Governor Lists Political Agenda After Expo Visit

VANCOUVER, Canada —  Gov. George Deukmejian ended a four-day “working vacation” at Expo ’86 Thursday and turned his thoughts to the upcoming climax of the California legislative session.

The Democratic-controlled Legislature will reconvene on Monday after a monthlong recess and, if events follow the normal pattern, adjourn three hectic weeks later. Immediately afterward, on Labor Day weekend, the Republican governor formally will kick off his fall reelection campaign against Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

Everybody needs a vacation once in awhile, so Deukmejian decided to stretch an official visit to the Expo, for the purpose of presiding over “California Day,” into a four-day family sightseeing excursion.

“It’s about the only vacation we’re going to get this year until after the (Nov. 4) election,” the governor said, savoring a three-hour boat cruise with his family, some longtime political supporters and California business executives through Vancouver’s pine-dotted waterways.

Asked during an interview what he intends to push hardest for during the windup of the legislative session, Deukmejian listed these items at the top of his agenda:

- Implementation of a new policy divesting University of California and state pension fund holdings in firms doing business within racially segregated South Africa. Deukmejian wants to meet early next week in a strategy session with Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), two of the Legislature’s strongest advocates of a tough divestiture policy.

Deukmejian also predicted that President Reagan ultimately will succumb to domestic and international political pressure and drop his opposition to tougher economic sanctions against the white minority South African government. “It’s my view that our country has to do more and I think eventually it will,” the governor said.

- A liability insurance package he proposed after voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 51, the liability-limiting initiative in the June primary. Among other things, the governor’s program would make coverage more readily available to local governments.

- Revision of the unitary tax system under which the state taxes corporations on the basis of their worldwide earnings. A revision bill got hung up last year when it became tied to the unrelated issue of South African divestiture. With Deukmejian now supporting divestiture, this stumbling block has been removed. But sharp disagreement persists between foreign-based and domestic corporations over the unitary system.

“There’s going to have to be a lot of negotiations, but the changes have improved,” the governor said.

- Authorization to use $300 million in surplus state pension funds for regular state programs. Democrats initially agreed, but then balked after outcries from state employee unions.

- Placement on the November ballot of a $150-million bond issue for cleaning up toxic wastes, particularly in leaky underground tanks.

Deukmejian still has not taken a position on a toxics control measure, Proposition 64, which already is on the November ballot. Sponsors, including Mayor Bradley, have labeled it the “Get Tough on Toxics” initiative. The governor said during the interview that “probably around the middle of August” he will take positions on all 13 state ballot measures. So far he has not taken a stance on any.

Opposes Drug Testing

Deukmejian also said that, unlike President Reagan, he does not favor drug screening for government employees. “There may be some state employees in very highly sensitive positions where drug testing may be appropriate,” he said. “But if you’ve got--whatever it is, and I have no idea--1% of the employees using drugs, I don’t really feel it’s advisable to go out and have mandatory testing for the other 99%.”

Although Deukmejian spoke at length with a reporter about the weighty issues of state government, his stay in Vancouver--with a brief side trip Thursday to Victoria, the provincial capital of British Columbia--largely was dominated by relaxation with his family, friends and longtime supporters.

A private jet owned by Unocal, the parent corporation of Union Oil, flew Deukmejian and his wife Gloria to Vancouver--along with the Deukmejians’ two daughters, a son-in-law and a friend of a daughter, plus chief of staff Steven A. Merksamer and his wife. The Unocal board chairman is Fred Hartley, official U.S. ambassador to the Expo.

‘A Working Vacation’

Merksamer said that the state government reimbursed Unocal for the air fares of the governor and himself--at a first-class rate--but all the family members flew for free. In Vancouver, Deukmejian paid for his family’s hotel rooms, the chief of staff said.

(Bradley made an official, city-paid, two-day visit to Expo in late June.)

“This was a working vacation--work for the governor and a vacation for the family,” said gubernatorial spokesman Kevin Brett.

Work for the governor included a private breakfast Wednesday with California and Canadian business leaders.

Californians, according to Merksamer, complained about Canada’s government-subsidized timber exports. Canadians complained about Reagan’s newly announced plan to sell government-subsidized U.S. wheat to the Soviet Union. Deukmejian took no position on the wheat sales, and suggested that representatives of California and British Columbia meet more often to try to improve trade.

‘Land of Opportunity’

“California Day” ceremonies were held later Wednesday morning. Under bright sunlight, before an audience of about 100 representatives of the California Chamber of Commerce, and perhaps another 400 regular Expo visitors, Deukmejian extolled the state as “the land of opportunity . . . a world within a state,” where people are “both dreamers and doers” and “the diversity of our population is one of our greatest strengths.”

Then came a lot of surfing music by the group Papa Doo Run Run (“California Girls,” “Little Old Lady From Pasadena”) and, among other things, a “Sweat ‘n’ Smile Aerobics” exhibition, a body-building demonstration and 500 free gallons of special ice cream concoction called “beaches ‘n’ cream” and “California gold.”

The main focus of “California Day” was the $5-million California Pavilion (the state government put up $1.5 million, private enterprise the rest), a high-tech showcase that resembles a somewhat confusing, jumbo adult video arcade. So far, 1.3 million people have trooped through the pavilion since Expo opened in early May.

Deukmejian jokingly recalled during a banquet speech Tuesday night that the last time he visited the California Pavilion, on May 6, Britain’s Princess Diana fainted to the floor as he was escorting her and Prince Charles on a tour. While acknowledging that he frequently is characterized as being “dull,” Deukmejian said “there is no doubt in my mind that she fainted because she was overwhelmed by my overpowering charm, wit and charisma.”