Pete Wilson: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Governor of California from 1991 to 1999}} |
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{{For|others named Pete Wilson|Peter Wilson}} |
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{{other people}} |
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{{Infobox Governor |
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{{Use American English|date=June 2024}} |
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|image=1994_This_Week_in_Caliofrnia.jpg |
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{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}} |
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|name=Pete Wilson |
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{{Infobox officeholder |
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|caption= |
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| name = Pete Wilson |
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|order=36th |
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| image = Pete Wilson meeting with Les Aspin, Feb 3, 1993 - cropped to Wilson.JPEG |
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|office=Governor of California |
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| caption = Wilson in 1993 |
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|term_start= January 7, 1991 |
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| order = 36th |
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|term_end= January 4, 1999 |
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| office = Governor of California |
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|lieutenant= [[Leo T. McCarthy]] <br/>(1991–1995) <br/> [[Gray Davis]] <br/>(1995–1999) |
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| lieutenant = {{unbulleted list|[[Leo T. McCarthy]]|Gray Davis}} |
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|predecessor= [[George Deukmejian]] |
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| term_start = January 7, 1991 |
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|successor= [[Gray Davis]] |
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| term_end = January 4, 1999 |
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|order2=[[United States Senator]]<br/>from [[California]] |
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| predecessor = [[George Deukmejian]] |
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|term_start2=January 3, 1983 |
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| successor = [[Gray Davis]] |
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|term_end2=January 7, 1991 |
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| jr/sr1 = United States Senator |
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|predecessor2=[[Samuel I. Hayakawa]] |
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| state1 = [[California]] |
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|successor2=[[John F. Seymour]] |
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| term_start1 = January 3, 1983 |
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|order3=[[Mayor]] of [[San Diego]], [[California]] |
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| term_end1 = January 7, 1991 |
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| predecessor1 = [[S. I. Hayakawa]] |
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|term_end3=January 7, 1982 |
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| successor1 = [[John Seymour (California politician)|John Seymour]] |
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|predecessor3=[[Frank E. Curran]] |
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| order2 = 29th |
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|successor3=[[Roger Hedgecock]] |
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| office2 = Mayor of San Diego |
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|order4=Member of the [[California State Assembly]] |
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| term_start2 = December 6, 1971 |
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|term_start4=January 3, 1967 |
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| term_end2 = January 3, 1983 |
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| predecessor2 = [[Francis Earl Curran]] |
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|predecessor4=[[Clair Burgener]] |
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| successor2 = [[Roger Hedgecock]] |
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|successor4=Bob Wilson |
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| state_assembly3 = California |
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|birth_date= {{birth date and age |1933|08|23}} |
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| district3 = [[California's 76th State Assembly district|76th]] |
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|birth_place= [[Lake Forest, Illinois]] |
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| term_start3 = January 2, 1967 |
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|birthname = Peter Barton Wilson |
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| term_end3 = December 5, 1971 |
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|death_date= |
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| predecessor3 = [[Clair Burgener]] |
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|death_place= |
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| successor3 = Bob Wilson |
