Bush, Davis to Meet on President’s Visit to State

President Bush agreed Wednesday to take time on his first trip to California as chief executive to meet with Gov. Gray Davis, even as tensions grow between the two administrations.

The agreement to meet came after a weekend during which Vice President Dick Cheney called one of the Democratic governor’s ideas “goofy” and labeled as a “harebrained scheme” Davis’ decision to buy electricity, and Davis blasted the Bush-Cheney energy plan for failing to address California’s needs.

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush will meet with Davis next week, probably Tuesday.

“The president has invited Gov. Davis to meet with him, to get together to talk about issues important to California, including, of course, energy. And the president looks forward to meeting with Gov. Davis,” Fleischer said.

Davis had called the White House on Tuesday, though he didn’t reach Bush. He followed up with a letter dated Wednesday in which he requested a meeting “to discuss the most difficult issue facing the consumers and businesses of California: energy.”

In his letter, Davis warned that California’s energy crisis “is a national economic issue.”

“I agree with you,” Davis’ letter said, “that long-term solutions are necessary to our nation’s energy challenge. However, Californians can’t afford to wait four or five years for a permanent solution. We need relief today.”

Davis has been demanding that the Bush administration cap wholesale electricity prices charged by independent energy companies, something the president opposes.

Fleischer said Bush and Davis were expected to discuss their differences over the federal response to California’s electricity shortages and price spikes, but other issues probably would be addressed as well.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if the president wanted to talk about education, maybe taxes. There’ll be a series of issues they want to talk about,” Fleischer said.. “But energy will, of course, be at the top of the list.”