Talk Radio Gives Simon Free Soapbox

Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan, the hosts of a radio talk show, make no pretense of neutrality when they interview Bill Simon Jr., the Republican candidate for governor.

“When are we going to see some commercials from you, Bill, that show Gray Davis to be the liar and the pathetic person that he really is?” Morgan asked Simon on the show last week.

“And preferably drowning puppies,” Rodgers added.

Once every two weeks, Simon joins Rodgers and Morgan in trashing Davis, the Democratic incumbent, on KSFO-AM (560), a San Francisco station aimed at conservative listeners in the Bay Area.

It’s a familiar venue for Simon: The conservative talk-radio circuit is a key part of his campaign strategy. For a candidate with relatively little money to spend on television ads, the radio shows offer Simon a forum for broadcasting his message--unfiltered by journalists--to thousands of voters.

The Simon campaign’s cash shortfall was underscored Wednesday when it laid off about 30 employees, including some who signed up with Simon when he was an asterisk in the polls. The cuts were made to save money for television ads in September and October.

Over the last two weeks, Simon’s radio schedule has grown particularly active as he has struggled to recover from the flood of bad publicity after a jury’s fraud verdict against his investment firm, William E. Simon & Sons. Simon has appeared on more than a dozen conservative radio shows this month.

Among his hosts are conservative regulars: Bill Manders in Fresno, Paul McGuire in Costa Mesa, Inga Barks in Bakersfield, Eric Hogue in Sacramento, Brian Wilson in San Francisco, and Hugh Hewitt in San Diego, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and parts of Northern California.

“If you’re short on dough, which he appears to be, it makes eminent sense to be doing this,” said Ken Khachigian, a veteran GOP strategist who is not working on the governor’s race.

Above all, the radio shows enable Simon to reach his base of conservative voters. By and large, they are unlikely to gravitate toward Davis. But for 10 weeks, Davis has battered Simon’s image with statewide television ads that depict him as a boardroom scoundrel. In an era of corporate scandals, strategists say, even staunch conservatives are apt to be unnerved by the $78-million verdict against Simon’s firm that is highlighted in a Davis ad that began airing Thursday.

Simon is “trying to keep talking to the base so they won’t be discouraged and just not show up and vote,” said Democratic strategist Bill Carrick.

Simon’s war chest is roughly one-sixth the size of the governor’s; by the close of the last reporting period in June, he had $5 million on hand, enough for only a few weeks of television ads.

But until the TV spots begin, the radio shows enable Simon to cast himself in a more favorable light, albeit with an audience of listeners nowhere near as large as the millions of California television viewers.

The radio shows also remove Simon from the high-risk environment of campaign stops with the mainstream media. All summer, TV news cameras have shot pictures of Democratic Party protesters shouting at Simon and waving signs that call him a tax cheat. Reporters have questioned Simon about his tax returns, the fraud case and other subjects that detract from the Republican’s main focus: Davis’ track record as governor.

For Simon, the radio shows also save travel time. Simon dropped off the campaign trail a week ago after a stop in San Diego, but since then has done seven radio interviews by phone, including six on conservative shows. On Sunday and Monday, he called radio stations from Lake Tahoe, where he was taking a long weekend with his family.

“We try to do as many radio shows as possible,” said Simon spokesman Mark Miner.

“We view this as an avenue to keep our strong supporters informed, and to attract new supporters.”

In addition to conservative shows, Simon is a regular guest on mainstream news programs, Miner said.

Garry South, chief strategist of the governor’s reelection campaign, said Simon was trying to create the illusion of campaigning by talking to radio hosts who were “slobbering all over him.”

“He’s preaching to the choir,” South said. “My God, if this guy doesn’t have his far right flank nailed down at this point, his campaign is hopeless.”

For the most part, the hosts let Simon use the free air time to bash Davis and to promote his agenda for tax cuts, a rollback of state regulations, school reforms and improvements in the state’s road, water and power systems.

“Bill, if you are elected governor, and I hope that you will be, because you’ll certainly have my vote, how are you going to get us out of this huge $24-billion deficit without raising taxes?” McGuire asked him last week on KBRT-AM (740).

“You’re going to have to shrink the government and stimulate the economy in a nutshell, Paul,” Simon said.

Still, even on conservative radio, Simon has been unable to dodge questions about his finances. On Tuesday, Carlos Ortega of KLTX-AM (1390) in Los Angeles invited Simon to clear away accusations that he was “a crook.”

“Do you owe the IRS any money?” Ortega asked.

“No,” Simon replied.

“Have you ever been convicted by a court of law for any fraudulent matter?”

“No,” Simon said.

The rest of Ortega’s interview was less pointed. But he finished by asking Simon if he would come back another time to discuss Davis’ attempt “to impose on businessmen the will of a small group of radical homosexual activists.”

Ortega didn’t elaborate on what he meant, but Simon responded: “I’d be happy to, Carlos.”

Yet questions on emotionally charged social issues pose a challenge for Simon. Before the GOP primary, he appealed to conservatives with his stands against gun control, abortion and gay rights. But Simon has avoided those topics while courting moderates and independents for the Nov. 5 election. On the radio, however, his more aggressive hosts corner him into discussing them anyway.

Last week, Mark Williams of KFBK-AM (1530) in Los Angeles asked Simon if he would work to change laws that protect abortion rights. Simon said he would not, but described himself nevertheless as “pro-life.”

Williams also pressed Simon on immigration. Why, he asked, would Simon allow undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses? “Aren’t they criminals by definition?” Williams asked.

“Oftentimes, they’re here working, trying to raise families, and trying to do the right thing, so let’s do something,” Simon said. “Let’s give them a path.”

Most of the questions Simon faces on the radio are sympathetic; many of them target Davis. Hugh Hewitt, who calls Davis “the most corrupt governor in history,” tossed Simon questions about the “major scandals” of the Davis administration on Tuesday.

Later that evening , Simon was on KSFO’s Brian Wilson show. In the course of asking Simon a question, Wilson called Davis a “doofus.”

Toward the end of the show, Simon took a call from an exuberant male listener.

“Bill, kick ass,” the caller told Simon.

Simon replied, “That’s a great way to end this up, Brian. I’m happy to come on your program any time.”