NEWS ANALYSIS : Speech Cements Remaking of Image : Politics: With a more conservative Legislature, and possibly an eye on the White House, the governor pleases O.C. conservatives with hard-line address.

Gov. Pete Wilson used his fifth State of the State speech to cement his conservative remake Monday, replacing most moderate talk of years past with hard-line calls for tax cuts and pushing his views on welfare reform further than ever before.

The Pete Wilson who spoke Monday made only passing mention of spending to care for children with emotional problems and on prenatal care for poor pregnant women. When he offered those ideas upon taking office five years ago, he won praise from Democrats as forward-looking and progressive.

The Wilson of 1995 takes a far harder line. He proposes to place teen-age mothers in foster or group homes. In extreme instances, he would remove a teen-ager’s baby and place it in foster care, an echo of congressional House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s proposal for orphanages.

The governor’s State of the State speech expanded on several themes he used to win reelection overwhelmingly in November, and on his weekend inaugural speech, after which his supporters gushed that he is now the “tough-love governor”--all of which has fueled speculation that he will run for President.

The ex-Marine continued to display his pugnacious side, and once more declared his intent to call on Washington to change laws so that “the death penalty (is) more than just an idle threat.”

In some circles, Wilson is viewed as a moderate. By some measures, he is. But on Monday, Wilson directly confronted Democratic interests. He took on attorneys and teachers unions, calling for reforms of the legal system and public schools.

Gone too is the governor who struck a deal with Democrats in his first year to increase taxes by $7.2 billion. This Wilson intends to cut taxes by $9 billion over the next five years.

Wilson, now emboldened by his reelection victory, renewed speculation about his presidential aspirations and the prospects of working with a more conservative Legislature.

He is seeking significant changes in civil and environmental law, calling for constitutional amendments to turn government functions over to private enterprise and making it harder for lawmakers to regulate business.

“This is not tinkering at the edges,” said George Gorton, who ran Wilson’s campaign. “What we learned in the campaign is that people are demanding fundamental change, that something be done about the declining quality of life.”

Orange County lawmakers were enthusiastic about the program outlined by the governor, who carved far closer than ever before to the delegation’s conservative ideals.

“This is my favorite State of the State speech since I was first elected,” said Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange), who has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. “For a conservative Republican, this was red meat extraordinaire. It could have been written and certainly endorsed by the Orange County Republican Central Committee.”

Assemblywoman Marilyn C. Brewer (R-Irvine), also said she was “very excited with what I heard. The tax cut and efforts to revitalize business is what’s needed to be done.”

Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) said Wilson has “gotten the message loud and clear from the voters. . . . He has given us a very firm and clear plan.”

One of the most striking aspects of Wilson’s State of the State address Monday and his inaugural speech Saturday was his declaration of victory over the stubborn California recession.

Gloomy talk of businesses fleeing the state, of job-killing machines, of $2.8-billion state budget deficits, has disappeared.

Now, the economy is “blooming” and “vibrant.” It’s clicking along so nicely that his economic advisers anticipate an extra $37 billion flowing into state coffers over the next five years--enough to fund the $9-billion tax cut starting in 1996.

To add weight to the forecast, Wilson invoked the name of former federal Secretary of State George P. Shultz, the chairman of Wilson’s council of economic advisers, and an economist by education.

Wilson said that of the $37 billion, $12 billion would go to public schools, kindergarten through 12th grade. More details of the spending plan will be released today, when the governor unveils his budget proposal.

The governor called for public school reforms, such as abolishing tenure and setting up a merit pay system. That is an idea certain to meet opposition from teachers unions, traditionally among the Democrats’ strongest backers.

However, Wilson knows he cannot go too far to the right in his proposals. He needs Democratic help to accomplish much of anything in the Legislature, which is almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

Wilson can win passage of a budget only by obtaining a two-thirds vote in the Legislature. If he tries to cut too deeply into Democrat-backed programs, Democrats can withhold their votes.

“He needs a cooperative atmosphere, or he’s never going to get a budget,” said Democratic Assemblyman Richard Katz of Sylmar. “Why should (Democrats) give Pete Wilson a platform to run for President, particularly if he continues to attack many of the things that are important (to them)?”

While the governor continued to call for tougher criminal sanctions, he made only one reference to prison construction, saying spending money on new prisons is not something he wants to do; “it is something we have to do.”

In last year’s State of the State address, he called for $2 billion in spending on prison construction. There was no such request Monday--although if anything, prisons are an even more pressing issue now.

Studies by government analysts and others say 15 or more prisons must be built, at a cost of $4.5 billion or more, by 1999 to accommodate felons sentenced under last year’s “three strikes” sentencing law.

The speech, like the inaugural address Saturday, was seen as a forum for any plans that Wilson may have to run for President in 1996. He again called on the federal government to help defray the cost of illegal immigration and took a slap at President Clinton by saying California is showing the nation “that there is a right way--a free market way--to reform health care, voluntarily without imposing mandates on small businesses.”

Whether this all adds up to a Wilson run for President remains to be seen. But, Gorton said, “California offers the nation a glimpse of the future.”

Times staff writer Eric Bailey contributed to this story.