Davis’ Twisting Path

As he seeks to fulfill his promise to be a moderate who governs from the center, Gov. Gray Davis zigs one way and then zags the other. The question is where this path leads. Even when he eventually arrives at the right decision, Davis is threading a tortuous path through a thicket of controversial state issues.

The latest example came on Thursday when the Democratic governor embraced a proposed settlement of the court challenge to Proposition 187, the 1994 ballot measure that sought to cut off all state aid to illegal immigrants. To the distress of civil rights advocates, Davis submitted the issue to federal court mediation last April rather than support a district judge’s decision declaring the initiative unconstitutional.

Today, those activists are happy because the mediation resulted in a deal under which most provisions of Proposition 187 become invalid. That’s not a great surprise since the proponents of Proposition 187 were excluded from the process.

It is good that Proposition 187 is finally behind California. But just as the settlement was being leaked late Wednesday, Davis stunned many of those same civil rights advocates and fellow Democrats in the Legislature by vetoing a bill by Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) that would have maintained a modest outreach program for minorities and women in filling state jobs.

Davis contended that the bill violated Proposition 209, the 1996 initiative that effectively banned affirmative action programs in California.

Davis opposed Proposition 187 and 209 but says that as governor he must uphold laws that the people have adopted by ballot initiative. However, both Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer and former Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, Davis’ 1998 Republican opponent for governor, had argued that outreach programs as proposed by Polanco were fine so long as there was no attempt to set racial or gender preferences. Davis found himself in the unusual position of winning praise from the leading Proposition 209 proponent, Ward Connerly, a close associate of former Gov. Pete Wilson.

While the governor might have appeased Republicans with his veto, there was no solace for them in the Proposition 187 decision. Davis might believe he is following a centrist line; to others, it is an aimless dance that manages to anger, confuse and frustrate nearly everybody at one time or another.

Davis’ veto is bound to exacerbate his strained relationship with Democratic leaders in the Legislature, already close to open revolt. The veto of a relatively innocuous measure seemed unnecessary unless Davis was seeking political cover, or was trying to reinforce his recent declaration that he is in charge in Sacramento and the Legislature’s job is to “implement my vision.”

The problem is that sometimes Davis alone seems to know what that vision is.