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| birth_name = Peter Barton Wilson |
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|alma_mater= [[Yale University]]<br/>[[University of California, Berkeley School of Law]] |
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1933|8|23}} |
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|profession= [[Politician]] |
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| birth_place = [[Lake Forest, Illinois|Lake Forest]], Illinois, U.S. |
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|party= [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] |
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| party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] |
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|religion= [[Presbyterianism]] |
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| education = [[Yale University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[University of California, Berkeley]] ([[Juris Doctor|JD]]) |
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|branch=[[United States Marine Corps]] |
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| spouse = {{ublist|{{marriage|Betty Robertson|1968|1981|end=divorced}}|{{marriage|[[Gayle Wilson|Gayle Edlund]]|May 29, 1983}}}} |
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|unit= |
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| signature = Pete Wilson Signature.png |
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|footnotes= |
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| branch = [[United States Marine Corps]] |
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| serviceyears = 1955–1958 |
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| rank = [[First lieutenant (United States)|First lieutenant]] |
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| unit = [[1st Marine Division (United States)|1st Marine Division]] |
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}} |
}} |
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'''Peter Barton''' "'''Pete'''" '''Wilson''' (born August 23, 1933) is an [[United States|American]] [[politician]] from [[California]]. Wilson, a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]], served as the [[List of Governors of California|36th]] [[Governor of California]] (1991–1999), the culmination of more than three decades in the public arena that included eight years as a [[United States Senator]] (1983–1991), eleven years as [[Mayor of San Diego]] (1971–1982) and five years as a [[California State Assembly]]man (1967–1971). |
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'''Peter Barton Wilson''' (born August 23, 1933) is an American attorney and politician who served as a [[United States senator]] from California from 1983 to 1991 and as the [[List of Governors of California|36th governor of California]] from 1991 to 1999. A member of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], he also served as the 29th [[mayor of San Diego]] from 1971 to 1983. |
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==Early life== |
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Peter Barton Wilson was born on August 23, 1933, in [[Lake Forest, Illinois]], a suburb north of [[Chicago]]. His parents were James Boone Wilson and Margaret Callaghan Wilson.<ref>[http://www.sdgenealogy.org/petewilson.html San Diego Genealogy Project: Pete Wilson]</ref> His father was originally a jewelry salesman who later became a successful advertising executive. The Wilson family moved to [[St. Louis, Missouri]] when Pete was in junior high school. There, he attended the [[St. Louis Country Day School]], an exclusive private high school, where he won an award in his senior year for combined scholarship, athletics, and citizenship. In the fall of 1952, Pete Wilson enrolled at the [[Yale University]] in [[Connecticut]], where he received a [[U.S. Navy]] (Marine Corps) [[ROTC]] scholarship, majored in English, and earned his [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree. |
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Born in [[Lake Forest, Illinois]], Wilson graduated from the [[UC Berkeley School of Law]] after serving in the [[United States Marine Corps]]. He established a legal practice in [[San Diego]] and campaigned for Republicans such as [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Barry Goldwater]]. Wilson won election to the [[California State Assembly]] in 1966 and became the mayor of San Diego in 1971. He held that office until 1983, when he became a member of the United States Senate. In [[1982 United States Senate election in California|1982]], he defeated then-incumbent Governor [[Jerry Brown]] to become the United States senator from California. In the Senate, Wilson supported the [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] and the [[Civil Liberties Act of 1988]], while he opposed the [[Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990]]. |
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After graduation from Yale Univ., Wilson served for three years in the [[Marine Corps]] as an infantry officer, eventually becoming a platoon leader. Upon completion of his [[Marine Corps]] service, Wilson earned a [[Juris Doctor]] [[(J.D.)]] degree from the [[University of California, Berkeley School of Law]]. |
