Dole, Clinton Put Renewed Stress on California Voters

Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole issued a biting attack on illegal immigration Thursday as his campaign disclosed plans for a major shift in strategy--cutting back efforts in several Eastern states to pay for an expensive, last-ditch advertising blitz in California.

Touting internal polls that Republican officials said show Dole trailing President Clinton in California by single digits, the GOP campaign readied a statewide advertising effort that will start with two new ads today. The Dole campaign also said that during the remaining 2 1/2 weeks before election day, the candidate, his wife, Elizabeth, and running mate Jack Kemp will make a total of 18 appearances in the state.

In a them-versus-us speech in Riverside that played on fears of an uncontrolled border, Dole raised the specter of “aliens” from other countries committing crimes, receiving driver’s licenses, sapping public services and casting illegal ballots.

“Why are you paying millions more in taxpayer dollars to provide drug rehab for illegal aliens in prison?” he asked, continuing the aggressive tone that drove him in Wednesday night’s presidential debate.

“And worse, why are thousands of Californians the victims of violent crimes committed by people who should have been stopped at the border before they so much as stepped foot in this country?”

Immigrant advocates called Dole’s comments indicative of what they view as a scapegoating approach to the issue that has been apparent in California since the campaign that led to passage of Proposition 187 two years ago.

The activists noted that laws on the books prevent illegal immigrants from attaining California driver’s licenses, from voting and receiving most public benefits. “It makes one wonder what he’s talking about,” said Linton Joaquin, an attorney with the National Immigration Law Center.

Dole campaigned Thursday in both Riverside and Glendale--two communities where a strong showing is critical to his hopes in the state. Appearing with a bevy of area GOP candidates, Dole also pushed hard for Proposition 209, which would end government-sponsored affirmative action plans in the state.

Both immigration and affirmative action will be features of the new ads to appear in California, Dole’s campaign chairman, Scott Reed, said.

The new moves amount to a major shift, both in message and targets. Until this week, Dole had carefully avoided talking about affirmative action and had seldom mentioned illegal immigration. His campaign had also been equivocal about how much time and money to spend in California.

Now, however, campaign aides said Dole would spend between $1.3 million and $1.5 million a week on television advertising in California during the 2 1/2 weeks remaining before the election. To pay for that, sources said that his campaign will essentially eliminate ads in the costly New York and Philadelphia media markets--effectively conceding the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York to Clinton.

The strategic shift followed a meeting in San Diego on Wednesday among Dole’s national campaign officials and leading California Republicans, including Gov. Pete Wilson and Atty Gen. Dan Lungren.

“We’re ecstatic,” said Lungren, Dole’s state chairman. “This is what we’ve asked for. This is more than playing the game. This is playing to win.”

Lungren added: “California becomes the keystone of the whole race. It doesn’t mean downplaying other states. This is one of several options that were considered from the beginning.”

As Dole campaigned in the state after his second and final scheduled debate with Clinton on Wednesday night in San Diego, he called for a third encounter. “I’ll even furnish the hall and the microphone,” he said. He also continued the attacks on Clinton’s character that increasingly are part of his speeches.

The president’s record is “an insult” to California voters, he said during his address at the Mission Inn in Riverside. “Perhaps never has America seen a politician who brags so freely about promises he never kept, votes he hasn’t earned, goals he has never accomplished or virtues he has never displayed,” Dole said.

In a rally outside the historic hotel and in comments to reporters, Dole derided Democratic financial practices, alluding to a Los Angeles Times story about a recent fund-raiser at a Buddhist temple attended by Vice President Al Gore.

“They had a fund-raiser at a Buddhist temple in Los Angeles and [Gore] showed up and ate vegetables,” he said. “You have to take a vow of poverty to be in that temple. . . . Next thing you know, they’re going to have fund-raisers at homeless shelters.”

Dole again criticized the Democratic National Committee for receiving donations from an Indonesian banking family with ties to Clinton, and he charged his opponents’ campaign with shady financial practices.

“All across the country, at Clinton-Gore fund-raisers, they’ve got such a laundry machine going, they’ve got their own laundromat, pumping money into every single place in America,” he said. And then he paused. “Later on we’re gonna get tough,” he joked. “But not today.”

Sharing the Main Street promenade dais in Riverside with Dole were local Republican congressman, including Jay Kim (R-Diamond Bar), whose own successful campaign for Congress in 1992 is the target of a three-year FBI investigation into illegal campaign fund laundering.

Three Korean-based companies--Hyundai Motor America, Korean Airlines and Samsung America--have pleaded guilty to funneling illegal contributions to Kim’s 1992 campaign, and a fourth company--Daewoo International (America) Corp., one of South Korea’s biggest industrial conglomerates--has been indicted on similar charges.

Kim has not been charged in the cases, although his attorney has said that he assumes Kim is a target in the ongoing investigation.

Deriding Clinton for visiting California 28 times--frequently with federal money for state programs--Dole told a small crowd of supporters that the president takes the state for granted and places the needs of illegal immigrants ahead of the needs of California taxpayers.

“Whenever he has to choose between California taxpayers and the militant groups who demand public support for illegal aliens, he sides with the militant special-interest groups,” he said.

Dole charged that Clinton gutted the recently passed illegal immigration reform bill by pushing for an amendment to allow the undocumented to receive limited free public housing.

“He changed it so that illegal aliens afflicted with AIDS cannot be denied free taxpayer-funded medical treatment no matter how high the cost,” said Dole, who believes that such AIDS sufferers should not receive public care. “When the president finished with that bill, it even opened up the possibility of illegal aliens receiving legal driver’s licenses.”

With licenses, he warned, illegal immigrants might be able to vote under the newly enacted motor-voter bill. “The possibilities for electoral fraud are just staggering,” he warned.

At an afternoon rally on the steps of Glendale City Hall in the heart of the hotly contested 27th Congressional District, Dole made good on his morning promise to focus on the party and himself.

Since longtime Rep. Carlos Moorhead announced that he would not seek reelection, the traditionally Republican district has become a focus of the intense battle for the control of Congress.

Assembly Majority Leader James R. Rogan, who stood on the podium Thursday with Dole and received a plug from the buoyant candidate for president, is in a tight race with Democrat Doug Kahn.

Times staff writers Ronald Brownstein, Bill Stall, Tom Gorman and Patrick Mc Donnell contributed to this story.