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Gray Davis on Principles & ValuesFormer Democratic CA Governor |
DAVIS: The biggest thing that I will change is to stay connected to the people of the state. When I was first elected I had town hall meeting, I spoke with people and learned a lot and got a lot of good ideas.
Governing should be a two-way street. You get wrapped up in Sacramento, talking to legislators who are important, lobbyists who are important, constituency groups.
At the end of the day the people put you there in the first place. You have to stay connected to them. Which is why we asked, and I’m glad that you agreed to have citizens tonight that I could talk to face-to-face, answer their questions. Learn from them and they can hear some of the conflicts pressures that I have to deal with as governor.
DAVIS: There is no question there was a message, that people are angry. Their lives are not going as well as they were a couple of years ago and I understand I’m the brunt of their concern.
But at the heart of this, there were a group of Republicans that were upset they could not win last November’s election. They tried to do what they’ve done to President Clinton, to try to impeach him in 1998 after they could not defeat him in ‘96. They did it in Florida where Al Gore got more votes, and when it looked like he might win the presidency, they stopped the vote count there. Now we won in November and they wanted to have a “do-over.”
DAVIS: I said in my first address that I would take a good idea from wherever it came from, the right the center or the left and I’ve maintained that posture from the very beginning. I do believe governments’ role is to help people, to be a safety net. And I do believe that many of the policies that I’ve pursued fill that overall goal. So I do not find any inconsistency. Being a centrist does not mean that you take the middle line on every issue, it means when you add up what I’ve done, I may say I’m in the center but not on every issue.
I’ve called myself a progressive most of my career. I think that the labels matter less than what you actually do and who you fight for.
DAVIS: It is not an easy time for my wife Sharon or I and it is not fun seeing everyone condemn you. It is a humbling experience. But I know the people that I represent want me to fight for their future so I have specific things to get done. We’ll get to them. Trust me.
A: I don’t think you can boil it down to just one thing. As Governor, I’ve put together a record I can be proud of. In education, we’ve reduced class sizes, demanded more accountability and made historic investments in teacher recruitment and training. We’ve expanded 10-fold the Healthy Families Program for uninsured children, provided one million kids with health insurance and established the first agency in America to help patients fight their HMO-and win. We’ve signed the nation’s toughest gun laws, banning assault weapons and requiring trigger locks. We’ve signed tough new laws cleaning up our beaches, signed the nation’s first law reducing greenhouse gas emissions and sued the federal government to block more offshore drilling. We’ve improved our veterans’ homes and are building five more. Finally, I’m proud that California’s economy has grown from the 7th to the 5th largest in the world over the last four years.
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Such factors as religious service attendance, belief, practice, familiarity with doctrine, belief in certain creeds, etc., may be important to sociologists, religious leaders, and others. But these are measures of religiosity and are usually not used academically to define a person’s membership in a particular religion. It is important to recognize there are various levels of adherence, or membership within religious traditions or religious bodies. There’s no single definition, and sources of adherent statistics do not always make it clear what definition they are using.
Since its inception, the DLC has championed policies from spurring private sector economic growth, fiscal discipline and community policing to work based welfare reform, expanded international trade, and national service. Throughout the 90’s, innovative, New Democrat policies implemented by former DLC Chairman President Bill Clinton have helped produce the longest period of sustained economic growth in our history, the lowest unemployment in a generation, 22 million new jobs, cut the welfare rolls in half, reduced the crime rate for seven straight years, balanced the budget and streamlined the federal bureaucracy to its smallest size since the Kennedy administration.
Now, the DLC is promoting new ideas -- such as a second generation of environmental protection and new economy and technology development strategies -- that is distinctly different from traditional liberalism and conservatism to build the next generation of America’s leaders.
America and the world have changed dramatically in the closing decades of the 20th century. The industrial order of the 20th century is rapidly yielding to the networked “New Economy” of the 21st century. Our political and governing systems, however, have lagged behind the rest of society in adapting to these seismic shifts. They remain stuck in the left-right debates and the top-down bureaucracies of the industrial past.
The Democratic Leadership Council, and its affiliated think tank the Progressive Policy Institute, have been catalysts for modernizing politics and government. The core principles and ideas of this “Third Way” movement [began with] Bill Clinton’s Presidential campaign in 1992, Tony Blair’s Labour Party in Britain in 1997, and Gerhard Shroeder’s Social Democrats in Germany in 1998.
The National Governors Association (NGA) is the collective voice of the nation’s governors and one of Washington’s most respected public policy organizations. NGA provides governors with services that range from representing states on Capitol Hill and before the Administration on key federal issues to developing policy reports on innovative state programs and hosting networking seminars for state government executive branch officials. The NGA Center for Best Practices focuses on state innovations and best practices on issues that range from education and health to technology, welfare reform, and the environment. NGA also provides management and technical assistance to both new and incumbent governors.
Since their initial meeting in 1908 to discuss interstate water problems, governors have worked through the National Governors Association to deal with issues of public policy and governance relating to the states. The association’s ongoing mission is to support the work of the governors by providing a bipartisan forum to help shape and implement national policy and to solve state problems.
Fortune Magazine recently named NGA as one of Washington’s most powerful lobbying organizations due, in large part, to NGA’s ability to lead the debate on issues that impact states. From welfare reform to education, from the historic tobacco settlement to wireless communications tax policies, NGA has influenced major public policy issues while maintaining the strength of our Federalist system of government.
There are three standing committees—on Economic Development and Commerce, Human Resources, and Natural Resources—that provide a venue for governors to examine and develop policy positions on key state and national issues.
[Note: NGA positions represent a majority view of the nation’s governors, but do not necessarily reflect a governor’s individual viewpoint. Governors vote on NGA policy positions but the votes are not made public.]
Established in 1984, the Western Governors' Association is an independent, non-partisan organization of governors from 18 western states and three U.S.-flag Pacific islands. The Association was formed to provide strong leadership in an era of critical change in the economy and demography of the West. The Western Governors recognize that many vital issues and opportunities shaping our future span state lines and are shared throughout the West.