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Wilson resigned from the Senate after winning the [[California gubernatorial election, 1990|1990 California gubernatorial election]]. As governor, Wilson signed a [[three-strikes law]] and supported energy [[deregulation]] and [[Term limits in the United States|term limits]]. He was also an advocate for [[California Proposition 187]], which established a state-run citizenship screening system with the intention of preventing [[Illegal immigration to the United States|illegal immigrants]] from using social services. Wilson won reelection in the [[1994 California gubernatorial election|1994 gubernatorial election]]. He sought the Republican nomination in the [[1996 United States presidential election]] but dropped out of the race before [[1996 Republican Party presidential primaries|the primaries]] began. |
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In 1962, while working for the Republican gubernatorial candidate [[Richard M. Nixon]], Wilson got to know one of Nixon's top aides, Herb Klein. Klein suggested that Wilson might do well in Southern California politics, so in 1963, Wilson moved to [[San Diego]]. |
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Wilson retired from public office after serving two terms as governor. Since leaving office, he has worked for several businesses and has been affiliated with several other organizations. He is a distinguished visiting fellow at the [[Hoover Institution]]. As of to date, Wilson's [[1988 United States Senate election in California|1988]] re-election is the last time Republicans won a Senate election in California. |
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After passing the bar exam on his fourth attempt, Wilson began his practice as a criminal defense attorney in [[San Diego]], but he found such work to be low-paying and personally repugnant. He later commented to the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', "I realized I couldn't be a criminal defense lawyer - because most of the people who do come to you are guilty." Wilson switched to a more conventional law practice and continued his activity in local politics, working for [[Barry Goldwater]]'s unsuccessful [[United States presidential election, 1964|Presidential campaign in 1964]]. Wilson's like for politics and managing the day-to-day details of the political process was growing. He put in long hours for the Goldwater campaign, earning the friendship of local [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] boosters so necessary for a political career, and in 1966, at the age of thirty-three, he ran for, and won a seat in the [[California State Legislature]], succeeding [[Clair Burgener]]. |
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==Early life== |
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Peter Barton Wilson was born on August 23, 1933, in Lake Forest, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago, at the height of the [[Great Depression]]. His parents were James Boone Wilson and Margaret (Callaghan) Wilson.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sdgenealogy.org/petewilson.html|title=San Diego Genealogy Project: Pete Wilson}}</ref> His father sold college fraternity jewelry to work his way through University of Illinois, and later became a successful advertising executive. The Wilson family settled in [[St. Louis, Missouri]], when Pete was in elementary school. He then attended the private, non-sectarian [[University-preparatory school|preparatory middle school]] [[John Burroughs School|John Burroughs]] (grades 7–9) in [[Ladue, Missouri|Ladue]], and then [[St. Louis Country Day School]], an exclusive private high school, where he won an award in his senior year for combined scholarship, athletics, and citizenship. In the fall of 1951, Pete Wilson enrolled at [[Yale University]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]], where he received a [[United States Navy]] Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship, majored in English, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree. In his junior year he elected to join the Marine Corps upon his graduation. |
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As the Mayor of [[San Diego]], Wilson guided the city as it transformed from a quiet [[U.S. Navy]] and [[U.S. Marine Corps]] town to an international trade hub, credited with amending the city charter to make public safety the first and foremost responsibility of city government, and leading an effort to manage San Diego's dynamic growth and to revitalize the city's downtown area.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} He substantially cut the [[property tax]] rate and imposed a limit on the growth of the city budget.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} Wilson was largely responsible for the gentrification of the [[Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego, California|Gaslamp Quarter]] that transformed it from a drug-infested area to a business friendly and successful downtown.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} Wilson coined the San Diego slogan that is still widely used today: "[[San Diego]]: America's finest city"{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} |
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After graduating from Yale, Wilson served for three years in the United States Marine Corps as an infantry officer, eventually becoming a platoon commander. Upon completion of his Marine Corps service, Wilson earned a [[Juris Doctor]] degree from the [[UC Berkeley School of Law|University of California, Berkeley School of Law]] in June 1962. In 1962, while working as an Advance Man for the Republican gubernatorial candidate [[Richard M. Nixon]], Wilson got to know [[Herb Klein (journalist)|Herb Klein]], one of Nixon's top aides. Klein suggested that Wilson might do well in Southern California politics, so in 1963, Wilson moved to San Diego. |
