Davis Taking Politically Safe Middle Road

Gov.-elect Gray Davis’ appointment of former California state Sen. Gary Hart as his education secretary brings back personal memories of another executive transition.

As designated facilitator for the preparation of President Reagan’s first inaugural address, it was my task during the 1980 holiday season to assemble the suggestions of several dozen people who had ideas and language to contribute to this historic moment. Some were solicited; others were not.

Thus, exactly 18 years ago, the president-elect and I spent a good amount of time on the phone or in meetings at his Pacific Palisades home while I passed along the disparate views of people sending in themes and oratory. Reviewing my notes of those extraordinary days, two instances stand out.

One grew out of a dinner party for the Reagans hosted by Washington Post Publisher Katherine Graham. As much as establishment liberals gagged at the thought of Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office, even more did they love the glitter of social elbow-rubbing that lubricated their lives.

The shrewdest of the guests that evening was Vernon Jordan--then president of the National Urban League--who saw an opening to connect with the new administration and pressed upon Reagan the importance of reaching out to blacks. Not missing a beat, the president-elect asked Jordan for his ideas--a follow-up assignment tasked to me in our next meeting.

In my brief phone conversation with Jordan two days before Christmas, he responded with alacrity to this opportunity. He promised he would send along three different possible inserts to the inaugural remarks and diplomatically eschewed any pride of authorship.

The three inserts arrived by special delivery soon thereafter along with a gracious cover note. Four weeks later, two sentences from them--massaged by Reagan’s deft editorial hand--were spoken from the west steps of the Capitol to a nation hungry for new leadership.

My other memory is of an urgent call that came in to the president-elect after he already had written his first draft and on the eve of his departure for Washington. This suggestion came directly from his closest political friend, Nevada Sen. Paul Laxalt. Laxalt used his influence sparingly and respectfully, but shorn of the courtier’s obsequiousness. On this occasion, he transmitted a critically important message from the right.

Laxalt related that Reagan’s most committed longtime supporters--political warriors who had toiled a dozen years for his election to the presidency--were hearing “rumors” that their hero was contemplating compromise of the strong conservative principles that characterized his career.

Stung by this unthinkable possibility, Reagan firmly instructed me to prepare language that unequivocally rejected the notion of an ideological backpedal. So, on Jan. 20, 1981, the newly inaugurated president restated his devotion to getting government back within its means, lightening the punitive tax burden on Americans and restoring balance between the levels of government. Then, with set jaw, he made clear: “ . . . and on these principles there will be no compromise.”

That day, Reagan claimed the common ground uniting all Americans while maintaining fealty to his beliefs.

Now, back to Gray Davis and his education czar.

Davis similarly is facing the pushes and pulls of a leader newly elected to high office.

On the one hand, there is an understandable urge to restrain discord by reaching out to adversaries and nonsupporters--to remove horns and ease the differences that nurture conflict. On the other, Davis has legions of early supporters who were with him when victory was not a foregone conclusion. These are the devotees who poured in millions of dollars in an act of faith--unions, trial lawyers and left-wing zealots who connected with Davis’ early political experience. They will make enormous demands on his governorship to resurrect the ultraliberal agenda that resided in restless hibernation through the Deukmejian-Wilson years.

As Davis begins dealing with his stated first priority of improving education, he will face pressure by teachers unions, educrats and academic faddists who seek solace in deep-freezing school reform and who gave lavish time and bankrolls to his candidacy.

But Gray Davis’ momma didn’t raise no fool, and the appointment of Gary Hart--an education reformer while still being a friend of educators--reflects the governor-elect’s overture to the middle ground.

Take note, California: Gray Davis began running for reelection on Nov. 4, 1998.

Kenneth L. Khachigian is a veteran political strategist and former White House speech writer who practices law in Orange County. His column appears here every other week.