Davis to Get Jet for Safety

Citing potential terrorist acts against Gov. Gray Davis, state security officials are preparing to acquire a $9-million jet to zip him around California--and across the country, if necessary.

Officials said Friday that the contract to lease the jet at $80,000 a month for one year, plus a discount on fuel and free hangar space, is ready to be signed, subject to a final review by state attorneys.

If the deal goes through, it will allow Davis to stop flying commercially and provide a prestigious lease contract to a trucking company executive who is among the governor’s most generous campaign contributors.

It also will revive the tradition of putting a personal airplane at the disposal of the California chief executive. Davis’ former boss, Gov. Jerry Brown, ended that custom 25 years ago when he dismissed the plane as too ostentatious for his “era of limits” administration.

Aides to Davis said they were prohibited from discussing the governor’s safety, but spokesman Steve Maviglio said the campaign donations of businessman Stephen Beneto played no role in arrangements for the plane.

“We never make decisions based on campaign contributions,” Maviglio said. He characterized the deal involving the airplane, a Cessna Excel, as a “recommendation” to Davis, which the governor may accept or reject.

Sources in other state agencies, who did not want to be named, said the reluctance of the governor’s staff to discuss the issue reflected concern that Davis might be incorrectly portrayed as manipulating the specter of terrorism to obtain a plane for himself.

California Highway Patrol Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick flatly dismissed the notion that Davis was taking advantage of the crisis. Helmick said he suggested acquiring a two-engine plane to enhance Davis’ safety immediately after the terrorist attack against New York City and the Pentagon. He said Davis initially resisted, but finally agreed to it.

“I don’t think it is any secret that the potential [for terrorism] could be high on the West Coast, just like New York,” Helmick said. “It’s my job to keep him alive.”

Helmick--charged with the safety of the governor, legislators, other officials and state property--indicated that no specific threat had been made recently against Davis, but added that “we do get periodic threats, not only on this governor but all governors.”

He said officials agreed that air travel by Davis, who usually takes commercial flights, needed to be tightened because “it is a very unstable environment that we are in.” Forty-one other governors have personal planes, Helmick added.

He said the CHP contacted five airplane sales companies, told them what performance and other features were wanted and agreed on an offer made by Beneto, a West Sacramento-based petroleum trucking company that also operates an airplane sales business.

Because there was an urgency to obtain the airplane, Helmick said, normal competitive bidding procedures were put aside and the CHP accepted the offer made by Beneto. He said three other companies wanted more money than the CHP was prepared to pay while a fourth said it could not provide the aircraft.

Helmick said the proposed leasing contract between the CHP and Beneto Jet Sales had been agreed to by both sides but had been submitted to lawyers and the state Department of General Services for a final review. He said he expected it to be signed Monday or Tuesday.

According to the proposed contract, the Cessna Excel is a twin-engine aircraft that can carry eight passengers and a crew of two. The jet cruises at about 500 mph. From takeoff, it can climb to 35,000 feet in 13 minutes and to 43,000 feet in 22 minutes, its manufacturer said.

Helmick said the CHP, whose pilots will fly the aircraft, was prepared to spend $1.2 million to lease the plane for a year, plus renting a hangar and paying for fuel. But he said that under the proposal with Beneto, the CHP would probably pay considerably less.

The lease itself would cost about $960,000, but Beneto offered free hangar space and agreed to provide fuel at its cost, $1.43 a gallon, Helmick said. This compares with the $2.06 to $2.63 a gallon the CHP spends on fuel for the rest of its aircraft fleet.

Beneto, whom Davis appointed to the board of directors of the California Exposition and State Fair, did not return calls seeking comment.

In the 1998 gubernatorial campaign, Beneto gave $100,000 to Republican nominee Dan Lungren. Since then, he has become one of Davis’ biggest donors, giving him $226,000.

“He is a good guy,” Beneto said last year in an interview. “He’s doing a good job for the state. I think he could be president of the United States someday.”

Gubernatorial airplanes have long played a controversial role in California politics. Gov. Pat Brown loved his Convair 340, a propeller-driven plane he called the Grizzly.

But it became a political target and he discarded it. His successor in 1967, Ronald Reagan, did without a plane for some time but finally acquired a small executive jet, whose lease Gov. Jerry Brown refused to extend when he succeeded Reagan.

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Times staff writer Dan Morain contributed to this report.