UNEVEN RACE FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL STILL HEATED AS BROWN, POOCHIGIAN HOLD DUELING NEWS CONFERENCES
By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times
Nov 1 2006
The rivals for attorney general trade barbs in L.A. The ex-governor
has a strong lead.
SACRAMENTO – One is the son of a Fresno County farmer, the other the
progeny of a dynastic political family.
Dissimilarities etch the lives and policy positions of Republican
state Sen. Chuck Poochigian and his Democratic opponent in the campaign
for state attorney general, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, the mercurial
former California governor and frequent presidential aspirant.
ADVERTISEMENTThe pair have waged this election season’s most clamorous
battle. They’ve accused each other of flip-flops befitting a big-time
wrestling match. Crime-fighting chops and character questions have
become central themes in the contest to command the 1,100 attorneys
in the state’s Department of Justice.
In the homestretch, the 68-year-old Brown has ridden his status as
a venerable political celebrity to a healthy lead – 15 points among
likely voters in the most recent public polls.
But in Poochigian the GOP has a campaigner who vows to stay on
the attack until election day Tuesday, despite dwindling funds for
advertising and a reputation as a nice guy reluctant to throw mud.
"I remain convinced I’m going to win," the Fresno Republican says.
Brown has spent his two mayoral terms attempting to recast his image
as a crime fighter more interested in fixing public infrastructure
than tilting at political windmills. Now he vows to be a "practical"
and "common sense" attorney general.
"I love the law," he said. "And I think the law is being undermined.
We need to strengthen our Western legal tradition, emphasize the
norms that give our society identity, structure."
On Tuesday, Brown and Poochigian brought their campaigns to Los Angeles
for dueling news conferences almost within earshot of each other.
Brown appeared with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief
William J. Bratton, adding the two high-profile leaders to his list of
endorsements. His experience as a former governor and Oakland mayor,
Villaraigosa said, makes Brown "somebody who knows the needs of city
police departments."
Minutes later, Poochigian held an impromptu news conference on a
nearby street corner, repeating his criticism of Brown’s credentials
for attorney general amid a sharp rise in Oakland’s murder rate.
Poochigian highlighted his own endorsements from the California Peace
Officers Assn. and the California State Sheriff’s Assn., among others.
Trading accusations
For months, Poochigian has hit Brown with accusations new and three
decades old. He portrays Brown as a flaky extremist, a man long
opposed to the death penalty who has watched over a stratospheric
murder spike this year in Oakland.
In turn, Brown has characterized Poochigian as a hard-right fanatic
who opposed a ban on high-powered sniper rifles and fought the state’s
successful 2004 ballot measure to publicly fund stem cell research,
frequently sides against environmental interests and opposes abortion
rights.
But around the Capitol, Poochigian is better known for collegiality
than ideology. Friends say he’s as consistent as his favorite breakfast
cereal: oatmeal.
His grandparents fled the Armenian genocide and the family eventually
settled amid the grape fields of Fresno County. Poochigian, 57, grew
up in Lone Star, a speck of a farm community along the railroad tracks
southeast of Fresno.
After attending Cal State Fresno and law school, Poochigian became
a business lawyer. He broke into politics in 1978, volunteering for
George Deukmejian’s successful attorney general campaign, then became
a gubernatorial aide to the conservative Deukmejian and later to Gov.
Pete Wilson.
In private life, Poochigian has survived a few rough patches.
Around the time he first ventured into politics, he lost more than
$100,000 in a failed business deal in Gusher Oil Co., a firm that
drilled mostly in Texas. He and his partners were sued for nonpayment
of a loan. It was "a bad investment," he says today, that cost him more
than his share to settle debts owed by a few investors who walked away.
Among his partners in Gusher Oil was attorney Richard Wyrick.