Unz Joins GOP Race to Oppose Sen. Feinstein

Seeking to position himself as a courageous outsider eager to tackle issues that mainstream politicians ignore, software entrepreneur Ron Unz--leader of last year’s winning war on bilingual education--Tuesday declared himself a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat of Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

Unz, 38, said he jumped into the race because politicians of both parties “are avoiding issues that are important to society but are considered too controversial” by elected officials.

“When we elect leaders, we want them to lead and take strong positions, not run away from the issues,” Unz said after a capital news conference.

Specifically, Unz faulted Feinstein and others for “ignoring the failures of bilingual education” until last year’s Proposition 227 dismantled most of California’s bilingual programs. Unz bankrolled the initiative, which passed overwhelmingly.

Unz also said politicians have refused to push through meaningful campaign finance reform like that contained in an initiative he expects to qualify for the March ballot. That measure would cap spending and provide some government financing of campaigns.

Unz, who has degrees from Harvard, Stanford and Cambridge and an IQ he once claimed to be 214, is a theoretical physicist who made his fortune with a company that writes financial management software. Friends praise him as a creative intellectual, while critics say he is self-righteously stubborn and intolerant of other points of view.

The Senate race will mark the second statewide contest for the Palo Alto resident. In 1994, he ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Pete Wilson for the Republican nomination for governor, spending $2 million of his own money and drawing enough support from the party’s conservative wing to win 34% of the vote.

Despite his deep pockets, Unz said he will run a “lean campaign” and might not even hire a campaign manager. He plans to spend no more than $6 million, the limit allowed under his ballot initiative.

Unz said he was encouraged to run by a “senior Republican” who lamented that the GOP did not have a strong candidate in the race. San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn, state Sen. Ray Haynes of Riverside and Orange County businessman J.P. Gough are the other contenders. Rep. Tom Campbell of San Jose is also considering entering the race.

In an interview, Unz declared himself the front-runner of the GOP group, noting that the others have not previously run statewide campaigns. Analysts generally agreed--noting that his wealth and name recognition surpass those of the others--but said it would take more than those assets to topple Feinstein.

“Feinstein isn’t invulnerable, but she’s a very strong candidate and it would take an unconventional campaign to beat her,” said Dan Schnur, a GOP consultant.

In the Feinstein camp, loyalists greeted the news with nonchalance. As campaign manager Kam Kuwata put it: “It’s their primary. We just hope they all duke it out and bloody each other up.”

Feinstein so far has no opposition for the Democratic nomination in the March 7 primary.

Though he has not spelled out a detailed platform, Unz said that if elected, he would write federal legislation requiring all schoolchildren to be taught in English. He also declared himself opposed to abortion except in cases of rape and incest or when the health of the mother is at risk.

And while Feinstein has been an advocate for gun control laws, Unz believes such legislation is ineffective, though he agreed there are “far too many guns in our society.” Asked how he would reduce the number, he said, “Not every problem has an obvious solution.”

Unz acknowledged that Feinstein would be tough to beat. Nonetheless, he said he’s “running to win. I’m certainly the underdog in this race but underdogs sometimes win.”