DELEGATION WATCH : Getting It Together

Californians have at times regarded themselves and their state as less a cohesive political unit than a loosely knit collection of regional “lifestyles,” different one from another and different, certainly, from the rest of the nation.

With 30 million Californians spread across more than 155,000 square miles, consensus about the state’s common political and economic needs has become increasingly hard to define. As a result, this state’s congressional delegation, the largest in the nation, has often voted less in support of California’s overall best interest than in the best interests of individual constituencies or regions.

But years of deepening economic misery and brutal state budget battles may be doing what generations of state leaders have been unable to do: force California’s representatives to work together for the good of the state.

Gov. Pete Wilson’s meeting with the delegation in Washington this week was a heartening sign. Most of the 54 members showed up for breakfast with Wilson, the first meeting in decades between California’s delegation and its governor.

They agreed to fight together for funds that the federal government owes California as its fair share for immigrant services. The $1.4 billion is desperately needed to pay for medical and job training benefits, as promised in part by 1986 immigration reform legislation.

So finally there’s been a meeting between the congressional delegation and the governor. Let such meetings become so commonplace that they will no longer be news.