Democrats Enjoy Fruits of Victory After Session : Politics: Legislators jokingly bash governor and say that despite some differences with Davis, it’s better than dealing with Wilson and Deukmejian.

Liquor flowed and tongues loosened as Democrats celebrated the end of the 1999 lawmaking session with their annual bash.

The butt of most of the jokes was their own Democratic governor, Gray Davis. In a year that was supposed to be a celebration of Democratic Party dominance, the evening of satire took on a strangely hard edge.

In skits inspired by 1960s and ‘70s TV sitcoms, the Democrats, including at least five male legislators in drag, skewered Davis for rejecting their bills.

In fact, about the only thing that distinguished the event last Wednesday from those in past years, when Republican Pete Wilson was the main whipping boy, was that the governor showed up to take the heat.

Davis attempted to make light of the abuse.

“I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to be the first governor to attend the end-of-session bash,” Davis joked. “I just didn’t know I was the bashee.”

Still, for the Democrats, the sight of Davis on stage was preferable to that of his two Republican predecessors, Wilson and George Deukmejian, whose nickname was “the Iron Duke.” They can cite a number of accomplishments that mark an emerging Democratic agenda.

No achievement was more ballyhooed by Democrats than passage of the $81.3-billion state budget on time, after years of deadlocks that gave Sacramento a black eye.

By the end of the 1999 session Friday, Democrats could boast of many other achievements unattainable during the Republican reign: school reforms, a shake-up of the HMO industry, new gun controls, low-cost automobile insurance for much of the working poor, a $2.1-billion parks bond issue, a $1.9-billion water bond measure, stricter environmental protections, and advances for organized labor that include raises for state employees.

Nevertheless, there were disagreements, complicated by Davis’ sometimes testy relationships with outspoken Senate Leader John Burton, a wily San Francisco liberal, and Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles. , who covets his hometown mayor’s job.

Privately, most legislative Democrats still seethe at what they see as Davis’ imposition of an imperious, my-way-or-no-way attitude, reflected in his midsummer declaration that it is the Legislature’s “job to implement my vision.”

They also chafe at his cozy relationships with powerful business executives who traditionally write their biggest campaign checks to Republicans.

“There’s no open communications from the corner office,” said one Democrat who had a raft of bills awaiting Davis’ signature and asked not to be named.

“We don’t know what he’ll accept until our bills reach him, and then we get a call asking for major amendments,” said the source. “He sends the bill back, we amend it and pass it again. Then, they call and ask for another amendment. Once, they wanted a word changed.”

On occasion, Democrats showed their frustration publicly.

At a Senate Appropriations hearing last week, Assemblywoman Helen Thomson (D-Davis) was trying to win approval of legislation to extend health care coverage to people with severe mental illnesses.

When more liberal senators demanded to know why Thomson wasn’t taking a more expansive approach by including more types of mental illness, Thomson, her voice cracking, said she had been trying for three weeks to get some indication of what Davis might accept, only to hear nothing.

“We need to get some attention from the administration,” she said. “I’ll put in this bill whatever this governor will sign.”

Thomson’s bill passed, but it is unclear whether Davis will sign even the pared-back version of it.

“Gray Davis is firmly in control of his political party,” said Sen. Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga), the No. 2 GOP leader in the Senate. “And while Democrats grumbled and growled about . . . ‘implementing his vision,’ they have become lapdogs.”

Still, Brulte said, “on politics you have to give Gov. Davis an A.”

And even the most disgruntled Democrats would not trade him for the long trail of vetoes from GOP governors stretching back 16 years. In fact, some say Davis’ “implement my vision” pronouncement marked the turning point of the legislative session, and led to a more harmonious relationship.

For GOP lawmakers, though one-party rule did not land with nearly the jolt that some had anticipated, Republicans were largely on the sidelines. “Most everything is just flying by, and we’re like witnesses to a hit and run,” said Sen. Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside).

But Republican votes were needed when the Democrats sought to pass bills--including the budget--that require a two-thirds majority. Republicans backed the budget, but more recently they managed to block transportation legislation that needed two-thirds.

By adjournment time, the Democrats and Davis had submerged many of their differences.

On Friday night, Assembly Democrats and a cadre of Davis aides joined to cajole reluctant Republicans into voting for the water bonds. To the consternation of some Democrats, Davis sweetened the bill with public works projects in GOP districts. Ultimately, the GOP provided the necessary votes for the water bonds and gave the Democrats another victory.

For the record, Villaraigosa and Burton insisted Friday that any differences they’ve had with the governor have been all in the family.

“There are issues where we have agreed to disagree,” Burton said. “Once that concept was accepted, the relationship has been fine.”

Times staff writer Dan Morain and Sacramento bureau chief Rone Tempest contributed to this story.