Request for Extra State Aid : Deukmejian Rebukes Mayor During Visit

In his first public comments on the issue, Gov. George Deukmejian on Friday rejected San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s assertion that he needs to be educated about the city’s worsening drug and gang problem.

The governor also lightly upbraided O’Connor for going public with a dramatic proposal for increased state aid for the city without first running it by him.

But Deukmejian, visiting San Marcos to sign a bill officially naming the new state university campus in North County, said he will be happy to talk with O’Connor about the issues when they meet Sept. 19.

“I think I’m pretty current and up on the problem,” Deukmejian told reporters. “I was attorney general for four years before becoming governor and very much directly involved not only in the drug problem with respect to the border and San Diego, but of course the entire state.”

Deukmejian and O’Connor, through their staffs and political allies, have been carrying on something of a feud since May, when the mayor announced that she was asking the governor to declare a state of emergency in San Diego and provide $34 million in new state funds to combat crime in the city. The governor on Thursday said he thinks O’Connor is a “delightful person” but suggested that her handling of this issue has been less than satisfactory.

Method ‘Not the Best Way’

He said O’Connor’s method of floating the issue in public “even before there had been any contact made with me was perhaps not the best way of approaching that particular subject.”

Paul Downey, the mayor’s press secretary, said later that Deukmejian’s office was notified of the request about five hours before the mayor announced it in a press conference.

“Maybe he wasn’t advised of it, but I know for a fact they did receive it before the mayor said anything publicly,” Downey said.

Downey added that Deukmejian “may not be aware of some of the nuances that are happening right now in San Diego” on the drug and gang fronts. He said recent pressure on drug traffickers in Florida has made San Diego a more inviting entry point for smugglers bringing drugs into the country from Central and South America.

‘Not Very Receptive’

“So far, the governor has not been very receptive to helping San Diego,” Downey said. “We’re hoping that, by giving the mayor and our police chief the chance to speak to him directly about the problem, we’ll get some action.”

Downey said the mayor wants to make three points in her meeting with the governor. She wants to argue that San Diego should get its fair share of state aid, “something we historically have not gotten”; she wants to ask Deukmejian to declare a state of emergency, and she wants him to provide assurances that the state will cooperate “in a partnership with the federal and local government.”

But Deukmejian said San Diego officials must realize that their city is not the only community in California that needs more money to fight crime.

“Obviously, if you turn around and say, ‘Sure you can have $30 million, San Diego,’ every city would be knocking on our door and asking for additional many millions of dollars,” he said. “We have to do it by looking at statewide problems on a statewide basis.”