Two's a Crowd

Drawing a deep breath, Los Angeles' Mayor Samuel Yorty intoned: "Smog, transit, taxes, education, dangerous drugs, judicial appointments, bank charges, saving and loan charters, law enforcement and other great areas of state concern must be divorced from shoddy machine politics." Though his mammoth city has headaches enough of its own, the mayor's indictment was aimed at the Democratic administration in Sacramento. Thus, after years of feuding with Governor Pat Brown, Sam Yorty announced last week that he would challenge him for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in June.

Few California political experts give the maverick mayor more than an outside chance of upsetting Brown, who, while lacking charisma, has given the state effective, honest government during his two terms in office. Yorty, an irascible former Congressman who has been Los Angeles' mayor for five years, has done his best to ignore such problems as Watts--to the extent of blocking urgently needed federal anti-poverty funds for the area before last August's riots. Recent polls of registered Democrats indicate that Brown would trounce him by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.

Party regulars fear, nonetheless, that a bitter primary fight may seriously damage the Governor's appeal by November, when he will face more formidable opposition from Actor Ronald Reagan or San Francisco's ex-Mayor George Christopher, the leading contenders for the Republican nomination (TIME, Feb. 11). Brown supporters angrily labeled Yorty a "stalking horse" for the G.O.P., pointing out that he had supported Nixon against Kennedy in 1960. The Governor wondered aloud whether Yorty had entered the "wrong party's primary." Reagan and Christopher, in true democratic tradition, sent Yorty messages of welcome.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.