaign. He also said he would accept the word of Davis and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) that they would not “take any cheap shots” at him while out on the campaign trail.

Meeting with reporters after an appearance on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley,” Wilson said Californians will have a chance to register their feelings by voting for or against him on a presidential ballot.

“I will not break my contract. It will be a decision of the people of California whether they choose to release me from it in order to assume a responsibility where they think I can be more valuable to them.”

But he said, “I first intend to do my job as governor.”

The 61-year-old Wilson announced in Los Angeles last Thursday that he had established an exploratory presidential campaign committee. He left California Friday for a long-planned, six-day trip East to raise money to pay off his $1-million gubernatorial campaign debt.

In Washington, Wilson quickly made it clear that he is a full-fledged presidential candidate intent on running a vigorous race in such states as New Hampshire, which he will visit Tuesday, and Iowa--states where voters are accustomed to time-consuming attention from White House contenders.

“I think it is required to spend time in those states, to meet with the voters, to listen to them, to tell them what I’m all about,” Wilson said on the Brinkley show.

And, he added, “I expect to win it.”

“I think I will do well early,” Wilson said. “I think I will do well in the middle, and I think I will win the California primary.” In 1996, the new, early California primary is on March 26.

While Wilson captured the political spotlight with his announcement and the eastern trip, the first foray to the East was not without some bumps in the road.

For one, he stirred conservative ire by saying he believes Republicans should remove the anti-abortion plank from the national party platform, leaving it “silent” on the issue.

Wilson has long been viewed as a moderate who moved to the right to win reelection last November, although he maintained his support for a woman’s legal right to an abortion.

Rep. Dick Armey of Texas, the House majority leader, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he did not believe that a pro-choice candidate could win the presidential nomination at the GOP’s National Convention in San Diego in August, 1996.

On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Pat Buchanan, the conservative commentator and presidential contender, said: “Pete Wilson is pro-gay rights. He’s pro-abortion. He’s voted for every major tax increase at the federal and state level. . . . You can’t take that into New Hampshire. You can’t take that into South Carolina.”

Also Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, a former California congressman, said on “Meet the Press” that it will be tough for Wilson to persuade national voters that what has been good for California the past four years would be good for the nation.

Panetta acknowledged, though, that Wilson would be a formidable opponent to President Clinton in a general election campaign.

Back in San Diego, Wilson’s hometown, another GOP presidential contender, Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, declared that he intends to win the California primary next March and win the fall election. Then, Gramm added, “Republicans can govern America for 50 years.”

After addressing the CRA convention, Gramm told reporters, “I’ve always felt that leaving government in the hands of Democrats is dangerous.” But Gramm said he is not out to pick fights with other Republicans and would leave the Wilson gubernatorial succession question for California voters to decide.

Also appearing before the CRA, and making his own formal declaration of candidacy for the White House, was Alan Keyes, 44, of Maryland, a former assistant secretary of state and delegate to the United Nations.

Keyes, who twice lost U.S. Senate races in Maryland, said he is the first African American to seek the Republican presidential nomination.

In an address to CRA delegates, Keyes said virtually every problem facing the nation today can be traced to the breakup of the “marriage-based, two-parent family” and a lack of respect for “the unborn child.”

The California Republican Assembly, founded in the 1930s as a moderate GOP group, has been considered a vocal but relatively toothless conservative fringe organization in recent years. Since 1991, the CRA has warred openly with Wilson over state tax increases and social issues.

After conservative victories in the 1994 election, the CRA has emerged as a revitalized organization with growing influence in the regular Republican Party. Among those addressing the convention at the Mission Valley Hilton Hotel, attended by about 600 delegates and guests, was state Republican Chairman John Herrington, the first party chief to be seen at a CRA event in recent years.

Stall reported from San Diego and Lesher from Washington.