Few Gray Days for Davis

Gray Davis is smiling now. He's talking about becoming older and wiser, about getting the most from his days. A jury in Texas settled the biggest grudge in his life, sort of. He has time for his family, and ground to make up. He is earning money again. He's picking his shots when he speaks out. He's loosened up -- which is not to call him fun-loving by ordinary standards, mind you. He won't be seen kicking up his heels on Sunset Strip. But look closely, and there's plainly a spring in his step.

"Nobody likes change," says the former California governor. "You can put me in the front of the line." To prove it, he bites into a turkey sandwich.

"I've had the same lunch for the last 32 years." Thick-sliced turkey, flatbread, a light swipe of mustard, raw vegetables in a baggie. This one was assembled by his wife.

But change was forced on him in one of California's biggest political upheavals. Three years ago, fanned by a whirlwind of anger, opportunism and novelty, the recall began.

That autumn, Davis was swept from office, cutting short a lifetime of public service. He remembers boarding an airliner in Sacramento on the day it all came to an end.... He doesn't finish the thought.

For many Californians, the picture ended there. A movie star named Arnold Schwarzenegger took the stage.

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Catching up with Gray Davis now, you find him settled into a new life in Southern California -- and not so bad a life, either, from the looks of it and what he says of it.

"I view myself as a teacher and an elder statesman," he says.

For 80% of his workdays -- by his count -- he practices corporate law as "of counsel" to Loeb & Loeb in Century City, a firm where attorneys wear casual attire, even Davis, and which American Lawyer magazine called one of "best places" in the country to work.

When you look past the three flagstaffs behind his corner-office desk, you can see the downtown Los Angeles skyline. You can also glimpse a couple of holes of the nearby Los Angeles Country Club. His office is only blocks from his spacious new home in Westwood. He drives himself to work in his Lexus.

"I am enjoying this chapter of my life," he says. "There's room for growth, for fulfillment, and I have more time with my family."

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If you have known Gray Davis for 33 of his 63 years and spend time with him now, you are inclined to believe him.