Feinstein Ads Hit Wilson’s Vote Record

With their contest for governor virtually deadlocked in the polls since June, Democrat Dianne Feinstein attempted to break ahead of Republican Pete Wilson on Tuesday with a new set of television commercials attacking his voting record in the U.S. Senate and his environmental marks as mayor of San Diego.

And with Wilson still in self-described “exile” in Washington for Senate sessions, Feinstein stepped up her campaign to convince voters that if Californians truly want change, she is their candidate.

She emphasized management of the state’s phenomenal growth in a satellite television address to the League of California Cities, even though most city officials oppose her concept of new regional agencies that would deal with a variety of problems. In his own satellite address to the municipal group Monday, Wilson criticized the proposal as a “new and unneeded” layer of government.

The Feinstein campaign unveiled three new TV spots that began running Tuesday evening. One accuses Wilson of having the worst attendance record in the Senate this year and shows an empty red leather chair--decidedly senatorial in appearance--with the word “absent!” repeatedly superimposed across the screen.

A second ad defends her record on violent crime as mayor of San Francisco, comparing it to Wilson’s as mayor of San Diego. A third claims that Wilson’s foot-dragging on sewer plant construction cost the taxpayers of San Diego hundreds of millions of dollars.

The ad campaign is intended to counter a series of Wilson TV commercials that presented “a negative, unfair characterization of her record,” particularly on tax increases while she was mayor of San Francisco, Bill Carrick, Feinstein’s campaign director, said.

Bill Livingstone, Wilson’s campaign press secretary, described Feinstein’s ad campaign as “a negative hit” and a sign of “desperation” within her campaign.

Last week, Feinstein aired a series of commercials that were variations of the “grabber” ad that propelled her into contention in the Democratic primary campaign early this year. They open by showing Feinstein announcing the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk and claim that her mayoralty, “forged from tragedy,” brought the stricken city together.

Those ads were designed to remind voters of Feinstein’s background and qualifications, Carrick said. He added that more new commercials will be aired before the end of the campaign. With the $1,000 state contribution limit invalidated by the courts, the Feinstein camp can afford enough television exposure to be competitive with Wilson until Election Day, Carrick said.

Carrick said he is confident that the campaign will break out of the seeming deadlock during the final two weeks as undecided voters make their choices.

Feinstein emphasized growth management in her speech to the League of Cities meeting in Anaheim and at a luncheon address to the Hollywood Radio and Television Society in Beverly Hills.

Failure to manage growth has led to citizen frustration and ineffective local growth-control referendums, she said. She said her experience as a member of the Assn. of Bay Area Governments and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission convinced her that such single-purpose agencies have no real authority and “don’t talk to each other.”

Feinstein has proposed creation of a state council that would set broad growth-management guidelines to be implemented by multipurpose regional governments composed of local elected officials. Oregon and Vermont have similar state planning systems.

“Most important in any growth-management scenario is the ability of the state, probably by bond issue, to put together infrastructure packages which would then go to regions that are willing to develop those management plans,” she said.

The money would finance new schools, sewage-treatment plants, transportation facilities and other amenities that would “enable growth to take place in a controlled and reasonable way,” she said.