The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 77

LOS ANGELES TIMES Second Front Page f- Unseen Side I of Voter Guide Initiatives: Pro and con arguments on ballot measures in official pamphlet may come from surprising sources. CAPITOL JOURNAL GEORGE SKELTON California May Yet Get Clout It Deserves SACRAMENTO Follow-Up to Prop. 187 Dies Ballot: Deadline to qualify passes. Initiative called on state to support denial of citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. XJM 7 1 il ow that the two dwarf states have had their fun and made Pat Buchanan the front-runner for the ByDANMORAIN TIMES STAFF WRITER SACRAMENTO Backers of a March ballot ini- tiative to limit lawyers' fees went far to find someone with consumer credentials to tout their' fyS measure 1,500 miles, in fact, to Spencer, Iowa, and the home of Garry DeLoss.

In Califor- nia's official Js voter pam- phlet, DeLoss FSr-- THE Sh) signed the CALIFORNIA t'r ballot argu- VOTE ment endors- rrrv: ing Proposi- fPeopleand By Patrick j. McDonnell TIMES STAFF WRITER There will be no Son of Proposition 187 on the California ballot this fall. The so-called "Save Our State-2" initiativecrafted as a follow-up to Proposition 187 has failed to qualify for the November ballot, the California secretary of state's office confirmed Wednesday. Ron Prince, the Orange County activist who co-authored the proposal, did not submit any of the more than 433,000 signatures needed before last week's deadline, said Alfie Charles, a spokesman for Secretary of State Bill Jones. Prince, a founder of the so-called "Save Our State" movement that produced Proposition 187, had characterized "SOS-2" as a critical next phase for this presidential election year.

However, unlike Proposition 187, SOS-2 some dubbed it "Son of 187" was strictly an advisory measure: The proposal called on the California Legislature to back a constitutional amendment denying citizenship to the U.S.-born children of Politics of tion mi. one "sa of three anti- lawyer initia ROBERT DURELL Los Angeles Times Ron Prince, co-author of Proposition 187, discusses the initiative in Los Angeles in 1994. illegal immigrant mothers. Experts are skeptical about the prospects of revising the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to everyone born in the United States. Constitutional amendments require strong support: Please see MEASURE, A22 tives headed for a vote March 26.

He is identified "Former Executive Director, California Consumer Organization." In fact, no group with that name exists. lived in California when he was director of a Diego consumer group in 1984 and 1985, but hejpv' returned to his hometown in Iowa a decade ago. J-Please see PAMPHLET, A22 Hard Times for Death Penalty Foes; Activism: Opponents savor a few grass-roots victories in face of a record number of executions and a hostile 'i public. a CL- 1 CP By JACK CHEEVERS TIMES STAFF WRITER ilT Republican presidential nomination Californians wonder whether get a chance to play before the game ends. The midgets again have been showered with attention and elevated to an importance that, although real, has little justification.

To put this in perspective, consider-. When the nation's largest state finally is allowed to vote on March 26, it will be offering some candidate more than 10 times the GOP delegates won in New Hampshire. New Hampshire's tiny twin, Iowa, despite all the commotion, actually dispensed no delegates. All that fuss was about a nonbinding straw vote at precinct caucuses. California has more delegates than the first seven primaries combined.

And California's 165 will be awarded to the candidate who finishes first, unlike other states where delegates are parceled in proportion to the vote. In California, the prize is a jackpot nearly 17 of those needed to be nominated. Another thing for perspective: There were more GOP voters in Orange County alone during the last gubernatorial primary a virtual non-contest than there were in the entire state of New Hampshire on Tuesday. There were more voters in Riverside County in that primary than attended the Iowa caucuses. It's one thing for these pampered peewees to be the first to vote fine, let them be spoiled but by the time California weighs in next month, 60 of the delegates already will have been allotted.

