On the Right - California Targeted - Republicans seek to gain footing in California - Brief Article

National Review, July 23, 2001 by William F. Buckley, Jr.

NEW YORK, JUNE 22

Somebody, it is widely thought in California, should replace Gray Davis as governor. He is a Democrat, he is a little boring, and he is seen as the master of ceremonies of the energy crisis in that state. To be short of electricity in the capital state of visual entertainment is a paradox that should not be allowed to happen. As a wag dolefully put it, if this goes on they're going to have to watch television by candlelight.

An aspirant executioner is William Simon Jr., son, as one would expect, of William Simon Sr. He was a great 20th century figure, individualist, philanthropist, secretary of energy, then of Treasury, a man of adamant views and expressiveness. Bill Jr. gathered the forces, and in New York City, at the Waldorf Astoria, raised $2 million. "People make reference to my own resources," he told a fellow diner, "and I don't deny them, but as I told the reporter in California, if I don't raise $40 million, I will pull out of the race."

The GOP has not recovered from the Proposition (187) that proposed dealing with illegal immigrants as though they were actually illegal. That was interpreted by the Hispanic community as a slight on any man's right to be illegal in America; and although GOP governor Pete Wilson endorsed the proposition, and it was carried by a substantial majority, Republicans have suffered enormously from its shadow. The excellent Dan Lungren lost California mightily to Gray Davis in 1998, and the comeback now attempted will be costly.

Bill Simon's competition isn't only the incumbent governor. It is the possible candidacy of GOP mayor Richard Riordan of Los Angeles. Riordan, like Simon, could finance his own campaign, but he has a rich- man's ambivalence to the whole idea of all of that exertion. He is 71 years old and there is that other ambivalence, which is that of conservative California voters to Riordan. He is not a faithful feller.

Twice he declared for Democratic Dianne Feinstein for senator, and he played a prominent role in the Tom Bradley campaign for governor of California. Add to this that on three issues of substance among California conservatives-abortions, guns, and gays-he is, to say the least, wobbly.

Bill Simon is an engaging human being. His face is exactly that of his father, the same smile, though not the same charisma. His speech was well programmed, abiding by the usual protocols in New York City. The invocation was done by a rabbi and a priest who embraced each other so heartily as to leave the audience wondering whether before they were done, they exchanged one another's religion.

Bill Simon believes in what one would want a GOP candidate to believe. He did not say much about President Bush, perhaps because it was widely reported that Mr. Bush had telephoned Riordan on his birthday in May, allegedly endorsing a Riordan for Governor campaign.

But Mr. Simon did say that California's most pressing problem, more pressing even than the power shortage, was the looming water shortage.

Some sport was made over the charge that Simon is a carpetbagger in California. Simon went west eleven years ago and stayed on, and sings the praises of his state at least as persuasively as newborn New Yorkers like Kennedy, Buckley, and Clinton, who have served in the Senate.

Will Simon's campaign prosper? It is hard to judge, in part because of the Riordan cloud. The L.A. mayor says he is thinking about it. But, he says a little sleepily, he will say something on the general point by next September.

Meanwhile, the focus will increase on Bill Simon, whose legacy and personal charm will work well for him.