Brown Does About-Face on Bird Issue

WASHINGTON —  Assembly Speaker Willie Brown reversed himself and said Tuesday that he no longer believes that top Democratic elected officials should take a stand on the reelection of California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird.

The San Francisco Democrat, a strong Bird supporter, had criticized top Democrats--including U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley--in February for not taking a position on Bird because it might hurt their own election chances.

But Brown said Cranston, who is running for reelection, and Bradley, mounting a challenge to Gov. George Deukmejian, “are probably correct” for staying out of the Bird confirmation fight.

“In retrospect, I clearly think all politicians should stay out of judicial races, period. We do a disservice to (the court) and to that branch of government,” Brown said during a luncheon meeting with a group of California reporters at the National Press Club.

Brown, considered the most powerful Democrat in the Legislature, said his party’s candidates, by staying neutral, were “positioning themselves so that Rose Bird will not be the basis on which they are graded for election or reelection purposes.”

Avoiding Problems

His comments are supported by voter opinion surveys this year showing that candidates who support Bird could hurt their own election chances because of public anger over controversial death penalty decisions by the Bird court.

Whether Brown’s comments encourage other Democrats to stay out of the Bird race remains to be seen.

Despite his pronouncement, Brown said he will continue to actively support the chief justice. He said he was voting “enthusiastically and aggressively” for Bird, and for the other justices up for reelection in November.

As if to back up those words, he sharply criticized Deukmejian and other Republicans for trying to defeat Bird. “They want all (court) decisions made in their image, and I think that is awful,” he said.

Brown and more than two dozen other California lawmakers have been attending a series of meetings, briefings and social events here. The three-day trip is an annual event scheduled so that lawmakers can familiarize themselves with federal issues as well as lobby members of Congress on matters of state concern.

The Speaker said one item on his agenda is a desire to bring the 1988 Democratic presidential convention to Los Angeles.

Asked to comment about Bradley’s chances against Deukmejian, Brown said Democrats were more enthusiastic about the mayor this year.

Brown, who criticized Bradley after his 1982 campaign against Deukmejian for not working hard enough, said the enthusiasm stemmed from Bradley’s willingness to actively solicit the support of other Democrats. He said he had detected “a dramatic change” in Bradley.

Reporters here remembered that in 1983 Brown used the same luncheon forum to proclaim that Bradley, now 69, was too old to be a viable candidate for governor this year. Asked about the earlier comment, Brown said, “Bradley is my candidate, and I am enthusiastically supporting him, regardless of his ownership of a (Medicare) card.”