With election day fast approaching, gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon is just days away from achieving the impossible: getting Gov. Gray Davis re-elected.
This is bad news for Californians because while Bill Simon may not be a perfect fit for the state’s highest office, Gray Davis has already proven his inability to govern. In the last four years, Davis has been nothing short of an ethical and political failure. Because of this, voters should vote for anyone but Davis come Nov. 5.
Even the Los Angeles Times, a liberal paper by most accounts, has written that “Davis’ obsessive pursuit of every last campaign dollar from special interests is unseemly, and the governor has been slow to grasp the lead on critical issues … he is robotic and humorless. He is often at war with the Legislature.”
Without an attractive record or personality to run on, Davis’ only option has been to lob grenades at Simon’s character. But if any candidate needs a moral awakening, it is Davis.
Since his days as a state controller, Gray Davis has been dogged by a well-deserved reputation as coin-operated politician. In his insatiable quest for campaign contributions, there have been a staggering number of “coincidences” in which Davis’ political actions have perfectly coincided with the whims of key contributors.
In just one of a laundry list of improprieties, the San Jose Mercury News reports that Davis gave his blessing to one of California’s biggest polluters as it dumped toxic waste into the San Francisco Bay. Though Davis had previously vowed to “fight to protect the environment,” it appears his resolve was tempered by a $70,500 donation.
In a similar case, the Washington Times reports that Davis vetoed legislation that would have informed the public about the adverse health risks of ephedra, a substance found in many products sold by the Metabolife Corporation. Not surprisingly, Davis also received a $125,000 donation from Metabolife and its then president, Michael Ellis.
There has also been recently released documentation which suggests that while serving as state controller, Davis worked in conjunction with former coastal commissioner and convicted felon Mark Nathanson in a bribes-for-permits scheme.
When Davis was questioned about corporate influence on his political agenda, the governor assured CNN interviewer Lou Dobbs that he “operates fully within the law.” When Dobbs pressed on, asking if the state should be held to a higher ethical standard, Davis, in true Clintonian fashion, refused to recognize the difference between legal and moral requisites.
But while the public was willing to overlook Clinton’s ethical transgressions because of a fruitful economy, Davis cannot lean on such a crutch. There is no denying that California is in a financial slide, largely due to a handful of Davis blunders.
The most outstanding of the blunders is Davis’ bungling of the California power crisis. When broached with news of a potential shortage, Davis remained idle for months. Finally, when political pressure grew too hot to bear, Davis overreacted, blowing the $8 billion state surplus on emergency power purchases. When the dust settled, California was on its way to a $24 billion deficit, a rising unemployment rate and a sluggish economy.
Things haven’t been much better on the education front, despite Davis’ declaration that scholastic issues are his “number one priority.” In addition to letting statewide SAT scores drop substantially, Davis has displayed his educational apathy by failing to attend even a single UC Board of Regents meeting as governor. This can hardly be chalked up to a lack of time, as Davis has had no problem fitting hundreds of political fundraisers into his schedule. It is just more evidence of his skewed priorities.
The last thing Californians should do is provide Davis with a mandate for another term of incompetent, corruptible leadership. There are a host of other candidates on the ballot, and the worst that can be said about them is that they have the potential to fail.
Gray Davis, on the other hand, is a proven failure. Californians deserve better.
Eisner publishes every Thursday.