Davis’ state address puts terrorism before energy

By Kelly Rayburn
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Since the terrorist attacks, the world has changed greatly. And
if Gov. Gray Davis’ last two State of the States are a fair
test, then Californians are living in a new world along with
everyone else.

In last year’s address, Davis ““ in times of peace
““ did not so much as utter the word “security.”
This year, he dedicated the beginning of his speech to outlining a
plan to keep Californians safe, with Sept. 11 at the top of the
bill.

“The horror of Sept. 11 is seared in our hearts and minds
forever. But so, too, is the spirit of courage, sacrifice and
patriotism to which this tragedy gave new life,” Davis said,
addressing both houses of the legislature and the California
supreme court at the capitol building in Sacramento.

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who introduced Davis, also addressed
the change the attacks brought about.

“Our resolve has been strengthened, our patriotism has
grown,” Bustamante said.

Since Sept. 11, the governor has visited the UCLA Medical Center
to address bioterrorism preparedness and has gone on “Larry
King” to explain why he told the public about terrorist
threats to blow up major California bridges. Furthermore, faced
with a dramatically slowing economy ““ which he partially
attributes to the attacks ““ Davis ordered a hiring freeze and
requested $2.48 billion in mid-year budget cuts.

In his address Tuesday, Davis commended 100 Californians sent to
Ground Zero in New York on a search and rescue mission and
re-iterated the state’s efforts to protect Californians from
terrorist attacks.

But last year, terrorism wasn’t even a blip on the radar
screen.

Just weeks before Time magazine put out an issue with the
headline “California Unplugged,” the topic of the day
in early 2001 was energy, with Davis outlining a basic set of goals
to get the state out of its newest crisis.

He spoke of an “energy nightmare,” and criticized
past lawmakers’ attempts to deregulate the energy market,
saying “now it’s time to wake up.” He asked
Californians to cut energy consumption by 7 percent and explained
that putting a computer on sleep mode reduces the wapower it would
otherwise need by 40 percent.

During the thick of the energy crisis, Davis watched his
approval ratings plummet, flipped switches on new power plants,
went to Washington, D.C. to testify to Congress and request federal
aid, and even went door-to-door in Los Angeles to hand out
energy-efficient light bulbs.

And while not the heavy focus it was last year, energy was still
a concern Tuesday night.

While the state’s conservation efforts and the opening of
new power plants were highlighted, Californians aren’t out of
the woods yet, Davis said.

“The recent collapse of Enron is another sign of the …
uncertainty we still face in the deregulated energy sector,”
he said.

“We must continue to conserve. We must continue to build
more plants, cleaner plants, more efficient plants.”

Davis ended his speech by returning to the passengers of Flight
93, who overpowered hijackers and crashed in rural Pennsylvania on
Sept. 11.

“Flight 93 was one of freedom’s finest hours,”
Davis said. “With God’s grace ““ and with the
courage of these heroes and our lasting values as our guide ““
we will continue to turn adversity into accomplishment and lead
this great state forward.”