Sowing the Ground for a Better California : In the last segment of their debate in The Times, the gubernatorial candidates tell what they’ve learned by listening to Californians this year.

During my campaign for governor, I’ve traveled up and down this state and learned important lesson about Californians and their families. Day after day, I’ve seen the tenacity of people raised on the special promise of California--that tomorrow will be better than today, that our children’s future will be brighter than our own. With hard work and responsibility, Californians have always believed they could achieve security for their families and prosperity for their children.

But that special promise--the California promise--has been betrayed by Pete Wilson’s rudderless leadership. And Californians are crying out for change. They want new jobs, better schools and an end to the fiscal mess in Sacramento.

That’s why I sat down more than a year ago to write an economic plan to turn this state around. I’m sending out millions of copies of this plan to every corner of California. More than 50 economists, including two Nobel laureates, have endorsed my written plan to rebuild California. So have hundreds of leading educators, business leaders and more than 39,000 rank-and-file police officers.

Recently, as I traveled through Merced County, I met a pipe fitter who embodied many of the lessons I have learned since I began this campaign to rebuild California. Like many Californians, John Hollis’ parents migrated to California from the Dust Bowl. They settled in the Central Valley and raised a family. John’s father was a trucker and was able to transform the difficulties of their past into a prosperous and happy life in California. They left a world of economic uncertainty and found opportunity and security in California.

John told me that by the time he was 17, he was able to leave his parents’ home and support himself. He learned the pipe-fitting trade and has worked hard his whole life to support his own family. This year, John will pay off his mortgage and completely own his own home--realizing the California promise of independence and security that brought his parents here a generation ago.

Yet even as John has fulfilled the dream of a lifetime, his three sons are finding it harder and harder to begin their journey to independence. All of them have had to move back home with their parents because they can’t make enough to support their own households. John’s eldest son, for example, can’t make enough to support his wife and children even though he has been in the trade for several years.

When John’s parents came here decades ago, they understood the implicit promise that if you worked hard and played by the rules, you could get a good job with a decent wage and your kids could get a good, affordable education. And perhaps most important, when your children were grown, they were assured a better life than yours.

In the past four years, this California promise has been shattered. More than 550,000 Californians have lost their jobs, 64,000 businesses have failed and our schools have gone from the top of the national rankings to the bottom. For the first time ever, our children may not be able to enjoy the same lifestyle they knew growing up.

This truth was brought home to me recently when I visited a school to talk about my proposals to put computers in every classroom. The children’s eyes lit up with hope. But they made it clear that it’s not just computers they need--it’s basic supplies like pencils and textbooks.

Unfortunately, California’s middle-class families have had a governor who doesn’t seem to care about the declining economy or crumbling schools-- a governor who spends millions of dollars on 30-second television commercials, yet hasn’t even taken the time to spell out his plans for the next four years.

John Hollis is one of millions of Californians who are frustrated and fearful for their families’ futures. He sees the problem more clearly than Pete Wilson ever could. He sees it in his own home and among his friends. He explained that if you lose your job, you lose more than an income. You lose your dignity, your independence and your hope that things will ever get better.

That’s why I have written a plan to cut $5 billion from wasteful government spending and use the money to help create 1 million private-sector jobs you can raise a family on and put our schools and colleges first again.

Wilson has no plan for California’s future; he only has a plan for his own reelection. He lacks the courage to clean up the financial mess in Sacramento so that we can put more cops on the streets, keep libraries open longer and make our schools safe again.

John and his sons deserve better. California deserves better. We cannot afford four more years of drift and decline.