2 Journeys From the Frat House to the Statehouse

He was a wild hair, man. I had to work hard to contain that guy. He was out of sight. He drove that fire engine into the lake. That’s why we were kicked out for three years. I had nothing to do with it. . . . No, I’m not serious.

--Gov. Gray Davis on his college roommate, education advisor Gary Hart.

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This is a tale of Gray and Gary. Dull and duller, many might once have said. But not anymore. Not really. Their paths again have crossed, this time while searching for education reform. And they’ve linked up in a compelling venture.

But let’s start at the beginning, back in a four-bunk room at Stanford.

When they were fraternity brothers, Gray Davis was “a button-down guy,” Gary Hart recalls. “He was well-organized, well-kept. I remember him wearing his ‘rotsy’ [ROTC] uniform--and carrying his golf clubs. He was a serious golfer, a serious student.”

As for the other Zeta Psi members, Hart says, “We were all grunges, kind of a renegade fraternity. The political types were elsewhere.”

Davis’ recollection of Hart: “He was a very thoughtful, low-key guy. Pretty much the same as now. We were two of the more serious types. This was kind of an animal house experience and we were not cast for those roles.”

It was the early ‘60s. Hart was at Stanford on a football scholarship, having been an all-star receiver and defensive back for the CIF-champion Santa Barbara High School Dons. Davis got ROTC money and was on the golf team.

“We weren’t particularly good friends,” Hart says. “We had a casual relationship.”

Says Davis: “I just enjoyed talking to him. He was a very bright guy.”

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After Stanford, their paths parted. Hart got a student loan and an education master’s at Harvard. One summer, he joined civil rights marches and taught history at an all-black college in Mississippi. And he became an antiwar protester--while Davis went off to fight the war in Vietnam.

Hart joined Eugene McCarthy’s “children’s crusade” in the 1968 presidential race. He also taught at Santa Barbara High and was elected to the Assembly, then the state Senate in 1982.

Davis took longer to catch the political bug. “It wasn’t until I got to Vietnam that I understood that politics had real-world consequences,” he says, adding “it didn’t seem right” that a disproportionate burden of the war fell on non-college minorities.

Returning to L.A., Davis joined Tom Bradley’s 1973 mayoral campaign as finance director. Then he plotted his own political course and began renewing contacts.

“I was very surprised when Gray called,” Hart says. “I was surprised he was involved in politics and was surprised he was a Democrat. I would have thought he would be a Republican.”

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Davis began a slow, calculated climb to the governorship from his perch as Gov. Jerry Brown’s chief of staff.

Hart, meanwhile, focused on schools. He chaired the Senate Education Committee for 12 years and pushed through major bills--imposing tougher tests for teacher applicants, stiffening high school graduation requirements and allowing innovative charter schools.

As “a reality check,” he’d occasionally go back to the classroom and teach for a while. “You get so isolated up here,” he says. “Every time I do it, I’m reminded of what a hard job classroom teaching is.”

Hart almost ran for state schools chief in 1994, but bowed out, explaining he wanted to spend more time with his family. He’s one politician you could believe when he said it. Also, unlike Davis, he hated groveling for campaign money. “I haven’t got the fire.”

Hart left the Senate and headed up an ed reform unit at Cal State University. Last fall, former CSU Chancellor Barry Munitz--Davis’ transition chief--urged the new governor to hire Hart as his education secretary. Bingo.

With Hart, Davis attained an invaluable asset: real knowledge of schools and instant credibility with the Legislature.

Davis’ school reform plan that legislators will begin pondering in special session this week is rooted in Hart’s ideas about how to improve teaching, reading and accountability. And when lawmakers hear Hart explain it, they’ll be listening to a man they respect for sincerity, integrity and expertise. They’ll know that for him, education reform is not a poll-driven fad, but a career-long dedication.

“I think the Lord brings you to people you need,” Davis says. “I immediately knew that Gary was the right choice. I’ve had such a long experience with him. You know, when you’re someone’s roommate, you talk about a lot of things and you have a shared experience that most people don’t have.”

It was Davis’ first major appointment and, so far, his best.