‘Fish or Cut Bait,’ Davis Tells Antonovich

Republican U. S. Senate candidate Ed Davis Thursday called on Californian Republican Chairman Mike Antonovich to decide whether he wants to run for the Senate next year and, if he does, to immediately give up his job as party leader.

Davis, the former Los Angeles police chief who is now a state senator from Valencia, made his comments after learning that Antonovich, as party chairman, recently sent out a letter attacking Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston and asking for contributions to the party’s California Republican Senate Victory Fund.

“Mike ought to fish or cut bait,” Davis said. “The finances of the party should not be used . . . to finance mailings by the party that are thinly disguised U. S. Senate campaign mailers.”

Another Republican U. S. Senate candidate, Assemblyman Robert Naylor of Menlo Park, also criticized Antonovich.

“Over a month ago, Antonovich told insiders he was planning to run for the Senate,” Naylor said Thursday. “Therefore, it is a little disconcerting that he has sent this letter after forming an attempt to run.

“I can understand where party people would be confused as to which master he is serving. We’ve always assumed that he would step down as party chairman if he decided to run, and we still assume he will do what is right.”

In a telephone interview, Davis also said:

“Mike would be a good candidate, and I think he has made it clear to people I consider reliable that he definitely is a candidate. But I think he should get into the race full bore and should resign his position as party chairman.

“You can’t do three things well. You can’t be a (Los Angeles) county supervisor, a party chairman and a candidate for the Senate. The job of party chairman deserves full-time attention if we are going to register 1 million new Republicans before the 1986 election.

“Mike was the choice (for party chairman) of Gov. (George) Deukmejian. I’ve told the governor, ‘Mike is your problem. For the good of the party, this has to be resolved.’ ”

Bob Taylor, a spokesman for Deukmejian, said Thursday, “The governor’s office is not involved in this in any way, shape or form.”

Antonovich said Thursday that he had not made a final decision about running for the Senate and that he has no intention of giving up the party chairmanship at this time. As for the letter attacking Cranston, Antonovich said:

“That mailing was developed out of the Washington firm that does this for us. It was planned at the beginning of the year and would have been sent out no matter who was chairman of the party.

“The funds it will raise are for the party and do not go to a particular candidate. Alan Cranston is the No. 1 target of all California Republicans, along with (Democratic) Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy.”

Jim Lindberg, the state party’s executive director, said the letter went to 70,000 homes and was “a prospecting piece.”

“We did it to add new names to our mailing list,” he said.

The four-page letter has a picture of Cranston at the top of the first page and the caption, “Your senator?” The letter begins, “Do you trust this man to speak for you for another six years in Washington, D.C.? Do you think he speaks for you now?”

Its criticisms of Cranston--including missing Senate votes in 1983 when Cranston was running for President and not supporting President Reagan on such issues as defense spending and aid for anti-Sandinista troops in Nicaragua--are very similar to Antonovich’s attacks on Cranston in speeches and interviews.

The letter is sprinkled with such phrases as “Here is why I need your help now” and is signed by “Mike Antonovich, chairman.”

In an interview with Los Angeles political reporters last week, Antonovich talked as a candidate talks in assessing the race and his own qualifications. He said he had done a poll that was “very encouraging.”

He stopped short of announcing, saying, “If I have the support that is necessary to win the nomination, I’ll be a candidate. I’ll probably make that assessment at the end of the year.”

Return to Job

Antonovich, a 45-year-old bachelor, was first elected a supervisor in 1980. If he were to run for the Senate and lose, he could return to his board job, because he won reelection to a four-year term in 1984.

He could be a formidable contender for the Republican Senate nomination because of his Los Angeles fund-raising base and his conservative credentials. He said last Friday that about $300,000 of his $1.2 million war chest would be convertible to a Senate race. Much of his money has come from corporations and thus cannot be used in a federal race.