Trusting Davis a Mistake, Fiedler Asserts

SACRAMENTO — Rep. Bobbi Fiedler, cleared of charges that she tried illegally to induce state Sen. Ed Davis to pull out of the Republican race for the U.S. Senate, said Friday that her biggest regret in the monthlong ordeal was believing “that Ed Davis was my friend.”

“He sent a woman in to do his dirty work,” Fiedler declared in noting that Martha Zilm, Davis’ campaign manager, had been wired by prosecutors and played a key role in the criminal investigation.

“I certainly would never trust him in the future,” she said. “I think that’s clear and I think a lot of people in politics won’t trust him either.”

Fiedler’s statement came at one stop on a five-city tour through California as she tries to put her legal problems behind her and refocus attention on the Senate race. She also met with reporters in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco and scheduled a San Jose appearance later.

It was the first campaign swing for the three-term Northridge congresswoman since a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Wednesday dismissed indictments against Fiedler and her top political aide, Paul Clarke.

Fiedler insisted that Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner’s handling of her case was politically motivated, although she said she would not call for his ouster.

Reiner, a Democrat who denied any political motivation, had recommended against prosecuting Fiedler but said shortly after the charges were dismissed that Fiedler was engaged in “shoddy business.”

“He and I have not been what you call political allies in any sense of the word,” Fiedler said.

In undertaking Friday’s tour, Fiedler said she was hoping to “begin the next phase of the campaign” by homing in on the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Alan Cranston. Whether the indictments would continue to haunt her race will “depend in large part upon the press and how much they want to focus on it,” she added.

Reiner already has indicated that he might appeal the dismissal of charges against Clarke, which could keep the controversy boiling.

Davis also has said he would “insist that the proper legal remedies are pursued” against Clarke. In public statements, he has refused to back down from his assertion that Fiedler offered to contribute $100,000 to pay off a campaign deficit if he pulled out of the race. He declared even after the charges were dismissed that “I don’t think she’s innocent.”

Fiedler previously had said that she was “not hurt or angry” at Davis. But her remarks Friday appeared to reverse that stance.

“Having believed he was a friend or someone I could trust,” she said, “I think now it would be very difficult to have any communication with him.”

Fiedler said Davis “was unwilling” to be wired with a recording device and meet face-to-face with her as investigators, she said, had asked. Instead, Fiedler said that Davis sent Zilm to perform his “dirty work.”

“The irony of the situation is that the very person who claimed to have had the offer made to him was the last person they ever talked to in the course of the investigation,” she said. “And that just doesn’t make sense.”