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In state's time of need, the governor fails to lead - by Dan Weintraub
Contrast that approach to the one followed by Davis' predecessor, Pete Wilson. When Wilson, a Republican, wanted to raise taxes in 1991, he described Republican legislators who refused to go along as "f---ing irrelevant."
Later, when asked if he intended to twist arms to get his budget through, Wilson said no, he'd break them. Another time, Wilson vetoed a couple of hundred million dollars in legislators' pet projects and held the money hostage to extract votes for a key education reform.
That sort of machismo can go overboard, and with Wilson it sometimes did. But it would be nice to see a little bit of backbone from Davis once in a while. The office he holds comes with incredible powers, especially in the era of a term-limited Legislature. But Davis refuses to use them.
All of this makes the attempt to recall him from office almost redundant. At this point, it seems, Davis is governor in name only.
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