Davis’ Move Serves Both Backers and Foes of Prop. 187

Call Gov. Gray Davis a wimp. Say he’s indecisive and gutless. Characterize his action on Proposition 187 as a gimmick. Go ahead, you’ll have lots of company.

Myself, I think Davis made the only move he realistically could have. It probably will turn out to be good politics and also good public policy.

Indeed, he did a favor for Latino leaders and liberals--Prop. 187’s hard-core opponents--although many have been moaning about his surprise decision to seek court mediation of the case. They had pressured him simply to drop the state’s appeal, but there never was much chance he’d do that.

If all this goes the way I suspect--based on conversations with the governor and people close to him--the anti-187 forces will achieve all they logically could have hoped for. And the vast majority of California voters will get what they really wanted: A strong statement against illegal immigration and a cutback in taxpayer-funded services for people here illegally--without innocent kids being kicked out of school.

“We have an opportunity,” Davis contends, “to resolve this issue in a way that’s faithful to the electorate, avoids costly litigation and puts this behind us without divisive campaign rancor.”

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Let’s review the background: Voters overwhelmingly approved Prop. 187 by 59% to 41% in 1994. An anti-187 coalition challenged the initiative’s constitutionality. A federal judge tossed out key provisions, including one barring illegal immigrant children from public schools. Gov. Pete Wilson appealed, assuming the case ultimately would go to the Supreme Court. Davis then had to decide whether to continue the appeal or drop it. If he dropped it, the anti-187 side would have won.

Davis was conflicted. He opposed Prop. 187. The measure is an ugly symbol for many Latinos, who are among his staunchest supporters. On the other hand, it did pass by a landslide. A governor, Davis argues, is duty-bound to all the voters.

Davis never regarded dropping the appeal as a practical option. For one thing, that would have prompted another suit by pro-187 forces challenging his move. But more important, as he declared in announcing his decision: “Few things make people more cynical about government than when politicians substitute their personal judgment for the demonstrated will of the electorate.”

What liberals and Latinos fail to grasp, Davis says, is that if he killed Prop. 187 before the courts rendered a verdict, another divisive initiative very likely would emerge and pass.

Davis pollster Paul Maslin, who recently surveyed California voters, says: “The numbers now are exactly what they were in 1994. If they had to vote again, it would be 60-40.”

He also describes Prop. 187 as the angry voters’ “poster boy” for initiatives that get passed and then eviscerated.

Adds a close Davis associate: “Our friends are trying to say, ‘Wait a minute, Pete Wilson’s out of office. No way could this thing go back on the ballot.’

“But Pete Wilson did not put this thing on the ballot. This was as close to a citizens’ movement as you can get. Wilson jumped on this horse about 40 feet from the finish line.”

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Davis, however, also was reluctant to follow in Wilson’s litigating footsteps. He didn’t want to be the one who asks the Supreme Court to review its 1982 decision entitling illegal immigrant children to public educations. “I’m not kicking kids out of school,” he has told people privately.

Pollster Maslin, moreover, says the one provision of the anti-illegal immigration measure that bothers voters is the school ban.

As for the rest of Prop. 187, much of it already has been enacted into federal law by welfare and immigration reforms, seemingly unbeknownst to most people. Illegal immigrants now are barred from public health care, except in emergencies. They’re also denied most social services, including welfare. Davis believes the court suit participants can negotiate what’s still unresolved. This includes college tuition breaks and arrangements for turning in suspected illegal immigrants.

If they cannot agree to scuttle the school ban, he’s thinking, then somebody else can sue. Not him. “The Supreme Court has spoken clearly--and I believe persuasively--on the need to educate every child,” the governor says.

But before all this can turn out as Davis envisions, the many litigants--mainly Latino activists on one side and government entities on the other--must seriously negotiate. The dirty truth is, none supports Prop. 187 so their task should be easy. But the governor must deliver something for the voters and be able to convince them their demands were heeded.

This time, Davis didn’t take the centrist course as much as he did the pragmatic path.