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==United States Senator== |
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[[File:PeteWilson.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Pete Wilson as U.S. Senator]] |
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After passing the bar exam on his fourth attempt,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dolan |first1=Maura |title=A High Bar for Lawyers |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-feb-21-me-bar21-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=February 21, 2006 |access-date=2 August 2022}}</ref> Wilson began his practice as a criminal defense attorney in [[San Diego]], but he found such work to be low-paying and personally repugnant. He later commented to the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', "I realized I couldn't be a criminal defense lawyer – because most of the people who do come to you are guilty." Wilson switched to a more conventional law practice and continued his activity in local politics, working for [[Barry Goldwater]]'s unsuccessful [[1964 United States presidential election|presidential campaign in 1964]]. Wilson's liking for politics and managing the day-to-day details of the political process was growing. He put in long hours for the Goldwater campaign, earning the friendship of local Republican boosters so necessary for a political career, and in 1966, at the age of thirty-three, he ran for, and won a seat in the California State Assembly, succeeding [[Clair Burgener]]. Wilson was re-elected to the Assembly in 1968 and 1970, and in 1971 was elected [[mayor of San Diego]]. |
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In 1982, Wilson won the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[primary election|primary]] in California to replace the retiring U.S. Senator [[S. I. Hayakawa]]. Wilson's Democratic opponent was the outgoing two-term Governor [[Jerry Brown]]. Wilson was known as a fiscal conservative who supported the [[Proposition 13]], although Wilson had opposed the measure while mayor of San Diego. However, Brown ran on his gubernatorial record of building the largest state budget surpluses in California history. Both Wilson and Brown were moderate-to-liberal on social issues, including support for abortion rights. The election was expected to be close, with Brown holding a slim lead in most of the polls leading up to Election Day. Wilson hammered away at Brown's appointment of California Chief Justice [[Rose Bird]], using this to portray himself as tougher on crime than Brown was. Brown's late entry into the 1980 Democratic Presidential primary, after promising not to run, was also an issue. President [[Ronald Reagan]] made a number of visits to California late in the race to campaign for Wilson. Reagan quipped that the last thing he wanted to see was one of his home state's [[U.S. Senate]] seats falling into Democrats' hands, especially to be occupied by the man who succeeded him as Governor. Despite exit polls indicating a narrow Brown victory, Wilson edged him out to win the election. A major contributing factor may also have been a late influx of the [[Armenians|Armenian]] vote in the California Governor's race between [[George Deukmejian]] and [[Tom Bradley]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} Many of these votes came from [[Fresno]] and [[Central Valley]], which are heavily Republican districts. The Deukmejian voters likely also voted for Wilson for Senator. |
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[[File:Ronald Reagan signing Japanese reparations bill.jpg|thumb|right|President Reagan signing the Civil Liberties Act with Senator Wilson looking on]] |
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==Mayor of San Diego== |
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In 1985, Wilson cast a key vote in favor of President Reagan's budget. Just 32 hours after having surgery to remove his ruptured appendix, Wilson arrived by ambulance at the [[Capitol Building]] shortly after midnight and was wheeled onto the Senate floor wearing blue pajamas covered by a brown velour robe. Not only was Wilson able to cast his vote in a firm voice, but he even held a brief press conference during the late-night session in which he jokingly asked reporters, "What are you all doing up this late?"{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} |
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[[File:Nixon Golden Gate GOGA.jpg|thumb|Mayor Wilson (second from right) with U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]], First Lady [[Pat Nixon]], and Nixon's cabinet in front of the [[Golden Gate Bridge]], 1972]] |
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Wilson served 3 terms as [[mayor of San Diego]], from 1971 to 1983, winning election by a 2:1 margin each time.<ref name = "Kaye">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-oe-kaye-rogues-gallery-of-san-diego-mayors-20130816,0,1326777.story|title=Bob Filner, just the latest rotten San Diego mayor|last=Kaye|first=Peter|date=August 16, 2013|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=August 16, 2013}}</ref> During his three terms he restructured the [[San Diego City Council]], reorganized the planning and civil service commissions, instituted campaign finance reform, and promoted the redevelopment of [[downtown San Diego]].