Seymour’s Day One : Preparing for Gulf debate, he vows to be the ‘best doggone senator.’

After spending a heady first day in Washington, California’s senator-to-be John Seymour was brimming with enthusiasm.

On the eve of his official oath-taking in the Senate chamber this morning, Seymour plunged into a full day of briefings Wednesday and was buoyed by meetings with such Republican luminaries as Vice President Dan Quayle, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and President Bush’s two new Cabinet appointees, Lamar Alexander, who has been nominated to be secretary of education, and Lynn Martin, the choice for secretary of labor.

Later, Seymour declared with boyish glee: “I’m going to be the best doggone senator the people of our state could ever want.”

Senate sources said that Dole had arranged to place Seymour on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a panel important to Californians because it deals with the Department of Interior, public lands, offshore oil drilling and a host of environmental issues.

“I told Dole I needed to be brought up to speed so that I can hit the ground running. He replied, ‘You’ll get all the help you need,’ ” Seymour said.

The new senator said that he expects to take part today in a floor debate leading to a Senate resolution on the Persian Gulf crisis.

Seymour said that he is thrilled to be moving to “the big leagues” from the California Senate, where he represented the Anaheim area. He is especially pleased, he said, to be occupying the U.S. Senate chair and office suite vacated by his predecessor and longtime ally, Gov. Pete Wilson. It was Wilson who appointed him to serve until a special election next year to fill out the final two years of Wilson’s six-year term.

“This situation has a comfortable familiarity,” Seymour said. “It’s just older and steeped in more tradition than where I came from.”

Continuing the major league analogy, Seymour--a baseball fan--added: “I don’t want to be a free agent in two years, however.”

He promised a vigorous 1992 reelection campaign and casually dismissed an expected primary challenge from conservative U.S. Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton).

“This is a democracy and anyone is entitled to run for the office,” said Seymour, 53, a self-made millionaire real estate developer.

“I don’t intend to try to dissuade Dannemeyer from entering the race if he thinks it’s in his best interest to do so,” he said. “All I can do is represent the people of California to the best of my abilities and run as hard a campaign as I can. If I do the first part, I’ll have no concerns.” Seymour’s trip to Washington to assume his new responsibilities began late Tuesday with a flight from Sacramento aboard Air Force Two with Vice President Quayle, who had attended Wilson’s inauguration. Seymour was accompanied by his wife, Judy. His two youngest children, Barrett, 8, and Sarena, 17, flew commercially with aides.

“It was an excellent opportunity for me to discuss issues with the vice president, mainly the Persian Gulf, but also to talk about his experience in this chamber,” Seymour said.

“And we discussed our children and where the best public schools are.”

Air Force stewards served the group a hot Mexican dinner, concluding with banana cream pie from a well-known Sacramento restaurant.

While Judy Seymour began the search for a house to rent, her husband began his day Wednesday with an early round of briefings on the Persian Gulf from Wilson’s former aides, who are helping in the transition.

As he entered the double-glass doors of his office, he noticed that the bronze sign already had been changed to read “John Seymour--California.”

His next briefing was provided by Senate Ethics Committee staff members, who explained that Seymour soon must start preparing his first annual financial disclosure. The document will provide a public accounting of Seymour’s assets and outside income in broad categories. The committee will receive a more detailed, private breakdown.

After the briefing, Seymour took up an invitation to meet with Dole in his office just off the Senate floor. Seymour said that the Republican leader “extended a very cooperative hand and assigned people to give me briefings on a variety of issues.”