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Davis policies buffeted by recall * The regional director of Service Employees International Union, a $50,000 contributor to the anti-recall campaign, recently met with top Davis aides to urge the governor's support of a bill giving illegal immigrants driver's licenses. Davis vetoed such legislation last year, citing terrorism concerns. Well before the recall campaign, the governor said he hoped to sign a compromise satisfying his objections. It's unclear what concessions the bill by Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, will contain if and when it reaches the governor's desk. If the recall qualifies for the ballot, however, Davis will have to weigh reactions from unions, Latino voters and liberals against potential backlash from groups that don't want to expand privileges for undocumented residents. Cedillo said he and Davis have discussed policy considerations only: "He seemed remarkably oblivious of the political context in my discussions with him on this bill." * After standing by for three years while financial institutions killed similar proposals, the governor last week pledged his support for a financial privacy bill by Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, to limit businesses' abilities to sell or share information about customers. Supporting a measure that could change before it reaches his desk was an unusual move for Davis. But to date, no major financial institutions have shown any desire to get involved in a recall, and polling shows overwhelming public support for financial privacy legislation. Speier said the governor's staff approached her about supporting the measure in April, after the recall bid was announced but before U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, a wealthy Republican from Southern California who wants to be governor, pledged to finance the campaign. "I think there was a genuine effort to do what was right," Speier said of Davis' support. "If it played a role," she said of the recall, "it was a very modest role." Since the recall bid started in February, Davis has said he would not allow it to interfere with policy-making in Sacramento. He maintains he changed his budget to be pragmatic; lawmakers weren't going to approve his initial plan. The governor has yet to take positions on many measures being colored by a possible recall. Still, legislative advocates and political analysts say Davis must eye each through the lens of recall, as he might weigh decisions in an election year but with added caution because a gubernatorial recall election is uncharted ground. If his budget decisions are any indication, legislative advocates and political analysts say, the moderate governor will gravitate to the left and to the core of his party, courting teachers, laborers, environmental groups, women's organizations and other liberal groups that provided money and support in his past two elections. "We certainly didn't have any conversations like 'You need to move in this direction,' " said Wayne Johnson, president of the California Teachers Association, of Davis' budget changes. "I just think it was him thinking, 'There's this recall movement, and it could be real,' " Johnson said. "That if they do make the ballot, he's in very serious trouble. And that if he's going to survive it, he's going to need all the people that helped him get elected originally." A Public Policy Institute of California poll last week found three-fourths of likely voters disapprove of Davis' job performance and 51 percent support his recall. "It's much like the siege Clinton was faced with during the darkest days of his administration," said Speier, the state senator, comparing Davis' budget-driven problems to the former president's struggle to survive impeachment in the face of a sex scandal.
"How do you maintain the dignity of the office?" Speier said. "How do you continue
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