Midwest Governors Give Wilson’s Campaign a Jolt Over Electric Cars : Politics: Heads of four auto-making states say California’s mandate on alternative-powered vehicles is unrealistic and will cost jobs.

Gov. Pete Wilson is feeling the pressure of presidential politics from Midwestern governors who want him to junk the state’s clean air requirement that forces auto makers to begin selling electric cars in California by 1998.

The governors from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin--all key GOP presidential primary states--charged that the clean air goals of the electric car requirement are unrealistic. In a two-page letter to Wilson, dated May 1, they said that California’s law would force auto manufacturers to raise all car prices, eliminate jobs and disappoint consumers with inadequate technology.

Unlike California, electric car requirements are a major issue in the nation’s biggest auto manufacturing states, Michigan Gov. John Engler said recently, and if Wilson does not oppose the idea, it could hurt his chances with the area’s voters.

Wilson aides said the governor has not taken a position on the electric car requirement, although he appoints the 11 members of the state Air Resources Board who sanctioned the law last year. The governor’s aides also said they do not expect Wilson to oppose the requirement unless an alternative method is found to achieve the state’s clean air goals.

Wilson spokesman Paul Kranhold said the governor is concerned that the electric car rule conflicts with his platform to keep government mandates out of the private marketplace. “But he remains absolutely committed to the attainment of our clean air goals and, as a result, the state is constantly searching for alternative strategies,” he said.

Wilson aides said the governor has studied the electric car debate since he took office in 1991 and he has heard the complaints presented by the Midwestern governors. The aides also said he would not compromise California’s interests because of political pressure generated by his presidential campaign.

“He’s going to make a decision . . . on the basis of what’s right for California’s economy and California’s environment,” Kranhold said. “If that happens to benefit him or cost him politically, that will be an afterthought.”

The electric car controversy highlights a problem likely to be a recurring one for Wilson as issues facing him in the governor’s office are cast in a sharply different context on the presidential campaign trail.

Even in the electric car debate, which has scarcely attracted public attention in California, the stakes could be high for Wilson because three of the four states represented by authors of the letter are scheduled to hold their presidential primaries on the same day, March 19.

The contest including Michigan, Ohio and Illinois--one week before California’s primary--is certain to focus attention on issues that are important to the nation’s industrial rust belt. Wisconsin is scheduled to select its delegates in an April 2 primary.

Two of the four governors signing the Wilson letter--Ohio’s George V. Voinovich and Illinois’ Jim Edgar--have endorsed his chief rival for the Republican nomination, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.).

Wisconsin Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, who also signed the letter, said in a visit to New Hampshire this week that he is considering whether to enter the race for President himself. Michigan’s Engler has not committed to a presidential candidate.

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A spokeswoman for the Council of Great Lakes Governors, which organized the letter to Wilson, denied that there was an intent to exploit the pressure from Wilson’s presidential campaign on the electric car issue.

But the letter made California proponents of the issue nervous.

“My interpretation is that the automobile industry, which is a major political force in those states, has gone to those governors and said, ‘Let’s use Wilson’s campaign for President as a lever to change California’s clean air program,’ ” said Joe Caves, legislative advocate for the Union of Concerned Scientists. “I think his appointees have certainly been strong supporters of the program in the past and we have not been given any indication by them that there is any reason . . . to change that requirement.”

Caves also said that any change in the electric car requirement would be highly controversial because several manufacturing companies have made substantial investments to develop the technology necessary for a highway quality electric car.

The electric car requirement is a key part of California’s blueprint to achieve healthful air by 2010, the year mandated by Congress. Under the provision adopted in 1990, 2% of the cars offered for sale in California in 1998 would have to be “zero emission vehicles.” Under current technology, that category only applies to electric cars. The sales requirement increases to 10% by 2003.

Wilson does not have a direct role in approving the electric car mandate. Opponents of the plan have asked that he alter the mandate by using his influence with appointees to the Air Resources Board.

Auto industry officials say the California experience with electric cars will have broad, national implications because it would require major changes for car manufacturers to compete in the nation’s largest car market. Two states--New York and Massachusetts--have also adopted electric car requirements that will be triggered if California’s experience is successful.

The issue has become a major cause for the nation’s largest auto manufacturers, involving an extensive lobbying campaign aimed at Sacramento. Industry officials have met several times lately with representatives from the governor’s office and the Legislature. They have also discussed a multimillion-dollar media campaign.

The letter from the four governors proposes that Wilson agree to join them in an effort to produce a “50-state plan” for cleaner cars.

“In this era of streamlined, efficient and reasonable regulation, we believe a strong argument can be made that a market-driven, national clean car is in the best interest of California and the nation,” the letter said.