California should get to vote before the winner is decided. To escape this farce in 2000, here's one solution: a presidential-only primary in California, with all the state contests returned to the traditional June election. Couple that with regional presidential primaries around the country, spaced a few weeks apart; dates rotated every four years so no region gains perpetual clout. But to avoid tantrums, let Iowa and New Hampshire still play first. Back to the present.

The New Hampshire primary did increase the odds that California's contest will be significant that we won't just be confirming a presumptive nominee, but helping to choose one. It's now more possible, if still improbable. "The odds were 10 to 1 against it before Iowa; now they're about 3 to 1," says veteran political consultant Ken Khachigian, who is neutral in the race. The conventional wisdom is that for California to become meaningful, three or four candidates will need to stay in the contest. Buchanan savvy, articulate and engaging travels light on little cash.

He's in it until the end as the common enemy of the others. Steve Forbes can afford to stay in financially, but at some point he'll have to ask whether his psyche can afford the beating week after week. Since, according to the consensus, neither Buchanan nor Forbes can be nominated the former's too extreme, the latter's blown it Sen. Bob Dole and Lamar Alexander are left to slug it out for the nomination. "Step aside," demands Alexander.

"The fight's just begun," Dole insists, If both still are standing on March 26, California could well decide the winner. But that's not going to happen, predicts another neutral guru, Republican Sal Russo. He believes "the most likely scenario" is that Dole wins the next four primaries: Delaware on Saturday, Arizona and the two Dakotas next Tuesday. Then that boosts him to a credible finish even if Buchanan wins in crucial South Carolina on March 2. "It's hard to see where Alexander turns the corner and wins," Russo says, because Alexander is broke.

"You can go just so far on momentum and fumes. You need TV advertising. Dole has legs money and organization." But not much of a message, as we've seen and only an embryonic organization in California. So far, just a couple of paid advisors and one county chairman (San Diego), plus the kingpins: Atty. Gen.

Dan Lungren and Gov. Pete Wilson. At that, Dole is better organized in California than the other candidates. Alexander has virtually no presence. Everybody has been focusing on the pygmies.

"These guys better organize in this state because it's totally wide open," Khachigian says. "Whoever runs here has to be extremely skillful and understand the different constituencies the L.A. suburbs, the Inland Empire, the San Joaquin Valley. There's a big, big potential Buchanan constituency all over this state." Dole vs. Buchanan.

That's reminiscent of another contest 32 years ago: Nelson Rockefeller vs. Barry Goldwater, California's last decisive GOP primary. WENDY LAMM Los Angeles Times David McVicker, left, his home reflected in the window of the rented motor home, sets off on trip to San Quentin Prison. McVICKER: 'I Have to See If As an outspoken agitator for-one of the least popular causes In America banning the death penalty Maria Telesco is wearily accustomed to picking up her phone and hearing a barrage of angry abuse. Some callers are extremists who accuse the retired nurse of being a Communist or even the Antichrist for her views; one threatened to burn a cross on her lawn.

But others are reasonable people no less firm in their belief that execution is a just reward for society's worst outlaws. "There are days when you say, 'I don't think we'll win this fight in this said Telesco, 62, who leads a small band capital punishment opponents in the Fresno area. With the public overwhelmingly in support of capital punishment and states executing the condemned in record numbers, Telesco and other opponents of the death penalty are in the unenviable position of trying spread their gospel in a nation? that seems unreceptive, if no openly hostile. 4 Polls consistently show tha Americans support the deapj penalty by large majorities. UtajJ prison officials were recently ii undated with calls from people, volunteering to take part ina firing squad for a convict who raped and strangled an 11 -year-old girl.

Virginia's largest anti-execution group folded last year for lack of money. "People often say to us, 'YOu Please see PROTEST, A19 Continued from Al Bonin, the so-called Freeway Killer, who kidnapped and raped him at gunpoint. Though he eventually killed 14 of his young male victims, Bonin miraculously drove McVicker home after the assault and set him free. "We'll meet again," Bonin told the boy. Twenty-one years later, it seems Bonin was right.

