Wilson the Campaigner Misses Senate Roll Calls

WASHINGTON — The absenteeism rate of Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) on Senate roll-call votes rose sharply this month as he campaigned for governor of California and remained in the state for a firsthand look at earthquake relief activities before returning to Washington Monday.

Although he missed only three of 242 roll calls in the first nine months of this year, Wilson failed to vote 22 consecutive times because he has been out of town since Oct. 7.

As a result, his voting absenteeism rate shot up from a near-perfect 1.24% through Oct. 7 to 9.4% for the year as a whole--one of the worst records in the Senate for 1989.

A Congressional Quarterly survey for the first nine months of this year indicated that the typical senator’s voting absenteeism rate is 1% or 2%. At the time of the survey, which covered a period ending Sept. 28, the worst record was held by Sen. Spark M. Matsunaga (D-Hawaii), who was ill during the summer months and missed 24% of Senate votes. The second-worst record was held by Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.), who missed 16% of votes, and ranked third-worst was Sen. William L. Armstrong (R-Colo.) at 9%.

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), however, did not miss a vote, although he joined members of the California delegation in the House for a one-day trip to Northern California to view the after-effects of the quake.

But Wilson, who is the leading GOP candidate for governor, already is under pressure by his supporters to spend more time in California to offset the constant presence in the state of Democratic Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, a potential opponent in the gubernatorial race.

A review of Senate records shows that Wilson missed eight roll-call votes on a deficit reduction package and election aid to Nicaragua before the earthquake.

After the disaster occurred, he missed 14 other roll calls, including a vote on a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, a $156-billion appropriations bill and a dozen roll calls in the Senate’s historic impeachment trial of federal Judge Alcee L. Hastings.