Evening star., 1954-10-11

written BY c. =. Berry, former
liquor administrator for San
Diego. now under conviction for
bribery and conspiracy in liquor
license shakedowns.
This letter states that Mr..
Knights executive secretary in
terceded with handling of liquor
licenses in the interests Of
knights close friend"-the
quote is from Mr.. Graves-Nate
Rosenberg. Robert Alderman,
the former executive secretary of
the Governor. referred to in the
letter. has fatty denied he ever
met or knew Mr.. Berry or in
terceded with him for Mr..
Rosenberg or any one else. The
Governor has denied that Mr..
Rosenberg was a close friend
of his.
Allotted Funds for Probe.
How much if any effect the
investigation of liquor scandals
will have on the coming election
is anybody's guess. Attorney
General Brown has called atten-
tion to the fact that Mr.. Knight
himself made $100,000 available
for the investigation. and that
he will probably make more
money available when necessary.
1t doesn't look as though Mr..
Graves will benefit much from
these attacks on the Governor,
even though some Republican
politicians in Southern Califor-
mia are caught in the web.
Mr.. Graves has been underdog
in this race for Governor from
the start. In the June primaries,
Gov. knights total vote, on both
party tickets, was 100000 and
Mr.. Graves was $4,000, a spread
OF almost a million votes in favor
of Gov. Knight. Gov. Knight
had $4,000 votes on the Demo-
cratic line to 100000 for MIR.
Graves. It would appear almost
impossible for Mr.. Graves to close
the gap and win in the general
election. 1t is true $4,000 votes
were cast for another Democrat
IN the primary, r. j. Wilson, but
there Is no assurance all of those
votes will go to Mr.. Graves.
Democrats Not Backing Two.
Mr.. Graves is Al years old. and
for 20 years has served as execu-
tive director of the League of
California Cities. He was ap-
pointed State Director of Civil
Defense by Gov. Warren during
World War II, and he held sew
eral other Offices under President
Roosevelt and Gov. Warren, all
non partisan.
One was James Roosevelt.
eldest son of the late President,
who had been accused of whole
sale adultery by his wife. The
other was Representative Con-
don of the 26th congressional
district, who had been denied
clearance by the authorities 70
view atomic tests because of al
legged association with Commu-
nists and fellow travellers.
Mr.. Roosevelt is lucky. He
was nominated in the strongest
Democratic district in the State,
the 26th, which Is at present
represented by Samuel w. Yorty,
the Democratic nominee for
Senator this year.
The district went by some
0,000 for Adlai Stevenson in 1852.
The Republicans have a candi-
date there, "Ted" Owings, city
clerk of Culver. They are making
a fight for him. with some
Democratic assistance. But the
general prediction is that Mr..
Roosevelt cannot be beaten in
that district.
Representative Condon's case
is different. He won in 1852 with
a small lead of 1000. Running
against him is John F. Baldwin,
jr., who was the candidate he
defeated two years ago. In the
primary Mr.. Baldwin's total vote
was $4,000, as compared to
As, 900 for Mr.. Condor. Another
Democrat in the primary polled
II ,000-but those votes are not
regarded as likely to go for Mr..
Condor. The Red issue has hurt
Mr.. Condor and the Republicans
to win.