Governor Raps Democrats Over Toxics Cleanup

Gov. George Deukmejian, broadening his campaign-style attacks on the state’s Democratic leaders, Monday accused Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and Assembly Rules Committee Chairman Lou Papan of setting up roadblocks to toxic cleanup.

In a speech to a San Fernando Valley business group, the Republican governor charged that the two influential Democrats “torpedoed” his ambitious plans to reorganize the state’s diverse toxics program under a single cabinet-level department.

And in a continued assault on the environmental record of Mayor Tom Bradley, his expected Democratic opponent in next year’s gubernatorial race, Deukmejian said local environmental conditions could be improved if Los Angeles “would stop dumping raw sewage into Santa Monica Bay.”

Speaking about the defeat of his toxics reorganization plan, Deukmejian said he was particularly disturbed by the fact that the Assembly, under prodding from Brown and Papan, refused to consider his proposal before the Legislature adjourned for the year. As a result, the plan can not be implemented until some time in 1986.

The toxics plan, which was to be the centerpiece of Deukmejian’s environmental agenda, was held up in the Assembly on the last night of the legislative session, after Republicans, under pressure from the Administration, refused to vote for a Papan bill that would have increased Medi-Cal benefits to the aged, blind and disabled.

“Unfortunately, they didn’t even allow the full Assembly to vote on this program,” Deukmejian said of his toxics plan.

Brown was away from the Capitol and could not be reached for comment.

Papan said Deukmejian could have had his toxics program if he would have allowed Assembly Republicans to vote for the Medi-Cal bill. Once approved by the Assembly, Deukmejian could have vetoed the measure, Papan added, “but he wanted to avoid having to face this kind of issue.”

“That isn’t the kind of leadership that goes with being chief executive of a state this size,” Papan said.

After Monday’s speech, Deukmejian told reporters that he was not attempting to tie the environmental record of the Assembly’s Democratic leadership to Bradley. However, he reiterated that the sewage problems that have plagued Santa Monica Bay fall squarely on City Hall.

Earlier Monday, the state Regional Water Quality Control Board fined Los Angeles $150,000 as a result of an overflow that allowed about 95,000 gallons of sewage to flow into Ballona Creek. It was the second fine levied by the board against the city this year.

Deukmejian has repeatedly stressed environmental issues as he toured the state during the last few weeks in campaign-style appearances that have brought him an abundance of local media attention. Both Deukmejian and Bradley have been attempting to shore up support among environmentalists, who are expected to play a key role in next year’s election.

During Monday’s speech, the governor took advantage of a conservative, business-oriented audience to repeat charges that Bradley has failed to maintain a strong police force and has done little to assure that a state prison will be built in Los Angeles County.

Bradley previously has denied the charges and has described Deukmejian’s prison-building efforts as “a fiasco.”

On the sewage matter, a spokeswoman for the mayor said Monday that “we are doing our best to solve all the problems that have occurred.”

“It’s ludicrous for the governor to make a political issue out of L.A.’s sewers,” she said.

The city of Los Angeles has been fined $150,000 over a sewage spill. Part II, Page 1.