Voting Record May Haunt Poochigian in AG Race

State Sen. Chuck Poochigian’s favorite breakfast food is oatmeal, and it figures.

Porridge fits his persona: wholesome but unexciting.

“I sprinkle on a lot of cinnamon,” he said, digging into a bowl one recent morning.

The Fresno Republican, who grew up on a San Joaquin Valley raisin and fruit farm, seems miscast these days as a relentless attack-dog politician.

That’s because he’s a genuinely nice guy -- courtly, congenial and considerate.

He’s in many ways the opposite of his November campaign rival, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, the Democratic front-runner for attorney general.

Brown has been called many things -- “brilliant,” “flake” -- but “nice” is not one I’ve ever heard, at least in decades past when he was a governor and presidential candidate. I can’t speak for the mayoral era.

But Poochigian, 57, is Deukmejian dull, and that also figures. His “role model,” he says, is George Deukmejian, the former governor, attorney general and legislator.

Brown, while not naturally personable, is instinctively provocative and constantly intriguing, even after nearly 40 years in politics.

At 68, Brown still appeals to young voters. In fact, he runs better among voters ages 18 to 44 than he does among those over 45, a new Times poll shows.

OK, I’ll beat Poochigian to the punch: That could be because the 45-plus crowd remembers Brown as governor. (Or it could be merely because voters tend to become more conservative as they grow older.)

Whatever, The Times statewide survey finds Brown with a comfortable lead, 51% to 34%. He’s trouncing Poochigian in the Bay Area, winning handily in Los Angeles County, breaking even in the rest of Southern California and trailing by 18 points in the Central Valley.

“I have to overcome Jerry’s name ID,” Poochigian tells every reporter. “He has to overcome his record.”

Poochigian and his veteran strategist, Ken Khachigian, don’t think he has enough time or money to sell himself to voters, so they’re attacking Brown.

They’re especially targeting the Democrat’s lifetime opposition to capital punishment, since it is the AG who defends death penalty convictions in court appeals.

Brown, in earlier years, joined protesters outside San Quentin’s gates on execution nights. As governor, he vetoed a bill to reinstate capital punishment. A decade ago, as a talk radio host, he denounced execution by lethal injection as “Nazi-style.”

His career-long “irrational, passionate, active opposition to the death penalty ought to virtually disqualify him” for attorney general, Poochigian asserts.

“Now, he’s a wily, slippery character, but if he’s true to the views he espouses as being central to his moral code, then he can’t do that job right.”

Brown insists that he can. “I pledge unconditionally ... to carry out the law,” he says.

Poochigian may be getting worse than he’s giving. Brown and his strategist, Ace Smith, are firing back that he is “too extreme for California.”

The lawmaker is no extremist in temperament. On that score, he’s a mild-mannered moderate, a respected, trusted lawmaker capable of brokering bipartisan compromise, such as he did on workers’ comp reform.

But Poochigian does have a glaring voting record that is in lock step with GOP conservatives. And while that may be in the mainstream of Republican legislators, it’s far to the right of the California electorate on most issues. One relevant exception is anti-crime, where his tough-sentencing positions generally jibe with the public’s.

As Brown points out, however, Poochigian has voted against every major gun control bill, including measures to ban .50-caliber sniper rifles capable of bringing down low-flying airplanes and to strengthen the ban on assault weapons.

“You think one life has been saved?” Poochigian asked me, referring to all the gun restrictions and sounding uncharacteristically agitated.

“I mean, some of this stuff sounds good. The bottom line is public safety. The bottom line is are innocent people being harmed ... “ He stopped in mid-sentence, but I think he wanted to talk about innocent gun owners being harassed while gun-toting criminals go free -- the usual gun lobby spiel.

Unfortunately, too many previously innocent citizens have gone wacko with assault weapons. And the AG plays a key role in enforcing gun laws.

Like Brown, Poochigian pledges “fealty to carrying out the law. Period.”

Brown also hits Poochigian for voting against major environmental bills, including the measure signed with show-biz ballyhoo by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to combat global warming.

“The environment, particularly to moderate Republicans, is going to be a very significant issue,” predicts Brown, who promises as AG to sue corporate polluters.

The Democrat further claims that Poochigian wants to outlaw abortion. But in reality, it’s not even on the Republican’s agenda. Ask him, and Poochigian will tell you that he opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest or life-threat to the mother. But he has voted for state budgets that fund abortions for poor people.

Actually, Poochigian’s conservative voting record is largely the product of an unhealthy political system. Legislative gerrymandering stacks districts with Republican or Democratic voters to make them safe for one party. There’s very little inter-party competition -- especially not in Poochigian’s district, which stretches and twists from Yosemite to the Bay Area in order to siphon up GOP voters. His only potential threat has been from the right in primary elections.

Almost all Republican lawmakers are in the same safe boat. So are Democrats. Each party hangs together in its voting, one on the right, the other on the left. That’s fine while they stay hunkered in the Capitol. But when the politicians venture out to run statewide, they suddenly find themselves burdened with “extreme” voting records -- especially the Republicans competing in a Democratic state.

Poochigian is not an extremist personally or politically. And he’s as principled as a pol comes. But many will find his voting record to be problematic.

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George Skelton writes Monday and Thursday. Reach him at george.skelton@latimes.com.