Democrats May Find Unity Elusive

Fresh from a heady election victory, a powerful new troika of like-minded Democrats--Gov.-elect Gray Davis, Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and Senate President Pro Tem John Burton--seems poised to take charge of state government and move on an extraordinarily ambitious agenda.

After trouncing Republicans, Democrats for the first time in 16 years have the power needed to mold California government to their image--they have captured the governor’s office and they hold comfortable majorities in both houses of the Legislature.

So what could be wrong with this picture?

Potentially, plenty.

“Three times, Democrats have had the governorship in this century, and three times they’ve blown it,” said Tony Quinn, a veteran GOP analyst, citing internecine wars between Democratic governors and legislators that helped pave the way for long Republican reigns.

Although each member of the triumvirate has professed a commitment to unity, the seeds of disagreement, particularly between Burton and Villaraigosa, have already been sown by differences in style and the demands of their constituencies. So Davis’ most troubling political problem could be his fellow Democrats.

“We’ve got a lot of people trying to make their place in history,” said Assemblyman Dick Floyd (D-Wilmington), a legislative veteran of 14 years. “Democrats are going to have to be disciplined. I don’t know if we have anybody to enforce discipline, and if we don’t, we’re going to step in it.”

Davis won a landslide victory over Republican Dan Lungren by portraying himself as a moderate with a centrist agenda. But his mandate could clash with that of the two legislative leaders, who hail from the liberal wing of the party. And his desire for moderation may run up against Democratic hunger to pass hundreds of bills stymied by 16 years of GOP governors.

Even earlier this year, soon after Burton and Villaraigosa assumed their posts, differences in approach and constituencies created friction between the two that is expected to resurface and crack Sacramento’s vaunted Democratic unity.

Burton, an earthy, blunt-speaking veteran of 20 years in legislative office, presides over a 40-member body that prides itself on decorum and civility. The more genteel Villaraigosa, who won the speakership in only his second term, leads a frequently unruly 80-member house, a job he compares to “herding cats.”

Burton often has done little to disguise his impatience with Villaraigosa’s inexperience and the protracted squabbling in the Assembly. Villaraigosa chafes at Burton’s brusque manner.

Many in the Senate have viewed Villaraigosa as the new kid who lacks the political stature of predecessors like former Speakers Willie Brown and Leo McCarthy. Many in the Assembly resent Burton’s seniority and his disdain for some of their antics.

A fissure opened when the Senate shot down an HMO bill that Villaraigosa favored. He retaliated by directing an Assembly committee to kill a series of pet Senate bills--including one that was nearly a carbon copy of a measure he had proposed.

The schism widened when the two houses tried to draft a school bond measure. The Senate, under Burton’s direction, quickly passed the proposal even though it carried a record price tag of $9 billion.

When the measure arrived in the Assembly, open warfare broke out between Villaraigosa and Republicans, whom he was unable to control, and many of his fellow Democrats, also unwilling to follow his lead. The proposal that finally passed bore little resemblance to the Senate version.

Upon its return to the Senate, the measure got a cool reception from Burton. The Senate bottled it up for a month while Burton and Villaraigosa lobbed verbal brickbats at each other behind the scenes.

Eventually, the bond issue was rescued when Gov. Pete Wilson sat down with the two leaders to work out compromises on the major issues. Voters resoundingly approved the final product Nov. 3.

“There’s definitely egos on the Democrats’ side, and they’ve got a lot of people they need to feed,” said Wilson spokesman Sean Walsh.

The potential for dissension among Democrats doesn’t apply just to Davis and the Legislature. Tensions also exist between Davis and some other Democrats elected to statewide office.

For example, relations between Davis and Kathleen Connell, who succeeded him as controller, have been strained since she released a performance audit that criticized many of the management decisions made during his term.

And Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, who holds a nonpartisan office but is a Democrat, drew a rebuke when she appeared in an ad for multimillionaire businessman Al Checchi, whom Davis went on to defeat in the June primary. Eastin, who never formally endorsed Checchi, has since said she expects to be one of the governor-elect’s biggest supporters.

Villaraigosa and Burton now downplay their earlier differences, and each maintains that he has gotten the message from voters and made a philosophical move toward the middle.

On election night as returns pointed to huge Democratic gains, Villaraigosa spoke of a new era of cooperation between the Legislature and the governor, heralding “a renaissance this state hasn’t seen in two decades.”

Burton, in an interview, said: “We’ll get along fine because that’s how we’ll accomplish great things for the people of the state.”

Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), a Democratic leader in the lower house, said outsiders read too much into the occasional spats between Burton and Villaraigosa. When Burton acts like a “hothead,” it is often play-acting, she said, designed to gain a better negotiating position.

“Where there are disagreements, I think it is because it is difficult for Antonio to work through Burton’s style, which is very rapid fire and sometimes very ‘my way or the highway,’ ” she said. “But in private, Burton is much different.”

Different Styles From New Governor

Their contrasts in style are apparent in the men’s relationships with Davis too. Villaraigosa has repeatedly deferred to Davis since the election, saying it’s the governor’s place to set the agenda in concert with the Legislature.

Burton has been less deferential, showing some impatience with Davis’ deliberate approach in shaping his new administration.

“I’d go faster and farther, but I’m not the governor,” Burton said.

He can, however, approach Davis from a greater position of power than can Villaraigosa. Term limits will not force Burton out until 2004, and he could serve the next six years as the Senate’s leader.

Villaraigosa, by contrast, is a short-timer. He will be “termed out” in 2000. And he is rumored to be interested in running for mayor of Los Angeles, a race in which the governor could be a helpful ally.

Republicans and Democrats say that the real key to the troika’s success will be Davis, whose power far exceeds that of either of the other two.

“In order for Davis to be the kind of governor he wants to be, he’s got to fill the leadership vacuum that exists in the Legislature because of term limits,” said one lobbyist. “Under a term limits system, the governor gets stronger and the Legislature gets weaker, and he’ll be the de facto head of the Democrats in the Legislature. I don’t think Gray Davis is going to allow these guys to come apart.”

Floyd, who has known Davis for years and was one of the first to endorse his candidacy, predicts that, indeed, the new governor will be calling most of the shots.

“Gray Davis is not going to be easily classified,” he said. “He will defend his course. He will defend his goal, and if anybody is dumb enough to take him on, he’ll eat them up like he did Checchi.”

Kuehl acknowledged that there will be some tough adjustments for Democrats unused to having a governor from their party.

“I think the problem may come,” she said, “when there is insufficient support in both houses for something that Gray has said he really wants.”

If history is not to be repeated, said GOP analyst Quinn, Democrats will have to steer a moderate course and still work in harmony--something they often failed to do under Democratic Govs. Culbert Olson, Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Sr. and Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr.

“It’s all up to the Democrats,” Quinn said. “We will either have indefinite one-party government or they will make some mistakes and give the Republicans a chance to reassert themselves.”

Hear audio analysis of the gubernatorial transition from Times political writer Mark Z. Barabak at https://www.latimes.com/barabak.