cannabisnews.com: Davis Appears To Be Stuck In The Middle!





Davis Appears To Be Stuck In The Middle!
Posted by FoM on August 04, 1999 at 20:37:39 PT
Critics charge governor lacks any clear vision
Source: San Jose Mercury
SACRAMENTO -- In his first seven months in office, Gov. Gray Davis has tiptoed through a minefield of potential political disasters, but his split-the-difference politics have led many political observers to conclude that he has no clear vision for the state. 
``I think what you're seeing is what you're going to get. I don't think you're ever going to see Gray Davis become a visionary,'' said Wayne Johnson, a GOP campaign consultant in Sacramento who compared Davis to the president. ``He's learned his approach from watching Clinton. He has co-opted his enemy's turf and is controlling both sides of the battlefield.'' Davis' trademark caution, often reflected in his middle-of-the-road politics, also has come at a steep cost -- a growing rift with the liberal core of the party that helped him become the state's first Democratic governor in 16 years. But even when he's angering the left wing of his party, the political acumen he polished during the 30 years he spent training for the state's top post shines through. Consider last week, when the governor struck at the heart of a core party principle by vetoing a bill that would have authorized outreach programs aimed at encouraging minorities and women to apply for public jobs. That same day, he avoided a firestorm of criticism by leaking news that he would drop the state's defense of a divisive anti-illegal immigrant initiative, a decision made after he sent the dispute to court mediation. The Proposition 187 resolution topped news reports, while the affirmative-action veto received short shrift. Davis' willingness to turn his back on a key Democratic goal to broaden his appeal to moderates and his calculated effort to minimize the fallout make Davis' natural allies uneasy. ``It obviously sends a very disturbing message,'' said Oren Sellstrom, an attorney with the Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights in San Francisco. ``It's a real slap in the face of the voters who elected him.'' Davis' attention to staged news conferences and political fundraising, as well as his penchant for micromanaging everything from picking his political appointments to deciding who runs his daily errands, has deeply frustrated Democratic lawmakers, impatient to push a public-policy agenda held up during the long years of two Republican administrations. But administration sources are quick to point out Davis' accomplishments: He pushed education reform through the Legislature, signed a sweeping assault weapons ban, reached across the border to improve strained relations with Mexico and signed an on-time budget for the first time in years. Yet those actions have done little to dampen criticism that Davis seems most focused on his own ambition and his occupation of the governor's office, a post he coveted throughout his entire career. Now that he's there, he has chosen to remain aloof from the legislative fray and is casting himself as a centrist: hugging the right when it comes to big business and public safety, painfully straddling the middle when it comes to labor and overtime pay, and distancing himself from liberal Democrats and issues every chance he can. ``Leadership is not about just trying to put your head down and hoping nobody notices what you are doing,'' fumed a Democratic campaign consultant, who like other Democrats declined to publicly criticize their own party's governor. Although some critics say last week's orchestration over Proposition 187 was scripted to avoid angering both Latinos who opposed it and voters who passed it, others say Davis opted to drop the state's defense of the initiative to avoid a showdown before the U.S. Supreme Court, which could strike a blow to his assumed presidential ambitions. ``Clearly he has further aspirations, and he didn't want that played out on the national stage,'' a top Democratic state official said. ``What would you do to avoid having every immigrant in the country thinking you were Pete Wilson?'' Wilson is the former Republican governor whose embrace of Proposition 187 sparked a massive surge in voting among Latinos, helping Davis coast to a 20-point victory over Republican Dan Lungren last November. Little to show Davis' legislative record so far is slim. He is still touting four moderate education reform bills he signed four months ago. Since then, however, he has ignored looming issues such as health care and insurance, transportation, affordable housing and aiding the state's growing elderly population. Later this month, Davis will have to face many of those issues. The liberal Democrats who control the Legislature are expected to pass bills extending health insurance to domestic partners, giving patients the right to sue their health-maintenance organizations, raising the cap on medical malpractice awards and cracking down on cheap handguns. And Davis has yet to fill dozens of vacancies on key commissions and in vital state agencies. Since he took office, for example, he has appointed only four of 40 vacancies on the nine, nine-member