Pete Wilson

Gov. Pete Wilson's plan to stop payment of almost $400 million worth of tax relief owed to low-income California renters--and disclosure that the checks already are being held up--ran into heavy Democratic opposition Wednesday. "They are entitled to their money," declared Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys), asserting that 1992 tax credits and cash refunds legally claimed by the renters "should not be delayed on the basis of political machinations."

Gov. Pete Wilson on Tuesday called for the death penalty for gang members who commit murders and said that law enforcement officers need to be better equipped to fight the rising number of street gangs. The governor, speaking at the annual convention of the California Gang Investigators Assn., advocated tougher penalties overall for gang members, especially juveniles, who commit felonies. "Right now kids can literally get away with murder and they are savvy enough to know it," Wilson said.

Angered by Gov. Pete Wilson's veto of gay rights legislation, thousands of demonstrators converged on the Capitol Friday in a largely nonviolent protest described by one state police veteran as the most "intense" to hit Sacramento since the 1960s. The protesters blocked some building entrances, snarled downtown traffic and tossed plastic bags of red paint--symbolizing blood--against the Capitol facade.

President Bush arrived in Ventura County on Friday to stump for gubernatorial candidate Pete Wilson as Lutheran church leaders complained that a Republican rally scheduled for California Lutheran University today is partisan and a misuse of the university's role as a private institution. The Rev. Stanley Olson, a former Los Angeles Lutheran bishop and past CLU regent, and the Rev.

Given her life, it's hard to imagine Michelle is one of the lucky few. She grew up in a part of Los Angeles where dreams about the future are lost to the struggle of surviving each day's dangers and temptations. Her father was absent from her life, and her mother, she said, left much of the parenting to her. At too early an age, Michelle said, she took that role for herself and her two brothers.

California's forgotten governor drapes his plaid-trousered legs into a chair and, with dry humor, recalls his five years in political exile. He walked the streets unnoticed, shopped at Ralphs, waited in line at the gas station, all without security. Who needs it when you're just another guy? Occasionally, he says, someone would recognize him. "I know you," they would say. "You're the anchor on Channel 7." Such was the obscure life of Pete Wilson.

Announcing the first of what she said will be weekly "Rip Van Wilson" awards, Democratic challenger Kathleen Brown said Thursday that Republican Gov. Pete Wilson took far too long to do anything about the DMV's failed multimillion-dollar computer system. "It is typical of the Rip Van Wilson style: You slumber until election year. You wake up and you do something about it," Brown said, contending that she would address such management problems more quickly.

Just past 10 o'clock on inauguration night Monday, Vice President Dan Quayle lifted a flute of champagne--"With pride, with prayer and with best wishes to Pete and Gayle Wilson. May God bless you." The inaugural ball crowd of 5,000 roared its approval. Their man officially in office, it was time for the Wilson supporters, campaigners and contributors to have a ball. This one, held in the gigantic barn-like pavilion at the California Exposition, was staged by the Walt Disney Co.

He was only 14 years old, but Richard Noble knew this was no ordinary crush. The object of his affections was another boy. When he tried to express his feelings, "it got spread around that I was the school fag," recalled Noble, now 26. "I got into seven fights before my dad took me out of school." The way he sees things now, gay bashing takes many forms.

Less than a week after entering the race for governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger has already shaken up his campaign team, demoting a top strategist and turning day-to-day operations over to aides who ran former Gov. Pete Wilson's office.

Republicans who gathered in Anaheim on Saturday sought to translate their enthusiasm for the general election ticket -- specifically for vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin -- into gains in November. In the hotel meeting rooms where the three-day state GOP convention was underway, talk bubbled about Palin. T-shirts bearing her likeness flew off the shelves -- including one with Palin's face imposed over the classic Rosie-the-Riveter pose.

After the Cold War ended and the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, California's aerospace-and-defense-heavy economy took a nose dive. One result was that, in 1991, Gov. Pete Wilson faced the worst budget shortfall in the state's history. The revenue picture was especially glum. What had started as a revenue gap the size of one-seventh of the state's general fund steadily grew until, by May that year, it was the equivalent of one-third of the fund.

Hoping to find a successor to popular Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and end the decadelong shellacking that most other Republicans have suffered when running for statewide office, a group of GOP leaders and well-heeled donors Wednesday announced plans to stock a "farm team" of candidates they hope will put their party back in power. The organization includes former Gov. Pete Wilson and a crew of moderate Republican donors from Orange County.

Former Gov. Pete Wilson famously -- or infamously, depending on your politics -- raised taxes to help tame a behemoth budget deficit. I asked him recently whether, 17 years later, he had any regrets. "Sure," he replied instantly. "I regretted it at the time. I hated it. "What I hated even worse -- what I thought was even more pernicious than raising taxes -- was deficit spending. I'd just come from eight years of watching the federal government engage in deficit spending.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani accepted the endorsement Thursday of former California Gov. Pete Wilson, linking the Republican presidential contender with a strong supporter of Proposition 187, the 1994 ballot initiative that still echoes among California's Latino voters. The issue helped Democrats to victory in ensuing state elections. It was so volatile that then-candidate George W.

Today is For Pete's Sake Day, when you should utter the exclamation as often as possible. Marking the day in other ways, though, can be tricky, especially since Pete Wilson is no longer governor. Even Lance Dupuis, general manager at Pete's Cafe & Bar in downtown L.A., asks: "How do you celebrate a holiday like that?" Our suggestion: Rent 1974's "For Pete's Sake," starring Barbra Streisand, at right, and Michael Sarrazin.

The state Constitution gives governors the power to reduce and commute sentences, and to pardon prisoners. No one on death row has received clemency since 1967. Here are recent pardons: Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2003-present 3 -- Gray Davis, 1999-2003 0 -- Pete Wilson, 1991-1999 13 -- George Deukmejian, 1983-1991 328 -- Jerry Brown, 1975-1983 403 -- Ronald Reagan, 1967-1975 575

The quest for Latino voters intensified Wednesday as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's union opponents began airing ads on Spanish-language television in which Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa assails the governor's entire special election agenda. Another ad compares Schwarzenegger to former Gov. Pete Wilson, dredging up memories of the fights over illegal immigration that made many Latinos sour on the former Republican governor. The ad shows a photo of Wilson transforming into Schwarzenegger.

The way former Gov. Pete Wilson sees it, the current governor hardened his attitude against Democratic lawmakers when he learned how innately partisan they really are. This shouldn't have been a big shock, that partisan politics can be very partisan. It's built into the two-party system. But that's easy to say and hard to experience, especially if you're new to the game. Even before Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor, Wilson was a mentor.

The phone rang at midnight. Jeff Randle, one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's political consultants, was working in a hotel room near LAX on the night of Oct. 21 as he grabbed his cellphone. Who, Randle wondered, could be calling him at such an hour? Pete Wilson was on the line. The former California governor had just clinched an agreement that, only 12 days before the election, would mean the collapse of Proposition 66, a measure to limit the state's three-strikes law. Henry T.