Jones, Simon Trumpet Endorsements

While front-runner Richard Riordan stayed out of sight, the two other candidates for the Republican nomination for governor sprinted up and down California on Thursday, trying to build momentum before this weekend’s state party convention.

Secretary of State Bill Jones announced his endorsement by the National Rifle Assn. at stops here and in Bakersfield, then headed to Los Angeles to bash former Mayor Riordan for his connections to the energy trading firm Enron.

Businessman Bill Simon Jr. touted his endorsement from a longtime friend, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary and vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp, in Sacramento and at a San Francisco fund-raiser.

The candidates’ activities demonstrated the difference between the campaigns of the two underdogs.

Simon spoke broadly about his plans for California and, taking a page from Kemp, proclaimed that his proposed capital gains tax would improve lives in the inner city.

The ever-feisty Jones briefly basked in his NRA backing before going after Riordan, who, he noted, has no public events in California this week.

“Dick Riordan has no organization, no track record in the Republican Party, and in fact, to my knowledge, this week Dick Riordan is nowhere to be found,” he said.

Citing Riordan’s turn-the-other-cheek response to attack ads launched by Gov. Gray Davis, Jones added: “If Mr. Riordan can’t stand up to Mr. Davis in a primary, he most certainly is not going to be able to do it in a general election.”

Davis, who has already dug into decade-old comments and contributions to question Riordan’s abortion rights record, launched a new attack ad Wednesday in the Central Valley questioning his commitment to the death penalty.

Reference Made to Quote in Journal

The 30-second commercial cites a 15-year-old interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal during which Riordan said he did not “personally ... support” the death penalty and statements last month in which Riordan said he would be open to a temporary ban on its use.

“Is it any wonder Riordan’s own police officers in L.A. refused to support him for governor?” the spot asks. The union representing the Los Angeles Police Department’s rank-and-file has endorsed Davis.

Riordan has said he was misquoted in the Business Journal interview and has stressed that he has always backed the death penalty. In his statements last month on a moratorium, Riordan said: “It’s something I’d want to study. But basically I believe in the death penalty, and I believe that we should have an open mind in looking at whether it’s done fairly.”

Before he was mayor, Riordan helped spearhead the recall of state Supreme Court Justice Rose Bird, who opposed the death penalty, and also helped lead the push for Proposition 115, which increased the number of crimes that were eligible for the death penalty.

“Since 1985, when the campaign against the Bird court began, every action that Dick Riordan took was consistent with strong support of the death penalty,” said Kern County Dist. Atty. Ed Jagels, who worked on both campaigns.

Riordan spokeswoman Kim Serafin defended the former mayor.

“It’s not a surprise that, once again, Davis is using sleaze tactics to distort Richard Riordan’s record,” she said. “Obviously he’s desperate to keep his job and he’s doing desperate things to distract from his own record of failing our state.”

The governor’s early salvos at Riordan are an apparent reaction to the lead the former mayor has opened up, both in fund-raising and the polls, over his two rivals. They have spent the week trying to chip away at that lead.

Jones Proclaims Strong Party Loyalty

At his NRA endorsement announcement, Jones questioned the Republican credentials of his rivals, saying they reached out to the GOP only when it suited them. “My granddaughter has gone to as many Republican conventions as Bill Simon and Dick Riordan,” said Jones, who has held elective office as a Republican for 20 years.

Jones was accompanied by state NRA board member Manny Fernandez, who said the secretary of state has a long record of protecting gun owners’ rights.

Jones won an A+ rating from the NRA, Simon an A because he has not held elected office.

Riordan got an F.

“We haven’t given him a G because there’s no such letter in our mailing card,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez said the NRA would push its 400,000 members in California to back Jones.

Jones then rushed to Los Angeles, where he stood before the headquarters of the Department of Water and Power and criticized Riordan--who last month said he had never taken contributions from bankrupt energy giant Enron--for raising $10,000 from the company for a city proposition in 1996.

“If you’re running against Gray Davis, I can tell you, you better be able to run against him as a Republican nominee on the issue of energy,” Jones said. “If you cannot, then you’re setting aside one of the biggest debacles that any governor has created in California in history.”

Riordan spokeswoman Carolina Guevara said there was nothing improper about the contribution, given for an initiative to let the DWP sell energy in California’s newly deregulated power market. Riordan also received $500 from an Enron subsidiary for his reelection campaign.

“The Jones campaign is grasping at straws,” Guevara said.

Simon Makes Most of Kemp’s Support

As usual, Simon stayed away from the back-and-forth Thursday, basking in the glow of Kemp, a darling of Republican intellectuals for pushing tax cuts while promoting issues of concern to minorities and urban areas.

“Here, at the beginning of the 21st century, California needs a 21st century governor,” Kemp told reporters in Sacramento. “Bill Simon is the one person in this race, Democrat and Republican, who understands how important economic growth is to the budget of California.”

Simon continued on Kemp’s themes, saying that conservatives have just as much compassion as liberals. He said his proposals for the state budget, education and infrastructure are “all realistic programs that are premised on the Kemp ideal: opportunity for everyone, freedom, accountability, empowerment.”

Times staff writer Jenifer Warren contributed to this report.