"I'm looking more forward to this than anything in my life," McVicker says, passing out beers to his friends as the Winnebago climbs out of Orange County, where McVicker lives and works as a disc jockey at a Santa Ana nightclub. "I have to see it," McVicker says of the execution. "It will change the mental videotape in my head. I can see him dead. I can see his body carried out.

He can't rape me anymore. He's dead." Bonin was convicted of molesting and murdering 14 teenagers and dumping their bodies along roadways in Los Angeles and Orange counties in 1979 and 1980. He was sentenced twice to die. Along for the strange road trip are a few boyhood friends, an old girlfriend and McVicker's sister, Doreen Bartholomew, who risked this excursion although her doctor warned her that any stress could prove fatal. She suffered a stroke two years ago and underwent heart surgery four years ago.

In quiet moments, she says, you can hear that artificial heart valve making a loud clicking noise inside her chest. McVicker tells everyone to be very quiet so they can hear his sister's heart. The sound of Bartholomew's own heart which vaguely resembles that of an old grandfather clock often keeps her awake at night. But everyone has their demons, and Bartholo mew's heart murmur is no match for the nightmares that play on an endless loop in her brother's head. Bonin pointing a gun at his neck.

Bonin telling him to undress. Bonin hitting him when he refused. At the moment Bonin succumbs to a lethal injection, when a doctor finds life no longer pulsing through Bonin's body, McVicker will uncork a magnum of 1990 champagne and share it with the families of other victims on hand. Outside the prison walls, McVicker's friends will be blasting specially selected tunes to Hell" and "Dead Man's Party" and cheering. "It has nothing to do with partying or getting drunk," McVicker says, lighting a cigarette and watching the rocky countryside zoom by the window.

"It's symbolic of our closure. It's not a ceremony, but a ritual. It signifies a Please see McVICKER, A12 Gas Chamber Executions Ban Upheld Newport Family Sees in Bonin Last Chance to Learn Son's Fate Mystery: The parents of Nick Gatti, last seen near Ortega Highway in 1974, wonder if he was a victim of the Freeway Killer. ff i By HENRY WEINSTEIN TIMES LEGAL AFFAIRS WRITER In a historic decision, a federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld a ruling Wednesday that executing people in San Quen-tin's gas chamber is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution's 8th Amendment. The court barred further executions by this method.

An ideologically diverse panK of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld October 1993 decision by U. District Judge Marilyn H. Patel-J in San Francisco that the gas chamber "is inhumane and has Please see CHAMBER, A19 Could their son have been one of the Freeway Killer's victims? Gatti and his wife, Venetia, wrote Bonin's lawyers on Friday and are still waiting for a reply. "This has left doubt in our minds," said Gatti, a retired aerospace engineer.

"If he is executed, this is our last chance to find out if he knows anything about our son." Nick Gatti, an avid camper and naturalist, often went on solitary hikes through the wilderness. But his mother says he always called and he always came home. Family members became worried when Nick was missing for several weeks and contacted the Orange Coun- By LORENZA MUNOZ TIMES STAFF WRITER NEWPORT BEACH-Angelo Gatti remembers nothing unusual about the morning of July 13, 1974, when he dropped his son Nick off along Ortega Highway for a hike in the Cleveland National Forest. But that day is seared into his memory forever as the last time he saw his 21 -year-old son. On the eve of serial killer William G.

Bonin's scheduled execution, after so many years of searching, the Newport Beach family is hoping to find an answer to their heartache. Nick Gatti of Newport Beach vanished 22 years ago while on a solitary hike. ty Sheriff's Department, Newport Beach police and a private search-and-rescue team. Angelo Gatti said he was told that he had waited too long to report Nick missing, that there were no leads to follow. The Gattis hiked through the Please see GATTIS, A12.