<ref name = "Kaye" /> He also helped to keep [[Major League Baseball]]'s [[San Diego Padres]] in the city, helping to persuade local millionaire [[Ray Kroc]] to buy the team. The [[1972 Republican National Convention]] had been scheduled to take place in San Diego in August 1972. However, in May 1972 the Republican National Committee voted to move the convention to Miami because of a scandal involving a donation to the event by [[ITT Corporation]], as well as concerns about the proposed venue (the [[San Diego Sports Arena]]) and the adequacy of hotel space. Wilson proclaimed the week of the convention to be America's Finest City Week, which became an annual event and gave rise to San Diego's unofficial nickname.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ancona|first=Vincent S.|date=Fall 1992|title=When the elephants marched out of San Diego: The 1972 Republican Convention Fiasco|journal=Journal of San Diego History|volume=38|issue=4|url=http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/92fall/elephants.htm}}</ref> In 1972, Wilson recruited [[Clarence M. Pendleton Jr.]] to head the [[Model Cities Program]] in San Diego. In 1981, President [[Ronald Reagan]] appointed Pendleton to chair the [[United States Commission on Civil Rights]], a position that he held from 1981 until his death in San Diego in 1988.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aapra.org/Bios/Pendleton.htm|title=Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr.|publisher=aapra.org|access-date=March 19, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019130819/http://www.aapra.org/Bios/Pendleton.htm|archive-date=October 19, 2013}}</ref> |
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Convinced by [[Japanese-American]] farmers in [[Central Valley]] to support redress, Senator Wilson co-sponsored the [[Civil Liberties Act of 1988]]. The bill was signed into law by President Reagan.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} |
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==United States Senator from California (1983–1991)== |
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As a member of the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services|Senate Armed Services Committee]], he called for early implementation of President Reagan's [[Strategic Defense Initiative]], a national [[missile defense|ballistic missile defense system]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} |
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[[File:PeteWilson.jpg|thumb|left|Wilson as U.S. Senator, 1989]] |
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In 1982, Wilson won the Republican [[Partisan primary|primary]] in California to replace the retiring U.S. Senator [[S. I. Hayakawa]]. Wilson's Democratic opponent was the outgoing two-term Governor [[Jerry Brown]]. Wilson was known as a fiscal conservative who supported the property-tax limiting [[Proposition 13]], although Wilson had opposed the measure while [[mayor of San Diego]]. However, Brown ran on his gubernatorial record of building the largest state budget surpluses in California history. Both Wilson and Brown were moderate-to-liberal on social issues, including support for abortion rights and environmentalism. The election was expected to be close, with Brown holding a slim lead in most of the polls leading up to Election Day. Wilson hammered away at Brown's appointment of California Chief Justice [[Rose Bird]], using this to portray himself as tougher on crime than Brown was. Brown's late entry into the 1980 Democratic presidential primary, after promising not to run, was also an issue. President Ronald Reagan made a number of visits to California late in the race to campaign for Wilson. Reagan quipped that the last thing he wanted to see was both of his home state's [[U.S. Senate]] seats falling into Democrats' hands, especially to be occupied by the man who succeeded him as governor. Despite exit polls indicating a narrow Brown victory, Wilson edged him out to win the election. A major contributing factor may also have been a late influx of the [[Armenians|Armenian]] vote in the California Governor's race between [[George Deukmejian]] and [[Tom Bradley (American politician)|Tom Bradley]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} Many of these votes came from heavily Republican areas. The Deukmejian voters likely also voted for Wilson for United States Senator. |
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Wilson also co-sponsored the Federal Intergovernmental Regulatory Relief Act requiring the federal government to reimburse states for the cost of new federal mandates. A [[fiscal conservative]], he was named the Senate's "Watchdog of the Treasury" for each of his eight years in the nation's capital.<ref>[http://www.treas.gov/education/fact-sheets/history/watchdogs.shtml]</ref> |
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[[File:Ronald Reagan signing Japanese reparations bill.jpg|thumb|right|President Reagan signing the Civil Liberties Act with Wilson looking on]] |
