Posted on 07/12/2002 8:59:59 AM PDT by dalereed
JOSEPH PERKINS
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
Will history repeat in the governor's race?
July 12, 2002
Pat Brown reckoned that he had a better chance of being re-elected California governor if he faced a conservative rather than moderate challenger. So the Democrat insinuated himself into the state Republican Party's gubernatorial primary, helping its more conservative candidate prevail.
But the general election turned out quite differently than Brown expected. He lost to Ronald Reagan, his conservative Republican opponent, by a landslide.
That was 1966. And as the 2002 California gubernatorial race unfolds, it appears that history might very well repeat itself.
Indeed, California Gov. Gray Davis helped conservative William Simon win the state GOP's gubernatorial primary this past March by throwing $10 million worth of attack ads against moderate Richard Riordan. Davis was wary of going against Riordan in November. But he salivated at the prospect of facing Simon.
A California Field Poll published in the wake of Simon's upset victory over Riordan appeared to validate the Democrat's political machinations. It showed Davis with a commanding 14-point re-election lead over Simon. But, my, how things have changed in the ensuing months. The latest Field Poll, released this week, shows that the Democrat incumbent's lead over his Republican challenger has been cut in half.
That's because the more the Golden State's voters take Davis' measure, the more they examine his record, the less they like him. In fact, more than half the state's voters view the sitting governor unfavorably.
And with good cause. Because hardly a week passes, it seems, without fresh evidence of Davis' political duplicity and ethical bankruptcy. Like his order, reported this week, to pull the state's advertising from the Capitol Weekly, the self-described "newspaper of record" for the state government.
Davis was peeved at Ken Madler, the paper's publisher (who happens to be a Democrat), for reporting that the state's employee rolls had reached a record level. That's because Davis claimed to have ordered a state hiring freeze seven months ago. And Madler's paper revealed that the Davis administration has filled 22,000 new jobs since then, only slightly below last year's unfrozen figure.
Which is one of the reasons California is facing a $24 billion budget deficit only four years after Davis inherited a $22 billion surplus.
Then there's the news report last week that lawmaker Dean Florez, chairman of the Assembly's joint legislative audit committee, was stripped of his job by Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, a Davis toadie. The governor was angry at Florez, a Democrat, because of his committee's investigation of the Davis administration's $95 million no-bid contract with software maker Oracle Corp.
Only days after the governor's top aides consummated the sweatheart deal – which committed the state government to pay for $41 million worth of software it didn't need – Davis received a $25,000 check from Oracle. Of course, the buckraking governor denied, denied, denied that there was a quid pro quo.
Just as he denied that his proposal to shut down five of California's nine privately run prisons as of last month had anything to do with the $2.3 million in campaign contributions he received from the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, a public employees union.
Yet, it is hard to see how California's penal system benefits from closing the state's private prisons. Especially considering that the state's correctional facilities are dangerously overcrowded, operating at nearly 190 percent of capacity.
Then there's Davis' suspicious flip-flop on a tax break for the state's insurance industry.
Three years ago, the Democrat governor vetoed a bill that would have preserved the multimillion-dollar tax break, arguing that it was "neither fair nor in keeping with sound taxation principles." But after accepting more than $250,000 in campaign contributions from Fireman's Fund Insurance Companies, the governor reversed himself. He now is supporting the insurance industry's case before the state tax board, arguing, shamelessly, that it is a matter of fairness.
Finally, this past May, Davis picked up a $260,000 campaign contribution from California's pipe trade union. The union gave the Democrat governor love after the Davis-appointed state building standards commission issued a ruling keeping plastic water pipe from replacing copper pipe in California homes.
The union is loathe to use plastic pipe because it is cheaper and easier to install than traditional copper. So California remains one of only two states that continue to prohibit plastic pipe in homes.
Gray Davis is giving ground in the California governor's race because his politics are crass, his ethics Clintonesque. It wouldn't be the biggest of surprises if California voters deny the Democrat incumbent a second term.
Perkins can be reached via e-mail at joseph.perkins@uniontrib.com.
Copyright 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Our well is hanging on 450' of 1" threaded schedule 80. The installer is well known for reliable systems. He won't use anything else. The big problem with plastic is grounding all the valves in the system. IMHO, there should be a tapped hole in every metal valve for attaching a ground wire. Fire hydrants and big gate valves (4") are especially bad.
You're welcome
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