Polls predict a black will govern California

Press, 21 April 1982, Page 20

Polls predict a black will govern California

By

JOHN HUTCHISON

in San Francisco

If the pollsters in the state know what they are talking

about, a black man is likely to be the next governor of California.

Except for a brief and freakish circumstance more than a century ago in Louisiana,, no black has ever governed one of the United States, much less one with a population of 24 million, most of whom are of other races. Mr Tom Bradley was bom on a Texas farm fA years ago, when that state denied his race any .genuine participation in politics. He is mayor of Los Angeles. He could undoubtedly be reelected to the office for a fourth four-year term — not because he is black, but because he is looked upon as a competent, honest, intelligent, practical manager in a city where some of his predecessors have fallen short of such virtues.

He has undertaken the campaign for governor with no serious opposition yet in. his own Democratic Party. He has ample campaign funds. His record as a public servant is more impressive than that of either of the Republicans hoping to contest with him. He is a polished politician who makes few. mistakes in that trade, tried in the electoral crucible of the third largest city in America, where he has.held office for almost two decades.

When he was seven years old, the large and poor Bradley family came to California. Young Tom was strong and bright and industrious. He was a bright pupil and a good athlete, and he won a scholar-

ship to the University of California, where he was a winning quarter-miler. A big man — six feet four inches tall — he became a policeman in Los Angeles in 1940, in a force which pracctised racial discrimination throughout the 21 years in which he was a member. He reached the highest rank permitted a black — that of lieutenant.

While a policeman, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. He opened a law office, and in 1963 stood for the city council. He won. He was re-elected twice to four-year terms. Then he stood for mayor, and was defeated by an incumbent who made race an issue.

But Mr Bradley, four years later, challenged the incumbent again, and was victorious. By large majorities, he was re--elected in 1977 and 1981. He takes credit for good tax management, innovative programmes for the under-privi-leged, development of the harbour and the rehabilitation of run-down sections of his city. Although an amiable man, he likes to be regarded as a tough ex-policeman. Although blacks wield considerable political power in Los Angeles, they are a minority. So are whites. There are more citizens of Mexican and Asian origin. But May or Bradley’s support derives from a cross-section of the races. Colour is unlikely to be a serious issue in his try for state office.

California elected a black Caribbean immigrant to the office of Lieutenant Governor in 1974 and has since sent that man on to Congress. The

Speaker of the Assembly, one of the state’s two legislative houses, is a black man whose office is generally called the second most powerful elected position in the state. A black holds the important elective position of state superintendent of education. All three were chosen by an electorate largely unconcerned with their colour. Mr Bradley will probably even draw some support from white Californians who like the idea of setting an American racial precedent. There is an old instinct in this state to teach the rest of the nation lessons in sociology. . Mr Bradley is not a charismatic. politician, and it is his good fortune that the other aspirants to the office he seeks also have relatively dull personalities. He is regarded as

fiscally conservative, managerially pragmatic and temperamentally low-key. He is unlikely to boggle the state with such erratic brilliance as that of the present Governor, Mr Jerry Brown, whose Jesuit training and Zen leanings have alternately dazzled and disconcerted the California public. In a state familiar with slambang political contests and offbeat candidates, Mr Bradley will not touch pff fireworks. Indeed, critics. complain that he tends to dodge issues and to put more emphasis on compromise than upon leadership. The mayor does not stir great excitement among the voters, but his own self-appra-isal may be a bit unnerving to opponents. “My style may be low-key,” he once said, “but if I chart a course, I’ll roll over you, like a Sherman tank.”