‘Petty, Silly,’ Governor Says of Davis Office Complaints

SACRAMENTO —  After remaining silent on the subject for more than a month, Gov. George Deukmejian made it clear Monday he does not appreciate the constant complaints lodged by state Controller Gray Davis over the governor’s decision to give Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy a Capitol office that Davis covets.

“Since you have sought publicity on this issue, permit me some commentary,” wrote Deukmejian, who called Davis’ protests “petty and just plain silly.”

Deukmejian told the newly elected controller in a two-page letter that the dispute over office space is “not doing you, the controller’s office or the people of California any good.”

Other elected officials--including Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, Secretary of State March Fong Eu and school Supt. Bill Honig--all have offices outside the Capitol, Deukmejian wrote, and “seem to be able to function effectively . . . and have done so for years.”

Davis, a former Democratic assemblyman and chief of staff to former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., has been on the warpath against Deukmejian ever since the governor made it clear that he would not permit Davis to leave his current headquarters--in a luxury, private building 10 blocks away--and return to the Capitol office that had been occupied by Davis’ predecessor, Democrat Ken Cory.

That brought a barrage of criticism from Davis, who accused Deukmejian of being “determined to prevent me from returning to the Capitol.” He made the charges in newspaper interviews and even appeared on Sacramento talk shows where he insisted that he cannot do his job “if I’m out of the information loop.”

Adding insult to injury, the Republican governor not only ignored Davis’ pleas but gave the office to McCarthy, who is considered a potential Democratic rival to Davis in a future gubernatorial bid.

All the rhetoric aside, Davis’ problems were not created by Deukmejian as much as they were by Cory, who in the last months of his term in office decided to move most of his operations to the luxury office building. It is within walking distance of the Capitol but light years from the political action that Davis loves.

In a defiant mood, Davis had threatened to vacate his executive offices and find cheaper quarters closer to the action. The only problem is that the controller does not have the authority to negotiate a lease. That can only come from Deukmejian and the Department of General Services.

In the wake of Monday’s letter, James Tucker, Davis’ chief deputy, said Deukmejian’s fight is not with the controller but with the Little Hoover Commission, which recently suggested that $400,000 could be saved if Davis moved out of his offices to a more modest suite.

“We haven’t even seen the (governor’s) letter,” Tucker protested. “Apparently he sent it to the press first and us second.”

Deukmejian, however, took issue with the commission’s figures and noted that the Legislature, of which Davis was a member, had voted to approve Cory’s decision.

“In short,” Deukmejian said, “questions of cost benefit were raised, justification was provided, commitments were made and contracts were entered into. I believe in the need to honor commitments and abide by contracts.”