Wilson Faces Showdown on Choice for Regents : Education: Attorney John Davies, a friend of the governor, says he’s an easy target because he is ‘white, wealthy, a male . . . and a campaign contributor.’

SACRAMENTO —  John Davies is Gov. Pete Wilson’s personal attorney, close friend and, in recent days, an especially juicy target for Wilson’s political enemies.

That’s because in addition to being an old friend, he is Wilson’s nominee for a seat on the prestigious University of California Board of Regents. Davies must appear today before the powerful Senate Rules Committee for a confirmation hearing. By month’s end, the nomination will go to the full Senate, where a taste for battle is already apparent.

As the showdown approaches, critics of the university point out that the board is stacked with wealthy white men appointed by Republican governors. They say Davies would add nothing to a board that under the state Constitution must reflect California’s diversity.

With student fees approaching $4,000 annually, the regents are being accused of being out of touch with the plight of students and the hard economic times. In one of the first regents meetings he attended, Davies voted to approve a rich retirement package for UC President David Gardner.

In the Davies nomination debate, Wilson’s critics see a chance to make themselves heard. The Latino Issues Forum, citing the constitutional diversity requirement, came out against Davies after failing to get the governor’s ear on appointments.

“We get nice form letters back,” said Guillermo Rodriguez Jr. “This is our opportunity. He was very close to the governor. We figured we’d get the governor’s attention.”

Davies agrees he is in a fight for the regents position, considered the most prestigious non-paying appointment a governor can make. Regents oversee world-class professors and researchers, Nobel laureates, the nation’s two nuclear weapons laboratories and a $6-billion budget.

“They oppose me because I’m white, wealthy, a male, a friend of the governor’s and a campaign contributor. I can’t argue with any of that,” Davies said by phone from his downtown San Diego law office.

In the interview, the 58-year-old graduate and patron of UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall law school spoke of his “great respect” for the nine-campus university system.

“It’s like being on the Board of Directors of IBM, in a way,” he said. If the university system were a company, he said, it would rank 42nd on the Fortune 500 list of the largest corporations. As a regent, Davies continued, “you’re involved in something important for the state.”

Wilson moved to defuse opposition to Davies last month by nominating Ward Connerly, owner of a land use consulting firm in Sacramento and a former Assembly staffer, who is African-American, and Lester Hsin-Pei Lee, an engineer and chairman of a Silicon Valley firm, Recortec Inc. He is Chinese-American. Connerly has given more than $100,000 to various Wilson campaigns. Lee has given $1,000.

Wilson’s other appointee is S. Stephen Nakashima, a Japanese-American who was forced into an internment camp during World War II, and later worked his way through UC Berkeley and became a successful lawyer. The Senate confirmed Nakashima with no votes to spare last week, after attacking him for voting for Gardner’s pay package and being a Wilson campaign donor. He has given $33,000 over the years to Wilson.

Tuesday, Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), who voted against Nakashima, introduced bills that would prohibit gubernatorial campaign donors from being appointed to the UC Board of Regents and would bar regents from engaging in fund raising.

By nominating Davies, Wilson is tapping a friend of more than three decades. Over the years, the governor has entrusted the attorney with his most delicate personal affairs.

In 1981, Davies handled Wilson’s divorce from his first wife, Betty. During the transition, Davies arranged for Wilson to live rent-free for 19 months in condos owned by San Diego businessmen. When Wilson married his second wife, Gayle, Davies took the job of managing the couple’s assets in a blind trust. When he was a U.S. senator, Wilson delegated to Davies the key job of finding potential federal judges.

Davies is a partner in the San Diego office of the Philadelphia-based law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockium. He has been active in all of Wilson’s campaigns, raising money and donating his own, including $11,500 for Wilson’s run for governor. Davies never held a formal job in the campaigns, but reviewed contributions for sensitivity, returning donations that could have proved embarrassing.

“It’s the kind of friendship where we’ve been so close for so long that we stay that way, whether we talk once a month or once a week,” Davies said.

The friendship began at Boalt Hall, the UC law school. Davies was married and had two children at the time. Wilson was single. But their military backgrounds were similar and they went to college on Navy scholarships.

After graduating in 1962 and clerking for California Supreme Court Justice Roger Traynor, Davies returned to San Diego and went to work for the small but influential law firm headed by his father, Lowell Davies, a dedicated patron of the Old Globe Theatre and namesake of the Lowell Davies Festival Stage.

John Davies, in turn, helped Wilson land a job at the firm. Lawyer Wilson’s interests ran more toward politics, and Davies was there to assist. In 1964, Davies helped found a group called Republican Associates to groom candidates. Wilson was a paid employee. With its backing, Wilson won an Assembly seat in 1966.

When Wilson was elected mayor of San Diego in 1971, he appointed Davies to the city Planning Commission. After Wilson was elected to the Senate in 1982, Davies joined the redevelopment agency, the Centre City Development Corp.

On that board, Davies gained a reputation as a hard-working deal maker. He could also be curt. Lucy Goldman, a fellow board member, called Davies “just another elitist millionaire,” who was “extremely rude to women, very sexist in his dealings with women and minorities.” She said he showed little interest in minority hiring or other social issues, and seemed convinced that “the way things had been going was just perfect.”

Davies shrugged off Goldman’s characterization: “You could talk to 100 people about me. Two or three would agree with her.”

In all there are 26 regents, 18 of whom are appointed by governors to 12-year terms. Wilson has made four nominations so far, including Davies, whom he appointed last year. By law the Senate has a year to confirm a nominee. If the Senate fails to act on Davies by March 30, the nomination would fail.

In the 125-year history of UC, the Senate has refused to confirm only one nominee--Leland Stanford in 1882. The railroad magnate later founded Stanford University. Davies remains intent on fighting for his seat. Win or lose, he said, “I’d be in pretty good company.”

Profile: John G. Davies

Gov. Pete Wilson has nominated Davies to the UC Board of Regents. Senate confirmation hearings begin today.

Born: June 28, 1934.

Residence: San Diego.

Education: He received his undergraduate degree from USC in 1956, and his law degree in 1962 from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall.

Career highlights: Law clerk to California Supreme Court Justice Roger Traynor, then worked in his father’s law firm. Now partner in the San Diego office of the large Philadelphia-based firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Davies also chaired the San Diego Planning Commission from 1980-83 under then-Mayor Pete Wilson, and was president of San Diego’s downtown redevelopment agency from 1987 until last year.

Interests: Significant ownership interest in KIFM, a San Diego jazz radio station.

Family: Four grown children.

Quote: “They oppose me because I’m white, wealthy, a male, a friend of the governor’s and a campaign contributor. I can’t argue with any of that.”