Lukewarm Backing for Simon

On a day of decidedly mixed messages, President Bush on Friday gave an arm’s-length embrace to Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bill Simon Jr., offering warm words in settings designed to limit their reach.

Stumping from the Central Valley to the coast of Orange County, Bush raised upward of $2.5 million in badly needed cash for Simon’s struggling campaign. But the president offered a cursory, almost generic endorsement for his party’s standard-bearer--ignoring Simon altogether at his only two public events of the day.

Bush was more generous at a pair of private Simon fund-raisers. Before an invitation-only luncheon crowd in Stockton, Bush praised the first-time candidate as a “breath of fresh air for Sacramento” and “a proven businessman” who would bring a frugal approach to state government.

“That’s why I’m so proud to embrace his candidacy and urge the people of California to work on his behalf,” Bush said.

At a reception Friday night in Dana Point, the president paraphrased a line from his 2000 election campaign. “Bill Simon is committed to changing the tone in Sacramento,” Bush said, “to get things done not just for Republicans but for Democrats and independents and people who don’t give a darn about politics.”

Those testimonials, however, belied the tensions surrounding the president’s visit and its awkward timing, just a few weeks after a Los Angeles jury returned a $78-million civil judgment against Simon’s family investment firm.

The judgment, which stemmed from allegations of fraud by a former investment partner, stunned the White House--and many inside in the Simon campaign--and national Republican Party strategists briefly considered calling off Bush’s visit before deciding a cancellation would be too politically damaging.

So Bush came--but showed little enthusiasm once he arrived.

Simon was the first to greet the president Friday morning, at the head of a receiving line on the sunny tarmac at Stockton airport, where Air Force One touched down from Oregon. Without breaking stride, Bush descended from the jumbo jet, gave Simon a brisk handshake, then quickly moved on, lingering at the end of the line with a cluster of volunteers.

A short time later, at Stockton’s civic auditorium, Bush singled out two of the area’s Republican congressmen, hailing Reps. Doug Ose of Sacramento and Richard Pombo of Stockton. But he made no mention of Simon, who was not invited to the event.

Speaking to a raucous crowd of 3,500 supporters, packed to the gilded ceiling, Bush offered a variant of his standard stump speech, vowing to win the war on terrorism, extolling the virtues of free trade and urging Congress to make permanent the 10-year tax cut lawmakers passed last year.

He also expressed pride at signing “the most comprehensive corporate reform bill” since Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, not mentioning his initially strong resistance to the crackdown.

From the auditorium, it was a short motorcade back to the airport, where an audience of about 2,000 Republican stalwarts paid $1,000 for lunch in a curtained-off hangar named after one of Simon’s biggest political benefactors, local businessman Alex Spanos.

A buoyant Simon thanked the president for coming and introduced him by offering a pledge. “You have brought honor and respect back to the Oval Office,” Simon said. “And I want to make you a promise today, Mr. President, that we are going to bring honor and respect back to the governor’s office in California.”

Bush, in turn, offered an expansion of his earlier remarks, omitting the part about corporate responsibility but sprinkling in a few paragraphs referring to Simon and his wife, Cindy, who later flew on Air Force One from Stockton to Orange County. “You need a change in Sacramento,” Bush said, and Simon is “the man to bring that change.”

In Santa Ana, Bush made his second public appearance of the day, meeting with Latino supporters at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art. He announced a $133-million grant to California to improve third-grade reading skills.

And again Bush singled out local politicians and other dignitaries in the crowd--including GOP Reps. Ed Royce of Fullerton and Christopher Cox of Newport Beach--without mentioning Simon.

Still, Democrats sharply criticized the president for even showing up on Simon’s behalf. “Bush’s hypocrisy is galling,” said Jennifer Palmieri, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, referring to the president’s stated policy of zero tolerance for corporate wrongdoers.

For his part, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis sought to stoke the issue by signing into law a package of corporate reforms and announcing other initiatives at a Culver City senior center. In response to a reporter’s question, Davis referred to Simon’s legal difficulties but insisted the measures were “not designed to embarrass anyone.”

“A free market does not mean free from ethical standards,” Davis said. “No CEO should have the right to abuse their own employees, much less defraud the investing public.”

As part of the package, Davis said, the state is taking formal steps to revoke the license of the scandal-tainted Arthur Andersen accounting firm. But Patrick Dorton, an Andersen spokesman, said the California action is “no surprise.” The company sent the state a letter on July 31 voluntarily surrendering its license, he said.

If the president’s appearance drew unwanted attention to matters of malfeasance, it also resulted in some desperately needed dollars for Simon’s campaign. For weeks, Davis has flooded California’s TV airwaves with millions of dollars in unreciprocated ads.

Along with Friday’s events in Stockton and Orange County, Bush will appear on behalf of Simon today at a breakfast fund-raiser in Westwood before leaving California--probably for the remainder of the campaign, according to White House political advisors.

High in the balcony at Stockton’s civic auditorium, Rick Sealy, a 52-year-old sheriff’s captain, beamed at the mention of Bush but said he knew little of Simon beyond “some trouble with his taxes”--a reference to his disputed returns--and something about a soured business deal.

He has doubts about Davis. “It seems good things happen to the people who donate to him,” Sealy said. But Simon has yet to secure his vote, and Bush’s support will make no difference.

“These things go on all the time, with presidents supporting candidates,” said Sealy, shouting to be heard over the lusty roar that greeted Bush in the packed auditorium. “We love the guy, but he’s not the one running for governor.”

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Times staff writer Gregg Jones contributed to this report.