Davis Hails 1st Year in Office as Total Success

Basking in what he views as a great first year, Gov. Gray Davis vowed Wednesday to spend more money on schools in 2000, press ahead with construction of a state prison, and make “a substantial commitment” to care for the severely mentally ill.

In a news conference at his Capitol office, the governor called his first year in office “a triumph of consensus building over partisanship,” something he believes voters sought when they elected him last November.

“This was a great year,” said Davis, the beneficiary of the strongest economy in a generation. “I had no disappointments.”

As the year ends, Davis is working on a State of the State speech to be delivered Jan. 5, and on his proposed budget for the 2000-2001 fiscal year, to be released later in January. Davis will have a multibillion-dollar surplus, thanks to California’s expanding economy.

“You’re going to see initiatives and you’re going to see more money spent,” Davis said. “We are the beneficiary of a booming economy which gives us the opportunity to finance new initiatives.”

He said he intends to push legislators to spend the bulk of the money on his basic priorities: education, public safety, health care and new public works projects.

“We have a very long way to go,” Davis said of schools. “Clearly, there is a great need to refurbish and improve upon our aging infrastructure. Health care is an area where more needs to be done. And I’m committed to doing what is necessary to keep people safe and incarcerate violent offenders.”

But Davis said he intends to look at other areas, among them mental health care. Several lawmakers say that they will propose measures next year to improve the care of the severely mentally ill. Two legislators are proposing a bill that would make it easier to treat the mentally ill, involuntarily in certain circumstances.

This year, Davis earmarked $10 million for programs in three counties to help persuade severely mentally ill homeless people to enter treatment programs. Although he did not detail his plans, Davis indicated that he will propose more money for such efforts next year.

“We are going to make a substantial commitment to mental illness, and we’re currently reviewing the issue of involuntary commitments,” Davis said. “We’ll make progress next year beyond what we did this year. I’m sure people will say I’m going too slow. They always do. But at the end of the day, we seem to get where people want us to get.”

In wide-ranging remarks, the Democratic governor said that although the prison population dipped by about 1,446 inmates in the last two months--the first such drop in seven years--he remains intent on moving ahead with construction of a new maximum-security prison at Delano.

Prisons, he said, are filled to 180% of their design capacity. He fears that judges will order that inmates be released unless new high security lockups are built.

“I do not want prisoners released on my watch,” Davis said. “That is just not going to happen.”

Among other topics, the governor:

* Has no plans to try to unravel voter-imposed term limits for state lawmakers. He said he opposes campaign finance reform that would limit career politicians’ ability to raise enough money to compete with wealthy, self-financed candidates.

* Defended himself against criticism that he has been slow to make appointments, noting that he has appointed more people in his first 11 months than his predecessor, Gov. Pete Wilson, had named by this time in his first year.

He said he makes a point of at least calling each prospective appointee: “I tell them their job is not to think like they think; their job is to think like I think.

“I made promises to the electorate as to how I would conduct myself,” Davis said. “The people I appoint need to more or less reflect my world view. If they don’t, it’s really a fraud on the electorate, because the only person they got to vote on was me.”

* Is skeptical of proposals by some lawmakers, among them Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), to add labeling requirements on genetically modified food.

“Many people I trust, scientists I’ve spent time with, believe the food is better for you,” Davis said. “I’m willing to be persuaded I’m wrong. But that’s my current information.”