|
|
Enron Mail |
Davis trying to spin out of energy crisis
Energy advisers have ruthless reputation Ken Garcia Saturday, June 23, 2001 ,2001 San Francisco Chronicle URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/23/M NN116485.DTL No matter how much you try to spin the facts, the truth usually topples out. This will explain why Gray Davis is suffering from a reality blackout, because no one spins harder or faster than our opaque leader, who, quite equitably, is suffering his own power crisis. Why Do You Think They Call Him Gray has an unrelenting black-and-white problem. How can he explain away his indecision in grappling with the energy crisis sooner, his inability to hammer out a deal with the utilities and power suppliers before they had the state handcuffed and his frantic response to spend $40 million in public funds to purchase future electricity without offering consumers the details of the pact? The truth is, he cannot, although he has tried mightily. And to that end he made one of his biggest mistakes yet -- no small feat when you consider he is at the center of one of the sharpest economic tailspins in California's history. Rather than tackle the issues head-on, Davis did what he has always done: use consultants and polling data to try and navigate the minefield of public opinion to put himself in the best possible light and blame others for his problems. It's a game Bill Clinton perfected but at which the governor is a mere weekend hobbyist. Davis' decision to hire two former Clinton-Gore spin doctors to explain away his role in the energy crisis has been as predictable as this summer's threat of rolling blackouts. If only, in this case, he could have kept his critics in the dark. While the state's taxpayers were hit with record electricity bills, Davis was pointing his finger at every official in the federal government who might conceivably have played a role in the crisis and especially those power suppliers in the Lone Star state who have been soaking California ratepayers dry. It is obviously true that the Bush administration has been reluctant to help the nation's most populous state because it voted for Al Gore in November. And time will probably show that the power companies in Texas and beyond were being Snopes-like in their dealings with the Golden State. But there is no getting around the fact that Davis severely exacerbated California's energy plight through his own inaction -- as evidenced by our sweltering soul mates in San Diego who were experiencing blackouts and spiraling electricity costs early last summer. Yet why suffer the facts when it's so much easier to just scramble them? When the energy crisis hit its peak this spring and Davis' popularity ratings began short-circuiting, he brought in Chris Lehane and Mark Fabiani, who had been as ubiquitous in the scandal-ridden Clinton administration as the stain on a certain intern's dress. The pair became so adept at parrying the thrusts of truth directed by the press each day that they earned the label "masters of disaster" -- which may be why Davis thought of them when he considered the calamity beginning to envelop him. If only he had considered the accompanying stink. Lehane and Fabiani are considered by the political cognoscenti as nothing less than ruthless, partisan hired guns, happy to attack anyone standing between them and a monthly paycheck. Unfortunately for Davis, the rhetorical hit men's salaries are being paid by California taxpayers, who are none too happy that they will be socked with billions of dollars in extra energy charges as a result of Davis' lack of leadership. So although Lehane and Fabiani's $30,000 monthly consulting fees may look paltry to a governor who has contributed to California's lost billions, it looks quite a bit different to those little people in the bleacher seats, sometimes known as California's 30 million-plus residents. The hiring of the disaster duo has led to a lawsuit by an anti-tax group from Sacramento that alleges Lehane and Fabiani are violating the state Political Reform Act because the gunslingers have also worked for Southern California Edison as consultants -- a generally accepted no-no for public officials, even those who worked in Washington. And State Controller Kathleen Connell, a fellow Democrat, has rightfully refused to pay state funds for the Clinton-Gore castoffs, because she said it is inconceivable that the two men are working on state policy -- not politics - - as required by law. Until obfuscation and misdirection become part of the official state code of ethics, it's fair to say Connell is on pretty firm ground. Or as one member of a tax protest group put it: "We are adding insult to injury to have the governor who feels the pressure of this crisis to spend this kind of dough for damage control." Damage control is not supposed to incite more damage, but right now Davis is a metal helmet in an electrical storm. His arrogant treatment of state voters, his refusal to shoulder responsibility and his efforts to spin his way out of trouble has left even die-hard Democrats searching for a more palatable replacement. That decision will come next year when Davis is up for re-election. And the millions of people who chose him because he seemed a safe but dull choice will now realize that there is little solace in gray areas. Since the governor is involved, it seems apt to call it a cautionary tale. But by the time the spin doctors are through, it may start to sound more like an urban legend. You can reach Ken Garcia at (415) 777-7152 or e-mail him at kgarcia@sfchronicle.com. ,2001 San Francisco Chronicle Page A - 13
|