Money and More at Stake on Davis Trip

California has come to expect special treatment from its powerful friends in Washington. Now Gov. Gray Davis is trying to find out just how much that might be worth to him.

The new governor has a lot at stake in his first official trip to Washington this week. An unknown barely a year ago, he is making his first impressions as a national political figure.

At the same time, the state budget he proposed last month is contingent on the approval of several hundred million dollars in new federal funding.

“We are back here to fight for the people of our state . . . and get the funds we are entitled to,” Davis said. “We are entitled to all of it, and I want to make a very aggressive case.”

California has had a special pipeline to the White House since President Clinton identified the state as a must-win for any Democrat seeking national office. Now, for the first time, the leaders are testing what it means to their relationship when a friendly Democrat--not a hostile Republican--is holding the governor’s office.

For starters, it is now clear that Davis is seeking more federal money using a carrot--he has been diplomatically polite and deferential--than his predecessor Republican Gov. Pete Wilson tried to obtain from the White House with a stick, at times seemingly demanding the money.

One example is the federal funding that Davis wants to pay for about 20,000 illegal immigrant convicts in California prisons. Wilson won about $172 million in funding for the inmates by arguing that the federal government’s failure to control the U.S. border was costing California taxpayers unfairly.

Now Davis wants Clinton and Congress to increase the allocation by about $100 million. And he is already counting on that approval to help balance the state’s budget.

Davis, who is in Washington for the winter meeting of the National Governors Assn., declined to speculate on his chances of winning the money. But he said he would seek help from the California congressional delegation, which he will meet today, as well as from four other governors--all Republicans--whose states have large illegal immigrant populations.

In all, Davis is asking the White House to support more than half a billion dollars in funding for California schools, hospitals, prisons and roads. Most of the money is already included in Davis’ proposed state budget, but it is not identified in the federal budget plan that Clinton recently sent to Congress.

The result could be a high-stakes gamble for a rookie governor. If Davis fails, it could jeopardize funding for other priorities he has identified, like an overdue pay raise for state workers and some of his education reforms.

It also puts pressure on the White House, which is trying hard to be close friends with the new governor. Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic Party’s top prospect to succeed Clinton in 2000, has already been in frequent contact with Davis.

And Davis got plenty of California-style special attention Monday. At the president’s invitation, Davis and his wife, Sharon, stayed overight Sunday at the White House. Davis also met privately with Clinton and Gore before they were joined for a scheduled meeting with all of the governors at the annual convention in Washington.

Shortly before noon, with a frigid winter wind blowing, Davis emerged from a meeting with Education Secretary Richard Riley and told reporters on the White House lawn that he had requested a federal waiver for California schools that would allow the state more flexibility in reducing class sizes.

Clinton has offered more than $1.5 billion to help states reduce classroom sizes in the early grades, which California has already done in the last three years.

Davis wants a special exception that would allow California to spend its $185-million share of the money to reduce 10th-grade math and English class sizes. Those high school students are among the first who would take a new test that Davis wants as a requirement for graduation.

“We’ll have to look at the legal aspects, but it makes a lot of sense to me,” Riley said.

Davis also parted with some of his fellow governors who have been critical this week of the White House approach to federal support for the states. Most of the governors want the education funds without federal requirements on how it should be spent.

Davis called that “the best of all worlds.” But he added: “I’m happy to work within the system, and I think Secretary Riley will be as accommodating as possible.”

Governors also complained about the White House claiming a right to some of the settlement their states won in a recent lawsuit against tobacco companies. Davis is already counting on $560 million from the settlement for his upcoming budget. He said he “politely” asked the president to let California have it all.

On Monday afternoon, Davis met with Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater and Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. Davis wants about $332 million from Shalala for family planning programs and Medicaid.

On another topic, Davis has been pestered by reporters regarding speculation that he is a potential running mate if Gore wins the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination next year.

“Let me give you an answer in one word: no,” Davis said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “Absolutely, under no circumstances?” he was asked. “None,” Davis said.