Challengers hope to displace Davis

 

By Sara Chon
Daily Bruin Contributor

With the 2002 gubernatorial primary less than two months away,
Gov. Gray Davis continues to work with his current agenda and is
thinking ahead to November’s showdown rather than campaigning
for the March election.

“There really is no serious primary opponent for Gov.
Davis,” said Roger Salazar, press secretary for Davis’
campaign. “We’re going to wait and see who the
candidate will be for the Republican Party before we start doing
serious campaigning.”

While Davis continues to focus on the budget, energy and
terrorism, four other candidates ““ Mosemarie Boyd, Anselmo A.
Chavez, Charles “Chuck” Pineda Jr. and Chris
Wojciechowski ““ remain positive about their chances in the
primary and have begun campaigning.

“I’m the only woman candidate, and I want to focus
my campaign on the bi-partisan support, which is crucial during
times like these,” said Boyd, the current president and chief
executive officer of American Women Presidents, a national
organization dedicated to electing female presidents and vice
presidents and recruiting candidates for the Democratic and
Republican parties.

Boyd criticized Davis for failing to create a balanced budget
and said all state programs should tighten the budget by 10 percent
and make the necessary cuts to deal with the fiscal problems the
state is facing.

Davis recently signed a budget proposal that many believe will
not help solve the state’s economic crisis, because it
depends on an economic improvement in the near future.

In response to such criticisms, the governor’s spokesman
defended Davis and said that funds for higher education have
increased, including more available Cal Grants, during Davis’
term in office.

“Gov. Davis may not have made the same achievements as he
has done in the first three years of his term, but he still has
made many significant improvements in education, health care and
public safety,” Salazar said.

But the budget isn’t the only issue for Boyd. She also
stressed the importance of a strong defense and national security
and the inappropriateness of engaging in partisan battles while the
nation is in a war.

“We need to unite and show (the world) democracy allows
for differences in times of troubles,” Boyd said.

Meanwhile, the top priority of Chavez, an educator with degrees
in economics and business, is the reform of Proposition 13, which
passed in 1978 with the support of almost two-thirds of
California’s voters and which reduced property tax rates on
business, homes and farms by about 57 percent.

Moreover, the proposition limited property tax rates to 1
percent of the property’s market value, and property tax
increases on any given property could not exceed more than 2
percent a year.

Chavez proposes to reform Prop. 13 by periodically reassessing
the commercial and industrial property at market value.

“The political cowards don’t want to deal with Prop.
13, which is the answer to the financial problems,” Chavez
said. “By reforming this proposition, money will be available
to fund education, schools and the elderly.”

Though he had not won a seat for the state senate, Chavez said
he nevertheless captured 100,000 votes, which made a significant
difference.

On the other hand, Pineda, who also ran for the 1998 primary
election, emphasizes his top priorities of making 32-hour work
week, crime prevention and assisting the elderly and homeless.

Pineda was not available for comment after multiple calls to his
office over the past five days.

Wojciechowski, the last of the candidates, said his top priority
is to get rid of all government corruptions and frauds ““
charging Davis with being a top assailant in government
corruption.

Though Davis is under heavy fire by the other candidates, he
nevertheless shows confidence for the primary, Salazar said.