California's Down-to-Earth Duke

• Share

(2 of 2)

Compared with his first budget, the one presented by Deukmejian last week was, in the words of Democratic Lieutenant Governor Leo McCarthy, "an olive branch." Deukmejian reached out with an overall spending increase of 11.3%. The biggest windfall went to education. The University of California system received a 30% increase in funding, making possible salary hikes for the faculty, lower student fees ($1,317 to attend Berkeley, $70 cheaper than last year) and new equipment and programs. Community colleges may also receive more money, provided the legislature assesses a $50-per-semester fee on students. Deukmejian earmarked $900 million in additional aid to public schools.

Deukmejian's unexpected largesse does not signal a fundamental change of heart, however. His budget eliminates 5,000 government jobs and calls for $609 million to build prisons for 11,000 convicts. Health and welfare programs got a miserly 3.5% increase. Most important, the debt-fearing Governor socked away $950 million for "rainy days." Said he: "This emergency fund is our highest savings priority."

The sober, dutiful son of Armenian immigrants, Deukmejian began his career as an attorney in Long Beach, grappling his way up in law and politics by means of single-minded hard work more than personality or connections. As state attorney general, Deukmejian proved a tough law-and-order foil to liberal Governor Jerry Brown, pushing hard for California's death penalty. Before then, Deukmejian had served 16 years as a representative in both the state assembly and senate. Married and with three children, Deukmejian is unabashedly square in his habits and style. Weekends, he commutes to his family home in Long Beach. During the week he stays in a Sacramento apartment, eating frozen dinners and pizzas many nights. (He was prevented from moving into the lavish Governor's mansion built by Reagan when the Democrats voted not to provide funds for the Xanadu.)

Republican Senate Caucus Chairman Ken Maddy observed that the new proposals "will not placate the Democrats, but they do pre-empt them." Although his 1984-85 budget seems sure to pass, Deukmejian faces skirmishes down the road over his penny-pinching attitude toward entitlement programs. Senate Democratic Leader David Roberti grumbles, "The Governor hasn't shown much movement for the elderly and the poor."

Deukmejian's long-term agenda includes more welfare trimming, reform of a state supreme court he deems too liberal and a hotly disputed Republican proposal to redraw legislative districts last jiggered by Democrats. The test of his potential as a future leader of national stature, now that he has overcome a critical fiscal crisis, will be how well he can build a lasting prosperity.

—By Alessandra Stanley. Reported by Joseph J. Kane/Sacramento