LOS ANGELES – As the three Republican candidates for governor courted Latino Republicans yesterday, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan angrily accused Gov. Gray Davis of thwarting the will of the voters by continuing to promote bilingual education.

Riordan, Secretary of State Bill Jones and Los Angeles businessman Bill Simon each addressed a Latino Summit sponsored by the California Republican Party, which is trying to repair its damaged relations with Latino voters stemming in large measure from a succession of racially charged ballot measures in the 1990s.

One of those was Proposition 227, the successful 1998 ballot measure to eliminate most bilingual education programs. Proposition 227 passed by a solid majority. Yet Latinos opposed it by a ratio of nearly 2-1, according to election-day surveys, just as they did earlier measures on illegal immigration and affirmative action.

At a news conference yesterday, an overwrought Riordan, a strong supporter of Proposition 227, held Davis responsible for Latino pupils in Santa Ana being denied the opportunity to have all-English instruction in accordance with their parents’ wishes.

“Gov. Gray Davis is trying to undermine the will of the voters and sneak bilingual education back into the classroom,” Riordan said, his voice rising to a quavering shout.

Finally, Riordan fairly shrieked, “Gray Davis: In the name of God, in the name of our children, stop this!”

Reaction from the Davis camp was swift.

“The man’s losing it,” said Davis campaign press secretary Roger Salazar.

Accompanying Riordan at the press conference were two Santa Ana mothers. One, Veronica Gonzalez, said her family speaks only English at home. Yet, she said, the school district placed her son, Anthony, in a bilingual kindergarten class against her wishes because of his Latino surname.

Riordan weighed in, sounding not unlike President Bush challenging Osama bin Laden.

“We have to stop this nonsense,” Riordan said. “It’s worse than nonsense. It’s downright evil.”

Asked what Davis was doing to undermine the anti-bilingual education measure, Riordan replied, “Working with the bureaucrats up there to interpret 227 in a way that is not intended.”

Although Davis opposed Proposition 227, Salazar said, he has promised to uphold it. Noting that the state Board of Education is still working on regulations to implement the ballot measure, Salazar said: “Nothing has happened yet.”

“It’s clear the Riordan campaign is in a free fall right now,” Salazar continued. “It sounds to me like what he’s doing is panicking and lashing out at the governor on this issue.”

The Riordan campaign may not exactly be in free fall, but the once-prohibitive favorite for the Republican nomination in the March 5 primary election suddenly finds Simon closing in fast, aided in no small measure by a relentless anti-Riordan advertising barrage from the Davis campaign.

If Riordan is showing signs of strain from the suddenly tightening race, rookie candidate Simon is also finding unwelcome the scrutiny that accompanies his new-found status of being someone who might actually win.

There is no record of Simon, a wealthy venture capitalist and philanthropist, ever voting in a primary election since he moved to California in 1990 – an issue that has dogged him since he surfaced as a candidate a year ago. Last week, The Sacramento Bee reported there is no record of his voting in primary elections when he lived in New York in the 1980s either.

Both Jones and Riordan are running television advertisements hammering Simon as a serial nonvoter.

The amiable Simon generally makes a habit of detouring to greet reporters on his way into events. But yesterday, Simon aides, pleading a tight schedule, sought unsuccessfully to whisk the candidate past three reporters awaiting his arrival outside the Los Angeles International Airport Marriott Hotel.

Simon was asked, What’s your message to Latinos? “More jobs, better schools,” he replied as he walked briskly into the hotel.

Do you plan to vote in the primary election? “Yes, I do.”

Why start now? “I’ve always been candid, straight on through,” Simon said pleasantly, but with a touch of exasperation. “I’ve admitted when I didn’t vote that was a mistake.” He said his erratic voting history should be weighed against his life-long commitment to community service and charitable work.

Jones, not surprisingly, would cut him no such slack.

“It’s appalling, totally unacceptable,” the secretary of state told a press conference. “There’s no excuse to be too busy making money to vote.”



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