Wilson’s Legacy a Mix of Good Policy, Bad Politics

SACRAMENTO —  This is history month in Sacramento. Reporters are busily writing the history of Pete Wilson as governor. It’s only an initial draft--scholars will polish it later--but this is the crucial version, a first impression looking into the rear view mirror.

Here’s what I see:

The most complex and contradictory governor of modern times, an oft-unpopular politician with popular policies. A beat-up battler who never quit, who never allowed himself to become a lame duck.

Wilson has been boring to listen to at a mike. Yet, his governorship has been anything but boring. As he told L.A. Town Hall last week, “You can’t say the past eight years have lacked drama.”

He was talking about the earthquakes, fires, droughts, floods and mudslides that plagued his watch--plus the L.A riots and the worst economic crisis since the great depression. He helped the state weather it all.

I’m also thinking about all those fierce fights--over illegal immigration, racial preferences, union dues, education, welfare . . . . Name it. If Wilson couldn’t find a fight, he’d make his own. He didn’t cower. Combat was his mode.

No weapon went unused, especially the veto. Want your project, vote for his program. That’s how he got statewide school testing.

Wilson’s two terms have been a wild roller coaster. He’d ride high for awhile, then plunge to the depths, climb to another peak and nose-dive, slowly ascend . . . .

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Many see Wilson as an opportunist who cares less about policy than politics, a perpetual candidate who’s all elbows with his finger to the wind. Sure, he is a politician. But he’s also a passionate policy wonk.

The irony--not withstanding his lopsided 1994 reelection victory--is that Wilson has tripped over many of his own political moves. But his policy achievements have been extraordinary.

Some policy successes:

* Making California more business-friendly through tax breaks, workers compensation reform and just showing that Sacramento cares. The state has gone from last to first in job creation.

* Getting a half million people off welfare and into work. These cutbacks were made possible by federal reform, but states were given broad leeway and Wilson steered California toward a middle course.

* Cracking down on crime with tougher sentencing. (But he blemished his legacy by vetoing bills to ban assault weapons and junk handguns.)

* Becoming an education governor by pushing through class-size reduction, higher academic standards, statewide testing and $250 million for new textbooks.

But his political failures included:

* That clumsy run for president after promising not to. This was the worst move of Wilson’s career, causing irreparable injury.

* Angering Republicans by raising taxes $7.5 billion to balance a recession-era budget. This was both a policy success and a political failure. It was his most courageous, statesman-like act as governor. But he did it roughshod without bringing along his party.

* Overreaching on ballot initiatives. Voters in 1992 rejected his convoluted proposal to both cut welfare and give himself more budgeting power. This year, he backed an anti-union initiative that energized labor and helped Democrats.

Which brings us to the glaring piece of Wilson’s record that, for many critics, will be his soul legacy--his hard-hitting crusades against illegal immigration and racial preferences.

“It’s unfortunate,” says Senate leader John Burton (D-San Francisco), “because Pete could have been really a terrific, progressive governor.”

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The rap: Wilson was divisive and set back the Republican party a generation by driving Latinos into the arms of Democrats.

Maybe. Here’s my view: Most voters did agree with Wilson on both illegal immigration and racial preferences and showed it by passing Propositions 187 and 209. But these were two more examples of right policy goals, wrong political execution.

Wilson was insensitive to Latinos with his ugly “they keep coming” TV ad, showing Mexicans racing across the border. Demagogic Democrats then turned him into a boogeyman.

The governor also botched it by browbeating the University of California into scrapping its affirmative action programs while he was running hard for president. It looked just too opportunistic. He should have waited for Prop. 209 the next year.

Still, what voters care most about is policy. Politicians and pundits fret over politics and PR.

Wilson is leaving a mixed legacy few would have predicted when he was elected eight years ago. But on balance, he has been a very effective governor. And, yes, uniquely exciting.