Simon Not Apologizing, but GOP Strategists Are Left in Sorry State

Gray Davis called on Bill Simon Jr. Wednesday to quit the race for California governor, as the GOP nominee stumbled for a second day over a misfired attack on his Democratic rival.

A thick gloom settled over Republicans, from Simon’s inner circle to party donors, with strategists fretting that Simon’s troubles might spread to the rest of the statewide ticket.

Traditionally, down-ballot candidates have counted on a strong pull from their party’s gubernatorial nominee to sweep them into office. That could be especially important this year, with all seven GOP candidates for offices such as lieutenant governor, treasurer and attorney general trailing their Democratic opponents in fund-raising.

“All over California today, Republican leaders are banging their heads against walls and asking, ‘Why, why, why?’ ” said Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College and a former Republican National Committee operative.

Simon scrapped a public event that had been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, but aides said he had no plans to quit the race.

As stunned GOP insiders questioned how his campaign could so badly bungle its attack on Davis’ controversial fund-raising practices, the group that started the flap withdrew its complaint to the state’s political watchdog agency and apologized--to Simon, but not Davis.

The group, the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs, had been feuding with the Davis campaign after endorsing Simon months ago.

The governor, meantime, broke his silence over the brouhaha, which began Monday when Simon accused him of illegally accepting a campaign check in his state office while lieutenant governor. Simon’s campaign cited the COPS complaint as his source.

A photo released Tuesday as proof boomeranged on the GOP hopeful when it became clear that the office pictured was not Davis’. On Wednesday, one of the governor’s longtime supporters, developer Bruce Karatz, stepped forward to say the photograph was taken in the den of his former Santa Monica home.

The blunder was just the latest to beset the Simon campaign, which has been buffeted for months by internal dissension and controversies over the candidate’s taxes, business dealings and his shifting position on gay rights.

“He should drop out,” Davis said of Simon. “His whole campaign has been an embarrassment.”

Speaking on KGO Radio in San Francisco, Davis offered further evidence to undermine Simon’s attack, pointing out that the date stamped on the disputed photo--Jan. 31, 1998--was a Saturday. Government offices were closed that day, Davis noted.

On another radio program, Simon renewed his call for an investigation into his allegations against the governor, even as aides prepared a statement acknowledging doubts about the charges.

“We’ll see what the FPPC comes up with,” Simon said during an interview on KSFO Radio in San Francisco. He was referring to the state’s political watchdog agency, the Fair Political Practices Commission, which fielded the complaint filed by COPS on Monday.

“Let’s face it,” Simon said. “This is just one more in a series of troubling episodes in the Davis administration.”

In a second interview, on KTVU-TV in Oakland, Simon would not say whether he still believed the photograph was taken in the lieutenant governor’s office, despite evidence to the contrary. “I have no reason to believe that it was or it wasn’t,” he said.

Simon implied that any mistake was not his doing.

“The photograph shows the acceptance of a check,” Simon said. “You know, it’s purported to be in the lieutenant governor’s office. Once again, this isn’t my complaint.”

But within a few hours, Simon appeared to further back away from his allegations regarding the COPS picture, which purported to show Davis accepting a $10,000 check from the group during his first run for governor.

“The location where the governor received this contribution is now in question,” the candidate acknowledged in a statement issued by his campaign.

At the same time, the statement reiterated Simon’s attacks on Davis’ aggressive fund-raising, saying that was why “it did not seem far-fetched” to accuse him of a crime. “Even if the specific claims

Finally, in yet another statement issued Wednesday night, the candidate conceded his allegation was mistaken. “It now appears that the complaint of the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs was unfounded,” Simon said.

Still, Republicans searching for some good in the odd episode suggested the flap could hurt Davis by highlighting his intensive fund-raising throughout his governorship.

“It reminds people Gray Davis runs around taking every $10,000 check he can get,” said GOP strategist Allan Hoffenblum.

That said, Hoffenblum echoed many Republicans who wondered how Simon, who worked for three years as an assistant U.S. attorney in New York, could have made such an explosive charge without airtight substantiation.

“Simon probably believed it was true when he said it,” Hoffenblum said. “But why a former prosecutor didn’t have 100% of all the facts and 100% assurances before he made the claim, I don’t understand.”

According to campaign sources, Simon was never supposed to be entangled in the photo’s release.

The campaign learned of the picture earlier this year. But top Simon advisors got a glimpse of it only in the last two weeks, when COPS officials told them they planned to file a complaint against Davis with the FPPC. The original plan was to let COPS issue the photograph and limit Simon’s role to pinning down Davis during Monday’s candidate debate, the insiders said.

But during a post-debate news conference, the candidate grew flustered under aggressive questioning and went further than planned, telling reporters the campaign had “evidence” that Davis had broken the law.

The next day, campaign staffers got their first extensive look at the photograph when COPS released the picture at a Los Angeles news conference. In Sacramento, a campaign advisor dashed over to the state Capitol, where it was evident the photograph could not have been taken in the lieutenant governor’s office.

But Simon’s aides failed to warn the candidate of the discrepancy before his own press conference started. In North Hollywood, the candidate declared that the photographs provided “proof” that the governor broke the law, only to be pummeled with questions from reporters. At that point, Simon backed away from the allegation.

The turn of events dismayed and angered Simon staffers, who had been hoping that Monday’s debate would signal a new phase for a campaign that has struggled for months to get off the defensive.

“People were just shaking their heads with disbelief that this could happen, that Bill could be this far out on a limb without the photo being vetted,” said one strategist.

But for outsiders long critical of the Simon campaign--including the White House and Republican Party leaders in Washington--the episode only served to reinforce their doubts. “This is the pattern of a campaign that just doesn’t have a clue,” said one GOP strategist.

Simon is set to receive a desperately needed infusion of campaign cash this week from the national party. The $1-million donation, arranged weeks ago, is the last bit of financial help he can expect from Washington, according to Republicans involved in the transaction.

In a further sign of the national party’s lack of confidence, special arrangements were made to bypass Simon and his campaign team.

“The money is going directly to TV stations rather than the campaign coffers, where it might not be spent on advertising” as agreed upon, said a Republican close to GOP leaders in Washington.

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Times staff writer Dan Morain contributed to this story.