PROFILE / THE MAVERICK GOVERNOR : Baja’s Ruffo Breaks the Mold

Baja California Gov. Ernesto Ruffo publishes the state’s ledger sheet every month in local newspapers. His administration has stopped the age-old practice of paying journalists friendly to the government. And he has threatened to jail officials caught taking bribes.

The measures, unprecedented in Baja California politics, have earned Mexico’s first opposition governor a reputation as an honest politician and focused national attention on him as a potential presidential candidate for the conservative National Action Party in 1994.

But changes do not come easily in a country that has been dominated by a single party for 60 years. Ruffo’s coverage in the Baja California press is largely hostile. Members of his party have complained about some Ruffo appointees, picked for their skills rather than their years in the opposition party. And many Baja Californians have not adjusted to the new-style government.

“In the past, to get a license plate quickly, people paid a ‘tip’ to an official who then resolved the problem,” Ruffo said in an interview. “I tell my officials I don’t want them to receive any money. Now, everyone has to stand in line. People get mad. . . . Instead of paying a bribe to the police, they have to go pay a fine at headquarters, and they don’t want to go.”

Mad or not, Baja Californians give high marks to the maverick governor, who they say has greatly reduced corruption since taking office seven months ago. Ruffo was roundly applauded for bringing charges against two former officials who allegedly funneled $10 million of state funds into the election campaign of his ruling-party rival, Margarita Ortega.

Ruffo beat Ortega last July in a hotly contested election that marked the first time the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ever lost a governorship. The PRI held on to the mayor’s offices in Mexicali and Tecate but lost to Ruffo’s party, the PAN, in Tijuana and Ensenada. No party has a clear majority in the state legislature.

As a result, Baja California is experiencing a degree of political pluralism unprecedented in Mexico.

“Government relations changed as a result of the election,” said Tonatiuh Guillen, a political analyst at the Northern Border College in Tijuana. “There is a plurality of actors and an equilibrium of forces. . . . There is a new relationship between the state and the cities. . . . For the first time, even the federal government knocks on the door when it comes to Baja.”

Under the PRI, the government and party were indistinguishable, a situation still prevalent in the rest of Mexico. Government officials distributed land, jobs and contracts in the name of the party. The state dictated to the cities; the federal government ruled the state.

Political observers say Ruffo has tried to break the patronage system. He puts government contracts up for bid and has worked to break the power of PRI labor and neighborhood leaders, whose strength stemmed from their government connections rather than from their followers. He has jailed leaders of squatter settlements and arranged to sell government lands to the squatters.

Ruffo has not excluded the PRI from his government. In a politically savvy move, he named a member of the PRI as state attorney general, then handed him the case against PRI officials charged with illegal diversion of funds.

The government, in turn, has leaked charges that Ruffo’s administration mishandled funds and that the national PAN received illegal contributions.

Ruffo is careful when it comes to the federal government. Political observers say he takes no controversial steps without first advising, if not consulting, federal officials. Several observers said that Ruffo and President Carlos Salinas de Gortari appear to have “an agreement” to clean up corruption in Baja California and develop the border state.

Critics charge that Ruffo has no long-term vision for the political and economic development of Baja. They say his pro-business government serves the rich more than the poor. But even PRI officials recognize Ruffo’s gains against corruption.

After taking office, Ruffo raised police salaries nearly 100% while putting out the word against bribe-taking. He is running a budget deficit to pay the salaries, but he explained, “I am betting that I will reorganize the government to save money and that I will collect in fees what used to be paid in bribes.”