Davis Makes Do in Not So Sweet Penthouse Office

The boxes are not yet unpacked and the office looks far from lived in. But Gray Davis, California’s new controller, has grudgingly accepted his physical--if not political--exile.

Used to being at the center of power--first as chief of staff to former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and later as a major player in the Assembly--Davis has been forced out of the Capitol by Republican Gov. George Deukmejian in the culmination of a move begun by Davis’ Democratic predecessor, Ken Cory.

Now housed on the 18th floor of a luxurious steel and glass building 10 blocks from the corridors of power--about as far west as one can get and still be in Sacramento County--the new controller’s office seems more suited to a man like Cory, who had abandoned thoughts of running for governor and became almost reclusive in recent years.

But for Davis, a master of the political symbol with strong ambitions for higher office, this towering monument to a developer’s zeal is clearly the wrong place at the wrong time.

‘Under House Arrest’

“I am the financial watchdog,” Davis said, seated at his desk overlooking the carefully landscaped mall that leads to the Capitol. “It is ridiculous to require the taxpayers to pay $500,000 to put the state controller on the top floor of one of the most expensive buildings in Sacramento.”

Yet the lease has been signed, and for now at least, the new controller, who likes to refer to himself as a “penny pincher,” will remain here, as he puts it, “under house arrest.”

Davis, however, said he intends to keep pressuring Deukmejian to allow him to move at least his own personal office back to the state Capitol, contending that it would save taxpayers as much as $100,000 a year for the five years of the lease. So far, Deukmejian has turned a deaf ear and--during the Christmas holidays--ordered the doors locked on the old controller’s office in the Capitol.

Exile or not, the man who dreamed up Gov. Brown’s blue Plymouth as a symbol of that Administration’s spartan approach to government is intent on remaining highly visible and in the political starting lineup.

On the eve of his inauguration, for example, the Democratic controller-elect was busy gathering political contributions at a $1,000-per-couple “birthday fund-raiser.”

Although he has yet to complete all his staff appointments, Davis has filled his top slots with individuals not only experienced in running government but possessing the kinds of political credentials essential for a future gubernatorial bid--perhaps running against Deukmejian in four years.

Davis’ top political appointees include his chief of staff, Noel Gould, a Long Beach attorney who ran his campaign last year; Jim Tucker, who as consultant to the Assembly’s Elections and Reapportionment Committee helped draft the district lines that have kept Democrats in power; and Anne Baker, a former Maryland legislator who until recently worked in government relations for Pacific Telephone.

Even Davis’ oath-of-office ceremony (likened to a “coronation” by some close aides) was a testament to the kinds of symbols that helped him become the only new statewide officeholder to win election in November.

Lists His Immediate Agenda

There was a chorus of children dressed in international costumes as a reminder of Davis’ efforts to place pictures of missing children on milk cartons and grocery bags. Also taking part were the state’s top Asian judge, a leading Latino legislator, a Vietnam veteran, a black minister, a rabbi who serves as chaplain to the Los Angeles Police Department and a priest who works on behalf of San Diego’s homeless.

During the ceremony, Davis listed his immediate agenda, which includes help for homeless veterans and a continuation of his highly publicized efforts to find missing children. He also pledged to closely guard the state’s coastline and other public lands, to hasten Deukmejian’s plan to break the state government’s financial ties with South Africa and to make sure much of the state’s money is invested in California.

Davis said it is a “fair statement” that he intends to wield more power than Cory did during his 12 years in the office. Davis said he would do this by using the office’s largely unpublicized connections to dozens of regulatory agencies.

In addition to serving as chief accountant of the state’s $37-billion budget, the controller has vast influence over the investment of $55 billion in state pension funds and sits on 34 state boards and commissions, including the state Lands Commission, the State Board of Control and the Board of Equalization. The controller also is chairman of the Franchise Tax Board.

Won’t Speculate on Future

“I’ve long believed that economics drives politics and not the reverse. . . . And I don’t think anyone has ever seen those (board) funds from that perspective,” he said.

Several other statewide officeholders, including Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy and Secretary of State March Fong Eu, have all but announced that they will run for other offices in 1990. But Davis refuses, as he did throughout the campaign, to speculate about his future.

Davis also has another Cory legacy to worry about. Last June, the retiring controller purchased a $36,000 heavy-duty station wagon equipped with an array of special features. Now it passes to Davis, the man who felt passionately that a governor ought to drive a plain blue Plymouth.

“We’re going to auction it off,” Davis said. His own new state car: a Pontiac Bonneville, black with gray interior.