Bush in State for 2 Days of Fence Mending : Politics: GOP insiders see the trip as a bid to ease concern that California is being shortchanged in White House appointments.

WASHINGTON —  President Bush’s two-day California tour, which begins today, is viewed by state Republican insiders as part of a stepped-up effort to allay concerns that the White House has given short shrift to California, particularly in high-visibility appointments.

The effort to mend fences comes as the state faces a crucial gubernatorial race that will be pivotal to the redrafting of congressional lines. California is expected to gain five to seven new seats when the governor and state Legislature draw new boundaries after the 1990 Census.

Bush, who made only one extensive trip to California last year and a short visit to tour earthquake damage in the fall, plans to return again at the end of the month and is likely to make several more trips before year’s end. Vice President Dan Quayle also plans frequent visits, largely to raise money for Republican Sen. Pete Wilson’s campaign for governor.

“There’s a sense the White House has an East Coast focus and has not really been in touch with California, Californians and California issues,” said Steven A. Merksamer, Gov. George Deukmejian’s former chief of staff who is now a private attorney and part-time Wilson adviser.

The White House, while aware of the grumbling in the nation’s most populous state, maintains that Californians have gotten at least their fair share of senior appointments.

“The previous President was a Californian, and there was much more emphasis on California because he was from the home state,” said White House Personnel Director Charles G. Untermeyer. But he maintained that the complaints about insufficient appointees are unfounded.

California is listed as the residence of more Bush appointees to senior government positions requiring Senate confirmation than any other state except Virginia and Maryland, with their large number of career federal employees, Untermeyer said. The state’s share of the approximately 745 higher-level Bush appointments, he said, is comparable to the numbers from Texas, Bush’s adopted home.

Others, however, say the White House statistics are misleading.

“The real question is not overall numbers but clout,” said Dixon Arnett, a Washington lobbyist who was once Wilson’s legislative director. “And California clearly does not have people with clout in appointments as much as we used to.”

Moreover, several prominent appointees are officially listed as Californians but have little connection with the state’s political machinery. These include the three highest-ranking appointees on Untermeyer’s list: U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills, Energy Secretary James D. Watkins and Michael J. Boskin, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

The two highest-ranking members of the present Administration who are recognized within the state as bona fide California political appointees are Deputy Agriculture Secretary Jack C. Parnell and Deputy Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao. Both had the active backing of Wilson and Deukmejian.

Given the state’s enormous political importance--it will provide roughly one-fifth of the electoral votes needed by a presidential nominee and as much as 12% of the House of Representatives in 1992--some GOP activists maintain that it is in Bush’s interest to have someone highly placed in his Administration as an informal liaison to the state.

“I would have thought the Administration would have wanted an ear to the ground, someone from California who would be an ambassador to California as well as whatever function they were appointed to,” said a prominent California Republican.

Some of the state’s Republican leaders deny that California has been overlooked politically. They note, for example, that Steve Kinney, a former Deukmejian fund-raiser, has been appointed the national party’s director for the Southwest region, which includes California. The appointment was made by Republican National Chairman Lee Atwater, Bush’s premier political strategist.

The complaints about a lack of appreciation of California’s assets have been registered against a backdrop of eight years when Reagan and an inner circle filled with Californians ran the government. Previously, Richard Nixon, another Californian, put his stamp on the capital’s political hierarchy for six years between 1968 and 1974--giving the White House a California flavor for 14 of the 20 years that preceded Bush.

“George Bush’s circle of friends are not from California necessarily. They are from Texas and the East Coast,” said Kenneth L. Khachigian, a San Clemente lawyer who was Reagan’s chief speech writer and a senior adviser to Quayle during the campaign. “The vice president’s from the Midwest. Those are always the two greatest forces in any appointments process.”

Moreover, Khachigian and others point out that while Bush raised millions of dollars in the state, California did not play a central role in his nomination. Deukmejian steadfastly refused to endorse in the primary and many of the state’s top Republicans followed his lead.

“More than anything else you remember those states that were with you before the convention,” Khachigian said.

Deukmejian, who was considered at one time as a possible running mate for Bush, put his organization to work for the GOP ticket in the general election. The Republicans narrowly carried the state despite a massive grass-roots effort for Democrat Michael S. Dukakis.

Nevertheless, since Bush’s election tensions have flared between the White House and Deukmejian as well as Wilson, the GOP’s probable gubernatorial nominee this year.

Deukmejian felt he was snubbed during a Bush visit to the state last April; Wilson has sparked anger in the White House by opposing Bush on votes against the development of the FSX fighter plane for Japan and, last month, on China policy.

But, with this antagonism reportedly smoothed over, Bush will attend a $1,000-a-ticket fund-raiser for Wilson and the California Republican Party at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles this evening.

At the same time, Robert J. Moore, director of the governor’s Washington office, said that, after a slow start, the White House has stepped up California appointments recently.

He cited the selection of Californians Bill Medigovich as the Western regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; Dennis Underwood as commissioner of reclamation, and Oscar Wright as Western regional director of the Small Business Administration.

Some Californians who have been involved in the appointment process acknowledge that some of the most eligible California talent--including Deukmejian--was not interested in seeking positions in the Administration.

On the other hand, a number of the most prominent candidates for Cabinet-level positions were not necessarily in the mold of Bush’s moderate, non-controversial selections.

Leading the list of the high-profile disappointed was Craig Fuller, Bush’s vice presidential chief of staff who lost out to John H. Sununu for White House chief of staff. Fuller, who was California’s best bet to have influence at the highest level, decided to join a Washington public relations and lobbying firm rather than accept another position in the Administration.

Next in prominence was Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), co-chairman of Bush’s California campaign and the first congressman to endorse Bush publicly. Dornan, an outspoken, controversial conservative whom Bush called “my number one surrogate speaker,” had sought appointment as drug czar, a job that went to William J. Bennett.

“He clearly wanted it,” said one of those familiar with the appointment jockeying. “But he’s not really in the Bush Administration mold.”

Times librarian Pat Welch contributed to this article.