January 8, 1999
By Doug Willis
AP POLITICAL WRITER
SACRAMENTO - The central theme of Gov. Gray Davis' inaugural address, ``The Era of Higher Expectations,'' invokes memories of former Gov. Jerry Brown, but with a significant twist.
With Davis as his right-hand man, Gov. Brown described his tenure in the 1970s as an ``era of limits'' and told Californians to ``lower your expectations'' of what government could do to help them, stressing instead that Californians would have to do more to help themselves.
``Lower your expectations'' ultimately became a serious negative for Brown during the 6 1/2 years Davis served him as chief of staff.
In his inaugural address Monday, Davis also stressed that Californians must help themselves, but he cast it in a more positive light.
``I intend to challenge all students to raise their sights and lift their performance. I believe in higher expectations,'' Davis said.
``We must demand that all students do better - and we must insist upon more responsibility and accountability from everyone - students, teachers, parents, administrators and from society itself. That will be my primary mission as your governor.''
Republicans, predictably, sneered at Davis' ``Era of Higher Expectations'' catch-phrase.
``I wonder if he helped write the (era-of-limits) speech that Jerry gave all those years ago,'' said Ross Johnson of Irvine, the Republican leader of the state Senate.
But Davis' message struck a positive chord among Democratic legislators, just as a similar campaign slogan did with voters who gave him a 20-percent victory margin over Republican Dan Lun-gren last year.
``I'm euphoric. I felt such a surge of hope in there,'' Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, said of the Davis speech.
The ``higher expectations'' theme was only one part of an address which went a long way toward defining Davis politically in terms completely independent of the still-controversial Brown, who took his own oath of a few minutes earlier as the new mayor of Oakland.
While Brown continues to have an somewhat mystical, liberal image - ``Mayor Moon-beam'' in many commentaries - Davis stressed his middle-of-the-road approach.
``I am a moderate and a pragmatist by nature. That is how I campaigned. And that is how I will lead this state into the future,'' Davis said. ``I will govern neither from the right nor from the left, but from the center, propelled not by ideology, but by common sense that seeks better results for all of us.''
Still, Brown said in an interview after his own ceremony Monday that he doesn't feel that Davis is trying to place more political distance between them.
``He's hired all my old people. He's recycled pretty much the entire cabinet,'' Brown said, adding that in Oakland, ``We're raising our expectations.''
Not every line in Davis' 36-minute address was intended to build consensus. He challenged conservative Republicans on two emotional issues, gun control and abortion.
``My administration will not flinch in the face of the gun lobby. Working with the brave police officers on our streets and concerned citizens in our neighborhoods, I will sign legislation toughening the statewide ban on assault weapons,'' Davis said.
``And to those who would seek to deny a woman her right to choose, let me offer this suggestion: Don't waste the Legislature's time ... trying to pass bills restricting women's constitutional rights. It simply will not happen on my watch.''
Davis' foes on both of those issues responded with restraint.
Stephen Helsley, Sacramento lobbyist for the National Rifle Association's legislative arm, was especially conciliatory.
``We expect him to be a moderate. He said it. We believe it. We don't expect him to sign extremist gun bills, because he said he believes in Second Amendment rights, and we believe that.''
``We assume he doesn't mean absolute prohibition. It (probably) means that if you own one of these guns, then you must pay the state another fee and have another background check,'' Hensley added.
On abortion, the Senate GOP leader disagreed with Davis' stance, but said he doesn't expect it to be a big issue in the Legislature since Republicans recognize that they don't have the votes to enact restrictions and since their past efforts failed to draw much public attention.
``Republicans have offered reasonable amendments on that subject that have been tabled,'' Johnson said. ``I do not think there's even one in 10,000 Californians who knew we did that.''
Return
to Frontpage