Wilson Outspent Brown by $6.3 Million, Reports Show

Republican Gov. Pete Wilson outspent Democratic challenger Kathleen Brown $26.2 million to $19.9 million last year, according to final expenditure reports filed this week by their campaigns.

Their combined spending of $46.1 million set a record for two candidates in a California election, exceeding the $43.5 million spent by Wilson and Democratic opponent Dianne Feinstein in 1990.

The spending in the Wilson-Brown race also outstripped all other 1994 races in the country. In Texas, the winner, Gov. George Bush Jr., and former Gov. Ann Richards spent about $40 million in the governor’s race, according to preliminary totals, and in New York, Gov. George Pataki, former Gov. Mario Cuomo and one other candidate spent a total of $31.6 million.

The most expensive U.S. Senate race was California’s $41.5-million contest last year between Feinstein and Republican Mike Huffington. Feinstein won despite being outspent $29 million to $12.5 million.

Both the Wilson and Brown campaigns ended up with debts: $1.5 million for Wilson and $589,000 for Brown. Democratic primary candidate John Garamendi reported a $1-million debt.

Despite the deficits, the campaign finance reports confirm the enormous cash advantage Wilson held over Brown at the close of their campaigns.

During the final stretch of the race, when Brown’s committee was so broke that it was forced to cancel its final weekend of television ads, Wilson’s campaign was fat enough to contribute $782,420 to GOP get-out-the-vote efforts and to the campaigns of Republican candidates for seven statewide offices and 10 legislative races.

Altogether during the 1994 election, Wilson reported contributing $1.56 million to the California Republican Party, an additional $670,000 to the “Decision ‘94” committee for the statewide GOP ticket and $9,950 to four county Republican committees.

Brown’s campaign manager, Clint Reilly, conceded last month that his campaign cut back operations because it ran out of money. Chip Nielsen, chief counsel to Wilson’s campaign, said the campaign made a deliberate decision to go into debt to help other Republican candidates.