The Fourth Estate be Damned for their irresponsible meddling and coddling in politics.
DUMP DAVI$
GO SIMON
Posted on 06/03/2002 9:09:56 AM PDT by John Jorsett
For Gov. Gray Davis, these past few weeks have brought nothing but bad news.
Well, almost nothing.
The state budget deficit ballooned to nearly $24 billion, forcing Davis to make unpopular budget cuts and renege on his commitment to avoid a tax increase.
The Oracle scandal over a $95 million contract for computer software most state agencies didn't even want shows no signs of abating.
A succession of controversies about Davis' relentless campaign money drive pushed the governor to cancel two fund-raising events to avoid raising additional ethical questions.
Even the "smoking-gun" Enron memos that point to manipulation of the California energy market is a mixed blessing, as some analysts see it. The revelations afford Davis the opportunity to claim vindication, but they also remind voters of the electricity crisis that caused them to turn against the once-popular governor in the first place.
The good news for the Democratic governor is that his misfortune does not appear to be benefiting his rookie re-election opponent.
Republican Bill Simon, a wealthy Los Angeles investment banker, crushed former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan in a stunning primary election upset. But in the nearly three months since then, he has seemed unable to get his campaign on track for the November general election.
"If Davis had a stronger opponent, he'd be in deep trouble," said Republican analyst Jack Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. "Simon is not a strong opponent, at least not yet, so Davis' political danger is more potential than real."
Republican strategist Dan Schnur, who worked briefly for the Riordan campaign, puts it this way: "Gray Davis is in a boxing ring. He's in one corner and in the other corner there's a stool with the gloves sitting on it. He keeps hitting himself with his own gloves. But in the other corner, nobody's picked the gloves up."
A recent nonpartisan Field Poll showed that even though voters don't think much of the job Davis is doing, they would pick him over Simon by 14 percentage points.
"What it's coming down to is the devil we know is better than the devil we don't know," said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, who teaches political science at the University of Southern California.
But with five months until the Nov. 5 election, there is plenty of time for a nasty budget fight between the governor and the Legislature, or for Davis administration ethical controversies to reach a critical mass, or for other unforeseen circumstances to intervene.
"Who knows what's going to happen?" said Democratic strategist Darry Sragow. "If the economy tanks, if people start blowing themselves up everywhere and voters get scared and angry, they either retreat to the known or they take a chance on the unknown."
The budget is the governor's most immediate concern. Even though Democrats hold commanding majorities in both houses of the Legislature, Davis will need to hold Democrats in line and bring over a handful of Republicans to garner the necessary two-thirds vote to adopt a budget.
Republicans are threatening to make a stand against any tax increases, and liberal Democrats would rather raise taxes on wealthy Californians than reduce programs that benefit poor ones, as Davis has proposed.
A stalemate dragging into late summer, like the one 10 years ago, could be perilous for a governor running for re-election.
"Voters hate tax increases and they hate program cuts, but they hate a dysfunctional government even more," said Schnur, who, as communications director for former Gov. Pete Wilson, is a veteran of the state's longest budget standoff.
For now, Davis appears to have surgically selected the budgetary remedies least likely to cause a voter uprising. He proposed program cuts, primarily in health and welfare, and increases in tobacco taxes and motor vehicle license fees.
After the 1997 Virginia governor's race turned on that state's controversial "car tax," California Republicans seized on the motor vehicle license fee as a silver-bullet issue.
"There's a broad opportunity with California motorists who make up a very significant portion of the electorate," Schnur said.
To date, the vehicle license fee shows no signs of turning into the second coming of the 1978 Proposition 13 property tax revolt.
"It's not something people focus on," said Democratic strategist Bill Carrick. "They just write their check and forget about it." As for the tobacco tax, he said, "That's not something that's going to upset people. They don't even think of it as a tax."
As Davis grapples with the budget, he also finds himself fending off a succession of allegations of unseemly fund-raising practices.
After the $95 million Oracle contract was awarded, Davis' technology adviser received a $25,000 check from Oracle for the governor's re-election campaign. Davis, a notorious micromanager, said he knew nothing about either the contract or the donation and asked the official to resign.
There have been other controversies.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association gave Davis $251,000 in March, two months after the governor signed a hefty increase in pay and retirement benefits for the state's prison guards.
The California Pipe Trades Council gave the governor $260,000 shortly after a ban on plastic pipes the union had been pushing for was renewed.
The head of the California Teachers Association said the governor twice hit him up for $1 million, once in his state Capitol office.
In a recent speech to the California Society of Newspaper Editors, Simon denounced "the pay-for-play governing culture of Gray Davis."
The same day, it was revealed that securities regulators fined a Simon company as part of a "pay-for-play" investigation in New Jersey.
Davis insists there is no linkage between political contributions and policy decisions, and unabashedly defends his aggressive pursuit of campaign cash.
"I think people realize that not everyone's like Bill Simon, who inherits his wealth from his father," the governor said after his speech to the newspaper editors. "Some people have to work their way up and raise money."
Whether the fund-raising issue packs the punch Davis detractors would like is something most experts doubt, if for no other reason that it reinforces the public's widely held cynicism about politics in general.
"They already believe that politicians are the worst profession in the country and this just confirms their view that none of them can be trusted," said Barbara O'Connor, who teaches political communication at California State University Sacramento. "One of the reasons they don't like politicians is they assume government is for sale."
We should have penis envy.
The RATS have the youth evermore pushing, pumping, brainwashed or not, they go!
We sit and sound good...
Sounding good doesn't do sh*t for Simon.....
calgov2002:
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Uncle Hal, please go to the head of the glass. This is exactly what is going on now. Who will forget the chorus of people who were wringing their hands because Bill Simon wasn't running ads during the Christmas shopping season when no one watches TV? You'd say, "it's a waste of money to run campaign ads now." and they'd reply, "I know, I know but he has to DOOOOOO something..."
For the record Bill Simon won that race by about 20 points (oh alright it was only 19). Patience everyone. And above all Freepers, don't let the "experts" in the press get you off track. If they really knew what it takes to win campaigns they would be making the big bucks as consultants. Instead they are low paid press flacks in cheap cordouroy jackets with wrinkled pants and unwashed hair.
Now this heeere's some powrfill politikill weppinry:
Bray an Hizzoner Wheelie will do ANYTHING for money.
You'll have to admit Hizzoner does bear a striking resemblance to the slutty
intern. And on second glance, cowgirl graydavis loooks a bit like Paula Jones.
Exactly. Us political junkies want to see Simon campaigning in ernest now, however, that does not make sense. I would think that he is busy (though the presstitutes sure don't report much on his activities) setting up an infrastructure/GOTV etc. and raising money. Grayout is getting lots of press and it ain't pretty. His high negatives are going to go higher and it is hard to bring them back. Come Labor Day, methinks Simon will unleash and the race will be on. In the meanwhile, I will watch Grayout continue to self destruct....
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