Simon Attacks Davis Over Fiscal Woes

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bill Simon Jr. charged Friday that Gov. Gray Davis failed to anticipate the state’s fiscal troubles because he was too busy raising money for his reelection campaign.

Simon attacked his Democratic opponent’s ethics at a luncheon of agricultural leaders. By ignoring the state’s energy and fiscal problems, Simon told them, Davis left the budget “totally out of control” with a $17-billion shortfall.

If the governor had talked to farmers, Silicon Valley engineers or Southern California home builders, Simon said, he would have known the economy would slow down and state revenues would drop.

“But he didn’t,” Simon said. “He was too busy raising money. The only deficit he was trying to fill was the one in his campaign account.”

So far, Davis and lawmakers have trimmed about $3 billion from an estimated $17.5-billion deficit.

Davis reelection strategist Garry South responded to Simon’s charges by belittling the Republican nominee, whose lack of experience in government has been a key focus of the governor’s attacks.

“Unlike rich kid Billy Simon, who inherited fantastic wealth from his father, Gray Davis doesn’t have his own personal money that he can put into his campaign,” South said. “He has to raise it.”

Simon, a Pacific Palisades businessman, put $5 million of his personal fortune into his campaign for the GOP nomination. He said Friday that he expects his general election campaign to cost $30 million to $40 million, but declined to say how much of his own money he would spend.

By attacking the governor’s fund-raising, Simon was borrowing a theme of one of his rivals in the primary, Richard Riordan, who accused Davis of showing up for work late and spending the better part of his day hitting up donors.

The third major GOP primary candidate, Secretary of State Bill Jones of Fresno, introduced Simon on Friday to several dozen agricultural leaders at the luncheon in his hometown.

Simon promised the group he would reduce the “regulatory burden on farmers,” but avoided specifics, saying he was there to listen to their concerns.

At a news conference after lunch, Jones and Simon repeatedly professed unity in the effort to unseat Davis, but some tension remained from their primary battle. In his introduction of Simon, Jones--now co-chair of Simon’s campaign--made a point of saying he was “very discouraged at this low voter turnout” on Tuesday and said it was critical “that we leave no vote behind.” Jones and Riordan had attacked Simon in TV commercials for not voting in more than a dozen elections.

Asked about his criticism of Simon during the campaign, including his suggestion that Simon would need “on-the-job training” as governor, Jones responded: “I stand by what I said.”

“I’ve encouraged Bill to make sure--and he’s promised that he’s going to vote in every election,” Jones said. “With respect to the experience, yes, it is a concern. I made that clear.”

But Jones said Simon “will do a good job, and he’ll bring people around to help him.”

At an earlier stop, Simon met with former President Gerald Ford. The candidate’s father, William Simon, was Treasury secretary in the Ford and Nixon administrations.

Ford recalled that he and fellow Republicans Ronald Reagan and George Bush had all won California in presidential races, despite the GOP’s dismal string of losses in more recent statewide elections.

“I’m optimistic that with the issues Bill is emphasizing, he can win in 2002,” Ford said.

The former president acknowledged that he disagrees with Simon’s opposition on abortion rights, but said he did not think it would be an issue. “He’s not making a point of what he’s going to do about Roe vs. Wade,” Ford said. “That’s the law of the land. He said he’ll support whatever the law is.”