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Photography by Todd Cheney
UCLA Photo
Former governors of California Gray Davis (from the left),
George Deukmejian and Jerry Brown discuss the
challenges before the state government in the 21st century
at the 20th Bollens-Ries Memorial Lecture. They enthralled
a packed De Neve auditorium, offering fascinating insights
into the knotty problems California faces.
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Ex-governors address challenges facing state
BY AJAY SINGH
UCLA Today Staff
It is rare for three former governors of California — two
Democrats and a Republican — to gather in one place and speak
about the state’s future. It’s rarer still for them
to set aside their political ideologies and extemporaneously express
broad agreement on the importance of such issues as education, the
economy and nonpartisanship in politics and society.
It was therefore something of a privilege to hear former governors
Jerry Brown, Gray Davis and George Deukmejian speak at the 20th
Bollens-Ries Memorial Lecture on a topic critical not just to California
but to much of the world: “How Can California Government Meet
the Challenges of the 21st Century?”
The May 4 event at De Neve Plaza Auditorium was organized by the
Department of Political Science and the School of Public Affairs
in honor of two late political science professors, John C. Bollens
and John C. Ries, both known for bridging the gap between academic
investigation and practical politics.
With California’s State Librarian Emeritus Kevin Starr moderating
the discussion, the guest speakers covered a broad range of issues.
Brown used his customary candor and wit to set the framework for
much of the talk. Because California has a panoply of powerbrokers
at the federal, state, local, corporate and union levels, the governor’s
authority is essentially limited, he said, making it impossible
for Sacramento to solve every problem.
Besides, he added, “I’m not sure the state government
has ever been the major engineer” of progress, partly because
of too many laws — as many as 30,000 when he became governor
in 1974. Referring to the increasingly populist nature of politics,
Brown recalled a time when he proposed making students in public
schools accountable for poor educational achievement. “People
said, ‘We have to close that loophole.’ ”
When he was governor from 1983 through 1991, California’s
population grew 23%, and “when you have that kind of growth,
you necessarily have to have a strong economy,” said Deukmejian,
a Republican who raised the state’s international economic
profile to new heights during his tenure by opening five foreign
trade and investment offices in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
California, he said, is widely perceived as a nation-state competing
with the world’s leading economies.
Education plays a crucial role in California’s information-based
economy, each of the speakers repeatedly emphasized. As Davis put
it: “Education, top to bottom, is what made California and
what’s going to sustain it.” He recalled the words of
Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, who once
told him, “No state in the nation has so many good universities.”
Unfortunately, Californians also “don’t want to share
pain,” said Davis, referring to their widespread opposition
to higher taxes.
During Brown’s governorship, “people shared a sense
of vision and obligation” that has eroded since the mid-1990s,
Davis said in response to a question about partisanship in society.
Increasingly, “more people don’t care one wink about
the general interest,” he added, a disturbing thought because
the hope of the state lies in the hands of individuals who can “do
a lot without big government programs.”
“If you can spend a little time in another person’s
life — one human being who’s not related to you,”
Davis urged, “you will have made a tremendous contribution."
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