Wilson Better Get Off the Fence : Governor: Talking one way and acting another--as on gay rights and taxes--doesn’t gain him any allies.

Gov. Pete Wilson’s decision to veto the gay-rights bill, AB 101, and then to use his veto message to attack anti-gay activists, underscores the governor’s increasing political tone-deafness. Time after time, Wilson forgoes adherence to principle (or at the least rhetorical consistency), thinking instead that straddling the fence will win allies. As a result, few trust his judgment.

Take this year’s budget battle. Wilson abandoned the Republican leadership in the Assembly, broke a campaign promise by increasing income-tax rates and caved in to virtually every other wish Willie Brown and the Democrats sought. By the time Wilson finally signed the budget, the appointment of Ronald George to the state Supreme Court was the only gain for Californians who thought they were voting for a fiscal conservative last November. The extra $1,050 in taxes a family of four in California will pay on average this year pales in comparison to the impact of one judge on the state bench.

Wilson would probably say that he was simply acting responsibly with the tax hikes; now that he has a working agreement with Democrats in the Legislature, he would say, the state can move ahead. But Wilson’s legislative coalition has already crumbled. The Democrats are circulating stickers reading “Hi, I’m Pete Wilson, and I tax snacks.” At the first sign of trouble, the Democrats have dropped Wilson, happy to let him take responsibility for unpopular tax increases.

As with the budget battle, Wilson seems disingenuous in his veto of the gay rights bill. For months, the governor gave every indication he would sign the bill. Business leaders, probably more concerned about the regulatory onslaught the Wilson Administration has unleashed on them, seemed relatively untroubled about any impact the bill might have. Even public-opinion surveys show a small majority of Republicans favor the bill. And Republican Gov. William Weld of Massachusetts, who signed a similar anti-discrimination bill in his state, wrote Wilson and urged him to sign the legislation. (Despite his unabashed social liberalism, Weld has drawn open praise for cutting taxes and spending from Rep. William Dannemeyer, one of Wilson’s toughest critics.)

Wilson justified his veto by saying the bill could inspire discrimination lawsuits, causing undue hardships on businesses. Yet two days after vetoing the gay-rights bill, the governor signed a family-leave bill that will most certainly harm businesses, and will restrict the flexibility that employees and employers should have to negotiate working conditions during times of family crisis. The gay-rights legislation might have had theoretical costs. The family-leave bill will undoubtedly damage employment opportunities and business competitiveness.

Apparently Wilson, who disdains ideology, believes that he can simply throw sops to the right when his own activist ambitions conflict with the traditional Republican constituency. But social conservatism defines and motivates only a tiny core of GOP activists. To the rest of the party, and to most Californians, taxes, jobs and economic health are much more important. Wilson loves to compare himself to Ronald Reagan. But in style and temperament, he resembles Richard Nixon (who decried wage-and-price controls until he implemented them).

Repeatedly, Pete Wilson has demonstrated that he knows more about winning elections than he does about governing. All his fence-straddling hasn’t helped him politically, either: His approval rating has sunk below 30%. Wilson may be noted for his booming baritone voice, but unless he starts paying attention to substance rather than appearances, he will show that not only does he not know the political tune, but he can’t even fake it if you hum a few bars.