Democrats Work Crowds on Labor Day

Gov. Gray Davis offered contrite words and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante took an aggressive stance toward his Republican rivals Monday as the state’s two top Democrats crisscrossed California, trolling for support from Labor Day crowds.

Although the two men crossed paths, they rather conspicuously did not appear together -- underlining the continuing tension between their overlapping campaigns.

At stops in Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco, Davis pledged to change his approach to his job if voters in the Oct. 7 recall election let him keep it. Yet he stopped short of acknowledging that his job performance is driving voters’ unhappiness, nor would he offer many specifics on what he would do differently.

“I know many Californians are angry,” Davis said at his first rally, in downtown Los Angeles. “And trust me, this recall is a humbling experience. I would not wish it on my worst enemy. But if the good people of this state decide that they will allow me to finish the term to which they elected me, I promise you I will do some things differently. And I will work every day to make their life better.”

Two of the chief Republican candidates in the recall also appeared publicly Monday. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared at the state fair in Sacramento, where he worked at a voter registration table and blamed Davis for the state’s loss of jobs. And Peter V. Ueberroth held a news conference to chide Schwarzenegger for turning down a debate scheduled for Wednesday. Schwarzenegger and his aides say they will participate in only one debate, sponsored by the California Broadcasters Assn. for later this month.

But the day was dominated by the Democrats, who used the opportunity provided by union-sponsored Labor Day events to press their sometimes conflicting messages.

Bustamante began the day in San Bernardino, where he told a union rally that voters should oppose the recall but vote for him as a Democratic fallback in case Davis loses.

“We’ll beat ‘em on both sides,” he said. “And we should make sure that we have a strategy that, no matter which way this goes, that we’re going to win.

“We will not capitulate on that second question,” he said, referring to the part of the recall ballot on which voters get to choose a replacement for Davis in case he loses the recall.

Referring to his chief Republican rival, Bustamante added, “if Arnold thinks that he’s going to get a pass, I mean.... “ At that point, he flexed his arm and pointed to his biceps. The crowd roared.

“The voters are serious and they’re not going to give him a pass, and that’s the way it ought to be,” Bustamante said. “Let’s get out there and fight. Let’s go beat these guys.”

Although Davis and Bustamante both publicly urge voters to reject the recall, the tension between their campaigns has been noticeable ever since Bustamante put his name on the ballot over Davis’ objections.

In recent weeks, the governor has praised Bustamante as the best of the potential successors, but he has not yet formally endorsed Bustamante.

Bustamante and many others in the Democratic establishment are calling for a more explicit “no/yes” approach to the two-part ballot: no on the recall; yes on Bustamante should Davis lose.

Both men appeared at the Alameda County Labor Day picnic in Pleasanton, but Davis, who spoke first, made no mention of the lieutenant governor, although he did refer to the “135 candidates” running to replace him on the recall ballot.

For his part, Bustamante took the stage in San Bernardino minutes after the governor’s wife, Sharon, had finished speaking, and made no mention of the governor.

Davis began his day at Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, where Bishop Gavino Zavala, who delivered his Labor Day homily in English and Spanish, touched briefly on the political drama that has seized the state.

“As for the upcoming recall election, most commentators agree that it’s only a consequence of decades of dysfunction of political parties and leaders who seemingly care more about doing the bidding of wealthy contributors than stopping the problems that confront working people,” Zavala said as Davis, who was seated directly in front of him, listened.

From there, shedding his usual business suit for a Labor Day casual look of slacks and shirt without a tie, the governor went to the first of several rallies, where he complained about the unfairness of the recall effort and warned that it would trigger a cycle of poisonous politics, “breed more recalls, more campaigning, more recriminations, no matter who wins.”

Later, both at the Los Angeles rally and in Pleasanton, he struck an apologetic tone that echoed a speech he made last month at UCLA.

In that speech, he accepted some measure of blame for not moving more quickly to head off the power crisis of 2000-01 or to tamp down state spending when California enjoyed healthy budget surpluses.

“Let me be clear -- I’m under no illusions,” Davis said in Pleasanton. “I know the people of this state are angry. I’ve gotten the message.”

The rally began with California Labor Federation leader Art Pulaski priming the crowd of several hundred union families by reminding them of union-backed legislation signed into law by Davis.

Pulaski warned that unions faced rollbacks of their gains if the recall effort succeeded and Schwarzenegger became governor.

Flanked by union leaders, Democratic lawmakers, state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer and Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, Pulaski introduced Davis as the “best governor California has had in 100 years.”

The governor took the podium to the strains of Sister Sledge’s disco hit, “We Are Family,” clapping and mouthing the words as the music blasted.

Davis later told a small group of reporters that, if he retains his job, he would hold regular town hall meetings as a means of staying in closer touch with Californians, extending a practice that he began recently on his campaign.

“The best way to learn what’s on people’s minds is to talk to them face to face,” Davis said. “These town hall meetings offer me a lot of guidance, advice -- people ask me tough questions. If the people allow me to stay in office, I’m definitely going to spend more time connecting one on one.

“I’d rather listen to real people than just listen to advocates or their representatives. Town hall meetings give me a chance to hear people directly, unfiltered and vice versa.”

Asked why he had not done so earlier, he said: “You just get caught up, and there are just so many pressures on you to do this and talk to this person.”

After Davis finished speaking and officials filed off the stage, the crowd of nearly 500 began to disperse. One organizer pleaded for them to stick around.

“Brothers and sisters,” she said over the loudspeaker, “please don’t leave. The lieutenant governor is coming.”

When Bustamante arrived about 10 minutes later, just a fraction of the audience remained.

Bustamante’s campaign strategist, Richie Ross, said the lieutenant governor arrived after Davis because the campaign was following the schedule set by the labor unions that organized the rally.

Despite the meager crowd, Bustamante appeared fired up. His face reddened as he exhorted the audience to fight to preserve labor laws, and he took a swipe at Wal-Mart, a company often at odds with unions, saying it pays low wages and encourages its employees to apply for food stamps and public health care.

“When you think about it, the taxpayers are subsidizing the profit margin of the largest corporation in the world,” Bustamante said as the crowd booed. “Wal-Mart and all other employers like them are breaking the social contract.”

Although union members at the rallies voiced unified opposition to the recall, some fissures surfaced over whether embracing Bustamante’s campaign is the best strategy.

At a labor rally in Wilmington, for example, local leaders of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union said they were encouraging their members to support Bustamante.

But officers of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers were cooler to the lieutenant governor.

Marvin P. Kropke, secretary-treasurer of the California State Assn. of Electrical Workers, said it was in the union’s interest to defeat the recall, not so much to elevate Bustamante.

“Cruz is putting himself out there, even though a lot of other Democrats didn’t, “ Kropke said. “But that’s not going to dilute our message: ‘No on the recall.’ ”

Jann Whetstone, 30, a member of the Electrical Workers Local 11 political action committee, was more blunt about Bustamante’s decision to get on the ballot after many labor leaders had urged him not to.

“It’s like a picket line,” she said. “You don’t cross that line.”

*

Times staff writers Joel Rubin and Peter Nicholas contributed to this report.