Coping With a Voice That Can’t Roar

Gov. Pete Wilson squirmed in his chair like the kid who knows the right answer to his teacher’s question. Seated on a panel with three fellow governors last week, he nodded enthusiastically. He pumped a fist into the air for affirmation. Once, he broke into applause.

When the topic finally turned to unfunded federal mandates--one of Wilson’s favorite political targets--the governor couldn’t hold back. He balanced a yellow legal pad on two knees and scribbled furiously. Then he passed his comments to the moderator. But by the time his words could be read, the conversation had moved on.

Another lesson for America’s only speechless politician.

Ever since throat surgery six weeks ago, Wilson has been the voice that couldn’t roar. At first, he mumbled in a raspy strain. But when his expected recovery was delayed by more than a month, the governor was sentenced to absolute silence.

Today, in the screeching world of politics, where state lawmakers are hotly debating his proposed budget and national leaders are pondering his fledgling bid for President, California’s governor has been left in a role made for Charlie Chaplin.

“He’ll raise his hand and be very clear--he is not subtle,” said state Finance Director Russ Gould, who has worked closely with the governor recently to prepare the upcoming state budget. “He’ll shake his head or nod his head or [give a] thumbs up--that’s the right direction. Or he gives you this look--’That doesn’t compute with things I’ve heard before.’ ”

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It is not easy for anyone to suffer a doctor-ordered silence, let alone a public official. For Wilson, it has become an especially significant problem for his White House campaign, which has been forced to delay its formal announcement, cancel some important appearances and scale back its fund-raising goals.

Recently, the governor’s lack of visibility has fueled rumors that he is looking for a way out of the presidential race--a charge his staff denies. Wilson had been scheduled to officially launch his presidential campaign in mid-May, but now the announcement is not expected until at least mid-June.

In Sacramento, aides say the governor’s staff has adjusted to the new conditions with some added patience and a lot of legal pads. His schedule remains rigorous. And they say Wilson has not yet given in to his obvious frustration, demonstrating a sense of humor in many of the scrawls he passes to associates.

Pat Clarey, the governor’s chief scheduler, said Wilson once wrote her about reactions he has received on the road lately. Some people raise their voice to speak to him; others speak directly to his wife or aide as if he were not there, and some steal the pencil from his hand and write him a memo in return.

“He tries to make this as lighthearted as possible,” Clarey said.

The governor’s office turned the issue into a joke of its own Friday, releasing a David Letterman-style list of the Top 10 lessons Wilson has learned from throat surgery. Aides said staff members and the governor contributed to the list.

It included irreverent jabs at a number of Wilson antagonists such as the media, Democrats and his two chief rivals for the GOP presidential nomination--Sens. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and Phil Gramm (R-Tex.). It also contained one shot at himself: “Now I know how painful it is to listen to a Pete Wilson speech.”

For more than a month, Wilson has sat or stood next to surrogate speakers as they delivered the remarks he prepared. Usually, the comments are read by Wilson’s wife, Gayle, or his presidential campaign chairman, Craig Fuller.

It is one of many adjustments the governor has had to accept since he became voiceless.

In meetings at the Capitol, he now designates a staff member to sit nearby and read his gubernatorial scribbles. At his seat at the head of the governor’s long conference table, aides regularly arrange a small white note pad, a large yellow legal pad, an assortment of pens and pencils, and a box of throat lozenges.

At times, the meetings come to a silent halt as half a dozen or more aides and Cabinet members watch the governor write his ideas on a legal pad.

“He could write down rather lengthy things--a half page or three-quarters of a page,” Gould said of the budget meetings. “And we would just wait until he finished. . . . He seemed very comfortable with the process.”

Wilson has had to stop making most of his normal phone calls. When it’s convenient, aides said, the governor will bring in a staff member to read his written responses into a speaker phone.

Last week, Wilson received a high-tech gift intended to help him cope with his silence. During a meeting in Silicon Valley, a group of executives gave Wilson a software program that allows an electronic voice to read comments typed into a computer.

So far, Wilson staffers said, the idea has been more cute than practical. But they added that the governor might become more proficient.

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Aides are not making any predictions about when the governor’s voice will return to normal--although they say they are confident it will. At the time of the April 14 surgery, Wilson’s doctor at UCLA Medical Center said he expected the recovery to take about a week.

Officials have attributed the delay to the fact that Wilson disobeyed the doctor’s orders by speaking too soon after the 30-minute operation to remove a nodule from his vocal cords. But his doctor says the governor is now progressing well.

It has been about three weeks since reporters heard Wilson speak, when his voice was strained, raspy and weak. Aides say it now sounds stronger. One said it is like the voice a person has just after waking up in the morning. Another said it sounds like it’s “broken . . . in the sense that it cracked.”

On Wednesday, after Wilson appeared with his three fellow Republican governors for a panel discussion at the Hoover Institution, he was asked by reporters about the progress of his recovery. The governor put a fist in the air and mouthed: “Great.”

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Wilson’s Top 10

Gov. Pete Wilson’s list of things he has learned since his throat surgery, as written by Wilson and associates in David Letterman style.

10. I can now kick Al Gore’s butt in charades.

9. It’s easier to express in one gesture to reporters what it used to take two or more words to convey.

8. This is one hell of a way to appeal to the “Silent Majority.”

7. Which would you rather have: Gayle Wilson delivering your speeches or Hillary Clinton writing them?

6. The world might be a better place if the same procedure were performed at the next GOP cattle show.

5. Now I know how painful it is to listen to a Pete Wilson speech.

4. Old theme of Wilson for President fund-raisers: “A strong voice for America.”

3. New theme of Wilson for President fund-raisers: “Want sound? It’ll cost you extra.”

2. Still less grating than Phil Gramm.

1. Bob Dole looking into nodule surgery for D’Amato and Rollins.

(New York Sen. Alfonse D’Amato and GOP political consultant Ed Rollins are both Dole campaign backers who recently apologized for making ethnically insensitive jokes).