Phil Angelides -- State treasurer fights for name recognition

By: LAURA KURTZMAN - Associated Press | Saturday, June 3, 2006 8:19 PM PDT ∞

SACRAMENTO ---- State Treasurer Phil Angelides said he is not further ahead in the Democratic primary race for governor because voters do not know who he is yet, but he insisted that will change as the interest groups that have endorsed him spread the word.

"It's a big state," he said in an hour-long interview with The Associated Press. "I think what's really remarkable about the polls is that most voters haven't made a judgment."

Some analysts have been surprised that Angelides has failed to pull ahead of his opponent, state Controller Steve Westly, despite strong support from Democratic Party leaders and the interest groups allied with the party. Recent polls have shown the two tied, with more than half of primary voters still undecided.

Angelides said the 300,000-strong California Teachers Association would be instrumental in educating voters about his candidacy, which has drawn endorsements from a variety of public employee unions. But he denied that having the unions' endorsement would make him beholden to their interests if he won office.

As proof of his independence, Angelides said he had broken ranks with the CTA by supporting charter schools. Democratic candidates commonly support charter schools, although the CTA dislikes them in part because it's harder for the unions to organize the teachers who work there.

Angelides, 52, faces a tough fight against Westly, who is pouring the fortune he made at the online auction house eBay into his campaign. Westly is buying television ads in the state's largest media markets, while Angelides is remaining off the air to conserve money.

The latest campaign finance reports showed that Westly had $23 million in the bank to Angelides' $14.6 million. Angelides recently launched a verbal assault on Westly, a tactic he continued in the interview.

"But for Mr. Westly's checkbook, there wouldn't be a contest," Angelides said, adding that Westly would not be able to "buy his way" to a victory in the June 6 primary.

Westly promotes himself as a "common sense" candidate who will judge issues on the merits as a way of fending off Angelides' attacks that he "blows in the wind."

Angelides has won the backing of Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, as well as Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, among a host of other Democratic elected officials.

"In the end, what's remarkable about this election is the extent to which groups who have known us both have said we are siding with Phil because we know he has the capacity to be governor," Angelides said.

Nick Velasquez, Westly's campaign spokesman, responded by saying Angelides is "flailing."

"He's behind in the money race," Velasquez said. "He's had to yank his ads off the air, and we've now closed the gap in the polls."

Angelides also took aim at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, something the treasurer has done since Schwarzenegger took office. Angelides said the governor was incompetent and a complainer and there was nothing sincere about Schwarzenegger's attempts this year to be more bipartisan.

In a reference to the failure last month of the Republican governor's infrastructure bond, which was criticized by his own party as too expensive, Angelides cracked, "Maybe there's a new definition of bipartisan, which is not even being able to deliver the members of your own party for anything. The fact is, he's done the wrong things and proven ineffectual. It's just a fact. He's not up for this job."

Schwarzenegger's campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, said he is "totally indifferent" about which Democrat wins the nomination but said both Angelides and Westly would be formidable opponents.

"They are very much more alike than they are different" because both have called for "huge increases in spending" that would require tax increases, Schmidt said. He said Angelides at least had been honest about his desire to increase taxes.

In the interview, Angelides said he wanted to raise income taxes on the top 1 percent of earners and close corporate loopholes.

Angelides, who was once a developer in the Sacramento area, defended his role in building homes in the sprawling Natomas neighborhood north of downtown, which is vulnerable to a catastrophic flood. Westly's campaign has made it clear that in the post-Katrina world, they plan to attack him on that topic.

Angelides said he followed the rules as set by state and local authorities, which certified the levees that protect the area as safe enough to withstand a 100-year flood. Local flood officials now say they were wrong and that the levees are inadequate because they are too low and can seep.

"At the time, the federal government, the local governments, everyone else, certified that all those levees met urban levels of protection," he said. "And now people are learning that there should be higher levels, and I believe that the highest level possible ought to be adhered to."

On the immigration reforms being debated in Congress, Angelides said it made sense to put some limits on which of the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants can be allowed to apply for citizenship.

"What would be sensible is to put some rules around which of those 12 million," he said. "For example, people who work here for a consistent period, who learn English."

He also said he supports giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, calling it an issue of public safety.

"People are driving our roads anyway," he said. "Better that they should be licensed, trained and to the greatest extent possible insured."