SPECIAL REPORT : The State of California : <i> Political </i> FORCAST : Wilson Can Be a Hero--IF, and That’s a Big Word

Ed McLaughlin, farmer and chairman, Butte County Board of Supervisors:

As a local government official, I certainly hope four years from today Pete Wilson is regarded as a hero. His experiences as a city mayor, a state assemblyman and a U.S. senator make him the best-prepared governor-elect in 40 years to tackle the tasks that lie ahead.

His task of rebuilding our confidence in California’s future on a wide range of issues, from environmental concerns to the state’s fiscal stability, do not lie totally within his control. To be successful, he must communicate and strike frequent compromises with an often-hostile Legislature led by an equally strong and determined Speaker of the Assembly, whose priorities are often at odds with the governor’s.

. . . In the past, Wilson has demonstrated that he can work with diverse special-interest groups at any level of government and bring them together to develop workable solutions. We are all hoping and praying that he can use that “Midas touch” once again as we enter a challenging new decade.

John M. Dominguez, community action program chairperson, United Auto Workers Local 645, Van Nuys:

We didn’t support Wilson because of his poor record on labor issues--for example, his lack of support for worker-safety legislation. In spite of his past, we’re looking forward to working with him to deal with the problems facing workers.

Wilson has inherited a state with growing unemployment caused by the loss of good-paying industrial jobs to foreign competition, lack of capital for investment and a shifting of work to southern states and/or maquiladora plants in Mexico. California is also suffering from the effects of the nationwide recession.

Areas where Wilson can have an important impact--accessible education for future workers, retraining present workers, health and safety and investment in technology--will be key to the future economic growth of California. The fight for a state health-care program is going to be a good opportunity for the new governor to demonstrate leadership.

The question is: Can Pete Wilson rise above his party’s shortsighted policies?

Terry Friedman, member of the California Assembly (D-Los Angeles):

Wilson returns to a California in decline. Los Angeles is the gang and cocaine capital of the world. Our schools are failing. Infant mortality approaches Third World levels.

These problems are of our own making. Voters have chosen lower taxes over safe streets, good schools and healthy children. We cannot build the society we want without paying for it.

Wilson has the temperament and experience to be a hero. He’s a doer, a pragmatist. California will prosper again if he soundly invests more money in law enforcement, children, health care, the environment. If Richard Nixon could go to China, Pete Wilson can raise taxes.

H. Eric Schockman,associate director, Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC:

. . . The California governor’s office is quickly approaching “institutional meltdown.” The voters of this state have not seen an activist governor since the days of Edmund G. (Pat) Brown and Earl Warren. An entire generation of voters have grown up with a succession of administrative caretakers.

Is it any wonder that the electorate now wants to further “Balkanize” the governorship--pulling out power from its traditional domain of insurance oversight and environmental regulation? Unless Wilson can capture the high ground of leadership and tackle the dragons of, say, a state health-care policy, be prepared for yet another initiative battle and perhaps a new health “czar” elected by the people.

Wilson must furthermore stop the hemorrhaging and divisiveness that public policy has produced in this state. As the Soviet Union may break apart, so, too, is California poised to continue to splinter into rival encampments: urban vs. rural; north vs. south. A Wilson-led, balanced state water policy would certainly mend the “water wars.” Bottom line, Wilson has a Herculean task in securing a place in the California history books.

Shirley Weber,president of the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education and chair of the Afro-American Studies Department at San Diego State University

Wilson has initially done something good by elevating education to cabinet-level status and appointing Maureen DiMarco to that job. He’s at least focused on children, and that’s the key.

The question is, can he hold fast in the midst of all of the other demands? Can he convince the Legislature and rally the people of California to understand that we have to put more resources into prevention?

The reality is that we are not judged by the number of students we send to Harvard; we are judged by the number of dropouts. We are judged by what we do for the least of our children.

So I’m saying to Wilson that you are going to have a difficult time because of the budget crisis. But what’s your vision? And do you have the intestinal fortitude to hold to that vision and to try to convince others to invest in long-term solutions rather than quick fixes?

Ed Davis,member of the California Senate (R-Northridge):

Pete’s success depends on his ability to strategically plan a budget. Our current practices stink. If he can extrapolate trends and fiscally plan for them, then we cannot only avoid disaster, but once again provide the resources for a growing and dynamic California. If Gov. Wilson can’t adopt the necessary budget reforms, he will fail and so will the entire state. However, I strongly believe that Pete Wilson will make it.

Jeff Raimundo,former political reporter in Sacramento and Washington:

After eight years of mulish confrontation with the Legislature and lack of problem-solving vision, George Deukmejian should be an easy act to follow. Wilson will be a hero.

Choosing a respected Democrat (Bill Hauck) to co-chair his transition team, selecting a highly regarded finance director (Republican Tom Hayes), promising to set up a new environmental agency and appointing an education adviser (also a Democrat) to his cabinet, Wilson already has displayed the cooperative spirit and thoughtfulness needed to attack California’s problems.

Reapportionment will provoke tensions with the Democrat-controlled Legislature, but it also will give Wilson the bargaining chips he’ll need to confront budget, health care and a host of other crises facing California.

Bill Baker,member of the California Assembly (R-Walnut Creek):

In 1994, Californians will be thankful that they had Wilson to repair and restructure the machinery of state government so that it could begin to answer the challenges of the ‘90s--rather than compound them.

Wilson will be praised for his well-honed administrative skills, which steered California in the direction of “crisis-prevention management,” particularly in areas of health care and education, with future-oriented policies tailored to our state’s growth demand.

. . . A hero is one who does what’s right and needed in the face of great difficulty or danger. I’m trusting that in 1994, Californians will say that Pete Wilson rose to the occasion.