- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 6746
Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis, Jr. (born December 26, 1942) is an American Democratic politician who served as California's 37th Governor from 1999 until being recalled in 2003. Prior to serving as Governor, Davis served as Chief of Staff to Governor Jerry Brown (1975–1981), California State Assemblyman (1983–1987), California State Controller (1987–1995), and the 44th Lieutenant Governor of California (1995–1999). Davis holds a B.A. in history from Stanford University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his service as a Captain in the Vietnam War.
During his time as Governor, Davis made education his top priority and California spent eight billion dollars more than was required under Proposition 98 during his first term. Under Davis, California standardized test scores increased for five straight years. Davis signed the nation's first state law requiring automakers to limit auto emissions. Davis supported laws to ban assault weapons. He is also credited with improving relations between California and Mexico. Davis began his tenure as Governor with strong approval ratings, but those ratings declined as voters blamed Davis for the California electricity crisis and the California budget crisis that followed the dot-com bubble burst. Voters were also alienated by Davis’s record breaking fundraising efforts and negative campaigning.
Wally George, born George Walter Pearch (December 4, 1931 – October 5, 2003), was an American conservative radio and television commentator. Calling himself the "Father of Combat TV" he gained national fame hosting the television talk show Hot Seat, which began in 1983 as a local show produced for KDOC, a UHF TV station in Anaheim, Orange County, California.
Born George Walter Pearch in Oakland, California, his father Walter Pearch worked in the marine shipping industry. His mother Eugenia Clinchard had been a vaudeville performer and child movie actress in Essanay Studios westerns starring Broncho Billy Anderson. George grew up in San Mateo and was in high school when his parents divorced, after which his mother moved to the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles.
At age 14 George was a disk-jockey at AM radio station KIEV in Glendale, California, followed by work at other radio stations in the state. In 1965 he was credited with writing an episode of the long-running television series Bonanza. In 1969 he launched The Wally George Show on FM radio station KTYM in Inglewood, California. Three years later he became producer and co-host of The Sam Yorty Show on Los Angeles television station KCOP with his political mentor Sam Yorty, who had been mayor of Los Angeles. By 1979 George had his own talk show at KCOP. This show later moved to KDOC in Anaheim where he launched Hot Seat in 1983. At this time KDOC had been on the air for a year and one of its early investors was singer Pat Boone.
(M. Spohn, R. Peinelt, A. Torkler)
(from the album "InFormation", 1995)
he turns around the key of his Jaguar
and whispers a shallow good bye to his wife
as the dark green lacquer's
reflecting the light of the uprising sun
on the way to the vitreous office building
someone on the radio tells the latest news
about the starving part of the world
and the man with golden watch on his arm
lights a cigar as ten meters away
a rich old man is killed
with a chromium plated gun
he had a black car with bullet proof glass
and a white house for a retired life
but all the old man leaves behind
is a red stain on the dirty grey asphalt
time passes and no one is able to use it
just a game of selling and winning
glorious and ruthless without space for loosers
society falls into deepest abstruseness
'cause the children of wealth have never learned
to pay their score
a bright lightning lights up the horizon
people running head over heels
and the voices of day