Deukmejian Goes Aloft to Push His $1-Billion Highway Bond Issue

SAN FRANCISCO —  Gov. George Deukmejian, enjoying his budding career as a radio traffic reporter, took a helicopter ride over the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday to promote Proposition 74, his $1-billion transportation bond measure.

But the governor, interspersing plugs for next Tuesday’s ballot measure among his traffic reports for six radio and television stations, also hit a few rough spots along the way.

After one radio broadcast on KCBS, the governor’s support for the huge bond measure was immediately challenged by former Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, who urged listeners to vote against Proposition 74.

‘False Assertion,’ Brown Says

“It’s an absolute false assertion that this will take care of the roads and streets of our state,” said Brown, 83, during a telephone interview from Los Angeles. “We have to take care of it on a pay-as-you-go basis.”

Brown, a San Francisco native, served as governor from 1959 to 1967.

Deukmejian’s broadcasts also were plagued with technical problems, at times cutting him off in mid-sentence and making it impossible for him to hear questions from the ground.

His most embarrassing moment came during a live television broadcast on KGO when he apparently was unable to hear questions from the studio. His image filled the television screen while he sat in silence.

Deukmejian had hoped to re-create his successful promotion of Proposition 74 when he adopted the moniker “Delta Duke” three weeks ago and cruised up the San Diego Freeway in a motor home speaking to motorists over three Los Angeles radio stations.

The Republican governor, who often remains aloof from initiative campaigns, is putting his prestige on the line in support of Proposition 74, which is the centerpiece of his transportation program.

A recent survey by The Times Poll indicated that likely voters were evenly divided on the bond measure, with 41% in favor and 39% opposed. However, a subsequent survey by Mervin Field’s California Poll showed voters favoring the measure by 68% to 25%.

Transportation Projects

“One of the main reasons why I’m in this helicopter this morning giving the traffic report is to highlight the fact that we’re very concerned about all this traffic congestion,” Deukmejian said during a broadcast on radio station KTID. “We put a $1-billion bond issue on the ballot, Proposition 74, and that money is going to be used to help speed up the completion of hundreds of transportation projects.”

As he did last month in Los Angeles, Deukmejian urged motorists to car-pool and share rides--the quickest way, he said, to ease congestion.

He also told listeners that the $1-billion bond measure was just part of $8 billion that would be available for traffic improvements during the next five years as a result of county sales tax increases and a $1.3-billion bond measure he is proposing for 1990.

Against Gas Tax Hike

And the governor said he remains firmly opposed to raising the gasoline tax, the method of financing highways favored by Brown and other opponents of Proposition 74.

Opponents of Proposition 74, however, argue that bonds should be used only for one-time expenditures, like building schools or buying parkland, not for ongoing construction and maintenance of freeways.

Brown, who championed bond measures during his tenure as governor and was the prime force behind building the state water project, said Deukmejian is favoring Proposition 74 as a maneuver to avoid raising the state gasoline tax, now 9 cents per gallon.

“Historically, we’ve never had a bond issue for the building of our freeways or taking care of our streets and highways,” the former Democratic governor said. “Certainly I’d support an increase in the fuel tax. The people who use the roads are the ones who should pay it.”