California Governor

This had been Sacramento's lost year, a stretch marked by a budget meltdown and hyper-partisan rancor, mass veto threats and mounting public distrust of state government as usual. But as the curtain dropped, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger performed as he has for half a dozen years in office: predictably unpredictable. After threatening a mass veto to spur a big water deal, the governor reversed course, revved up his ballpoint pen and signed a surprising slate of legislation. It included bills he had vetoed in the past and a flurry of measures that steered sharply away from the socially conservative Republican base the governor has rarely embraced.

Reduce taxes to increase tax revenue? That seems illogical on its face. But Steve Poizner is banking on it to balance the state's books if he's elected governor. Or maybe he's just banking on the tax cut promise to win Republican votes in next June's gubernatorial primary. Regardless, the state insurance commissioner has firmly staked out the lower-tax position and appears to believe in it with religious fervor. It's not my intention to denounce or preach any economic faith -- to render judgment in the long-running argument between so-called supply-siders and the Keynesian school.

The radio ads have aired daily across the state since she declared her bid for governor in September. "I'm Meg Whitman," one begins, "and I want to talk to you about California. . . ." The costly airtime -- with the primary election still seven months away -- is just one way the former eBay chief is spending the $19 million of her personal fortune that she has plowed into the race. The first-time candidate, a Republican, has also paid for an army of advisors, pricey plane rides and a big technology tab. She spent $6 million in the first half of the year.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein would love to be California's governor. You can hear it in her voice and read it in her eyes. But she's still hesitating about running--and she's probably the one potential candidate who has that luxury. With the Democratic convention bereft of any intrigue, California delegates are spending a lot of time speculating with reporters about the 1998 gubernatorial race. The conversation almost always opens with the question, "Do you think Dianne will run?"

As the Republican convention made clear, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren is the GOP's heir apparent to succeed Gov. Pete Wilson. But three other aspiring Republicans are watching intently, waiting for Lungren to be sidetracked or to stumble. State Treasurer Matt Fong, San Diego Mayor Susan Golding and Secretary of State Bill Jones also covet the governor's office. This does not exactly put the three in a class by themselves.

There's a presidential election coming up in November of 1996, but the biological clock of the political activists attending the Democratic State Convention last weekend already was ticking toward 1998. That is when California elects a new governor, an office that affects state political fortunes on virtually an hourly basis and provides hundreds of potential job openings for loyal campaign workers and financial contributors.

Sitting on a $550-million nest egg is not enough for Alfred A. Checchi, so the co-chairman of Northwest Airlines is considering another job--governor of California. The Democratic businessman, who has cultivated connections in the national party hierarchy for years, is mulling a bid in 1998, when incumbent Pete Wilson will be tossed out by term limits.

Kathleen Connell is on the move--brisk, forceful and confident. She talks tough about stripping state government of waste and inefficiency and of building a stronger California economy. And--ask any California political expert--Connell appears to know just what she wants for herself: to become governor of California at the first opportunity.

Leon Panetta soon will walk away from his job as President Clinton's chief of staff and begin to think seriously about running for another position: governor of California. He won't dally. "Any decision like that ought to be made by late spring or early summer," he says. And Sen. Dianne Feinstein should adopt "the same time frame. I know she's talked about waiting until early '98, but if she's serious, she ought to do it sooner."

The Stanford Mansion two blocks from the Capitol is not much to look at these days. But Gov. Pete Wilson and the Legislature have big plans for the 140-year-old home once owned by Leland Stanford, the 19th-century railroad baron, governor and founder of Stanford University. They want to refurbish the place and use it for state-sponsored receptions. The estimated cost: roughly $2.7 million. But there's a problem.