CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : President Promises to Visit State on Behalf of Brown

California Treasurer Kathleen Brown picked up a commitment from President Clinton on Thursday to campaign throughout the state in support of her bid to defeat Gov. Pete Wilson in the November election.

During a 30-minute meeting in the Oval Office, Clinton said he would be happy to appear on Brown’s behalf in California “if she asks me.”

“I’m asking, I’m asking,” Brown said. “Come ride our bus.”

Clinton’s backing is the first public indication that his Administration will lend strong support to the Democratic candidate as the governor’s race heats up. The President is expected to make appearances in California this fall, and Vice President Gore, who also attended the meeting, will host a San Francisco fund-raiser in July, aides said Thursday.

Brown called Clinton “a great asset in California” and said she welcomes his support. The President enjoyed a 55% approval rating in a Times poll last month, only slightly down from a 58% positive ranking in March.

Brown said Clinton has done more for California’s economy than Wilson has. “I told him he’s the best governor California’s had in the last 12 years,” Brown said. “And what we need is to replace the one we’ve got with a Democratic governor who will be working with the President and working with Congress to revive the California economy.”

Wilson’s camp responded with glee at the prospect of Clinton, who has struggled in popularity polls nationwide, stumping for Brown this fall.

“By the time they get through with health care and Whitewater, we’ll pay his air fare,” said Wilson campaign spokesman Dan Schnur. “Now that Kathleen Brown has fallen behind in the polls, she is looking for help anywhere she can find it.”

On a one-day trip to Washington, Brown also met privately with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss health care issues, huddled with members of the California congressional delegation and attended a fund-raiser sponsored by Emily’s List, the feminist organization that gathers millions of dollars for pro-choice Democratic female candidates.

Brown’s trip followed Wilson’s appearance Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee to lobby for federal reimbursement of the state’s cost of providing services to illegal immigrants. At the hearing, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.) called Wilson’s complaints hypocritical because Wilson’s Department of Health Services last year actively urged undocumented pregnant women to apply for a publicly funded program to pay their medical bills.

Brown said Thursday that she does not think it was necessary for the state to promote the availability of government-paid services to illegal immigrants who are pregnant.

In her meeting with Clinton, Brown said they discussed illegal immigration issues and the urgent need for assigning more law enforcement agents on the Mexican border. The treasurer said she also stressed to Clinton the importance of defeating a November ballot initiative that would deny public education and non-emergency medical care to undocumented immigrants in California.

The controversial measure, called Save Our State, “is not the way to deal with the subject of illegal immigration,” Brown said. “It is going to cost tens of millions of dollars for Californians, threatens education, and could result in greater crime and violence on our streets by putting schoolchildren out on the streets.”

Clinton did not express a position on the initiative. Wilson has indicated that he supports it.