POLITICAL NOTE : Lost Opportunity

The California gubernatorial candidates would have us believe that they would love to break clear of the handlers and image-makers and share with the voters the authentic nature of their candidacies.

But I can’t help recalling a July invitation from Cardinal Roger Mahony to both candidates to participate in a late August forum in Los Angeles. It would have been a dialogue, not a debate, to discuss public-policy issues including health care, crime, immigration and welfare reform.

Predictably, Gov. Pete Wilson and Treasurer Kathleen Brown rejected out of hand a unique opportunity to engage in serious and substantive discourse on pivotal issues. No wonder not only the press but also the public is cynical about the current political season.