regional water quality control boards. Lacking a quorum, the board overseeing Lake Tahoe, which is contaminated with the fuel additive MTBE, has not met since September. Real effects The lack of appointments is hurting real people, critics say. Workers injured on the job, for example, can't contest orders denying them benefits because there aren't enough members on the appeals board to meet. Davis spokesman Michael Bustamante said the rate of appointments is in line with that of other new governors. Bustamante said Davis intended to use the month of July to fill many vacancies. ``But, unfortunately, given the massive amount of legislation that came to the governor's desk in July, he ended up spending the bulk of his time on legislative issues,'' Bustamante said. Davis also has come under harsh criticism for his well-known habit of consulting political polls before taking a stance on any issue. He refused to meet with lawmakers as thousands of their bills made their way through the Legislature. Davis broke his silence when, after being criticized for stalling HMO bills only days after raising thousands of dollars from managed-care executives, he angrily announced that he expected lawmakers simply to enact his ``vision.'' At the same time Davis was losing his temper about HMO legislation in San Francisco, an administration source in Sacramento was defending Davis' decision to ask the Legislature to slow bills that would allow patients to sue their HMOs. Administration polls, the source said, showed HMO reform was not a major issue with voters. ``This is a governor capable of great leadership at a time when the state desperately needs it,'' said Harvey Rosenfield of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, an organization pushing HMO and insurance reform. ``I hope this is only a temporary bout of `Clintonitis,' and not a fatal case. And I hope he has a really, really good doctor.'' In the governor's defense, administration officials counter that Davis is sticking to the ``centrist'' themes spelled out in his campaign. Republican support Ironically, Davis seems to be getting the most support from Republicans, who said they have been pleasantly surprised by the governor's strong stances on public safety and fiscal responsibility. The governor has denied clemency petitions from two death-row inmates, pushed for a new state prison and vetoed bills that would have established alternative sanctions, instead of imprisonment, for non-violent offenders. He has even rejected recommendations from the Board of Prison Terms, which is dominated by law enforcement officials, to parole a handful of inmates serving life sentences. ``Frankly, given the natural tendency of most Democratic elected officials, I think Gray Davis will continue to go overboard trying to look like a tough guy,'' said Jim Brulte, one of the Senate's GOP leaders. Ambition not unusual Still, Brulte and several other Republicans said they don't think Davis is motivated by political ambition any more than any other politician. Johnson, the GOP consultant, said Davis' ease with the business community partly stems from his days as state controller, when ``he was philosophically comfortable going to those bond-house lunches.'' Brulte said Davis' only problem is with his own party: ``His vision of California's future and that of the Democrats in the Legislature is not the same. He likes to slice the baby down the middle.'' Whatever his motivation, Johnson added, Davis is fully aware that being a conservative on crime, education, business and state fiscal matters will play better should he run for president in the future. ``You can't run in New Hampshire on red ink,'' Johnson said. Some Democrats angry But Democrats are angry that Davis has swung so far right on many issues. Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, is frustrated that Davis tried to stall his bills to implement a voter-approved initiative that would allow marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes. Davis tried to sink the bills, crafted by the Santa Clara County district attorney and state attorney general, by going to a committee chairman behind Vasconcellos' back. ``I exploded,'' Vasconcellos said. Pointedly telling Davis to butt out of their business, legislative leaders sent out a memo telling legislators to ignore entreaties from the governor's office. But, while grousing privately, most Democrats are still publicly bending over backward to accommodate Davis. Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, delivered cookies to the governor's office the day after Davis demanded a rubber-stamp legislature. Even though Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante has publicly clashed with Davis, the moderate Fresno Democrat was diplomatic in his assessment of the freshman governor. ``We may have our differences about specifics, but generally we're going to be in the same ballpark,'' he said. BY HALLYE JORDANMercury News Sacramento Bureau Contact Hallye Jordan at hjordan sjmercury.comor (916) 441-4601.http://www.marijuana.org/A Personal Letter To Mr. Davis - 7/24/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2194.shtml
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