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On October 19, 1983, Wilson voted in favor of a bill establishing [[Martin Luther King Jr. Day]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/20/us/senate-s-roll-call-vote-on-king-holiday.html|title=SENATE'S ROLL-CALL VOTE ON KING HOLIDAY|date=October 20, 1983|work=The New York Times}}</ref> The legislation was signed into law by President Reagan the following month.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/archives/speeches/1983/110283a.htm|title=Remarks on Signing the Bill Making the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a National Holiday|date=November 2, 1983|publisher=Reagan Library|first=Ronald|last=Reagan|author-link=Ronald Reagan|access-date=March 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301224921/https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/archives/speeches/1983/110283a.htm|archive-date=March 1, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> In January 1988, Wilson voted in favor of the [[Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987]] (as well as to override [[Ronald Reagan|President Reagan]]'s veto in March).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/100-1988/s432|title=TO PASS S 557, CIVIL RIGHTS RESTORATION ACT, A BILL … -- Senate Vote #432 -- Jan 28, 1988|website=GovTrack.us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/100-1988/s487|title=TO ADOPT, OVER THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF S 557, CIVIL … -- Senate Vote #487 -- Mar 22, 1988|website=GovTrack.us}}</ref> In June 1984, Wilson voted in favor of legislation restricting federal highway funds for states that did not raise the minimum age for drinking to 21.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/06/27/The-81-16-vote-by-which-the-Senate-approved-legislation/9253457156800/|title=The 81–16 vote by which the Senate approved legislation ...|date=June 27, 1984|work=United Press International}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/27/us/senate-votes-bill-aimed-at-forcing-drinking-age-of-21.html|title=SENATE VOTES BILL AIMED AT FORCING DRINKING AGE OF 21|first=Martin|last=Tolchin|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 27, 1984}}</ref> In May 1985, Wilson underwent surgery for a ruptured appendix at Bethesda Naval Hospital, concurrently as fellow Republican Senator [[Bob Dole]] hoped to gather enough votes for the Reagan administration's 1986 budget. The surgery was expected to keep Wilson hospitalized for days, but Wilson returned to Capitol Hill via an ambulance to cast a vote in favor of the budget on May 10.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/10/us/senator-brings-a-vote-from-his-hospital-bed.html|title=SENATOR BRINGS A VOTE FROM HIS HOSPITAL BED|date=May 10, 1985|work=The New York Times}}</ref> After voting, Wilson stated he made the decision to forgo further bed rest as he believed the vote was possibly the most important of his career.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/05/10/Sen-Pete-Wilson-a-tough-former-Marine-said-he/6363484545600/|title=Sen. Pete Wilson, a tough former Marine, said he ...|work=United Press International|date=May 10, 1985}}</ref> |
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Despite a successful campaign for the second term in the U.S. Senate, Wilson decided to run for [[Governor of California]] during the next two years. He resigned from the Senate after winning the gubernatorial election. |
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Convinced by [[Japanese-American|Japanese American]] farmers in the [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley]] to support redress, Wilson co-sponsored the [[Civil Liberties Act of 1988]]. The bill was signed into law by President Reagan.<ref>{{cite web |title=H.R. 442 (100th): Civil Liberties Act of 1987 |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/100/hr442 |website=govtrack.us |publisher=Civic Impulse, LLC. |access-date=26 May 2022}}</ref> As a member of the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services|Senate Armed Services Committee]], he called for early implementation of President Reagan's [[Strategic Defense Initiative]], a national [[missile defense|ballistic missile defense system]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Clifford |first1=Frank |title=McCarthy, Wilson Exchange Shots as Race Heats Up |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-10-25-mn-297-story.html |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=October 25, 1988 |access-date=26 May 2022}}</ref> Wilson also co-sponsored the Federal Intergovernmental Regulatory Relief Act requiring the federal government to reimburse states for the cost of new federal mandates. A [[fiscal conservative]], he was named the Senate's "Watchdog of the Treasury" for each of his eight years in the nation's capital.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.treas.gov/education/fact-sheets/history/watchdogs.shtml |title=Watchdogs |access-date=January 21, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101106033606/http://www.treas.gov/education/fact-sheets/history/watchdogs.shtml |archive-date=November 6, 2010 }}</ref> In 1988, Wilson won the race for the United States Senate against his Democratic opponent, [[Leo T. McCarthy]]. In that election, he became the first person to get more than 5 million votes in a single Senate race, and his 5.1 million votes was a record for the most won by a Republican candidate for Senator that wasn't broken until 2020, when [[John Cornyn]] of Texas topped it. On January 20, 1989, he presided over the [[inauguration of George H. W. Bush]] as President of the United States. He voted against [[Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990]], Bush's tax increase, thus remaining a fiscal conservative.<ref name="dukeistheremitchell">{{cite journal|last1=Mitchell|first1=Daniel J. B.|title="Duke, Is There Perhaps Something You Forgot to Tell Me?" Pete Wilson's First-Term Struggle with the California Budget|journal=Southern California Quarterly|date=Winter 2008|volume=90|issue=4|pages=379–418|doi=10.2307/41172444|jstor=41172444}}</ref> |
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==Governor of California== |
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[[File:Peter Wilson Official Portrait.jpg|thumb|left|Official portrait of Pete Wilson as [[Governor of California]]<ref name=WilsonOfficialPortrait>{{cite web|url=http://californiagovernors.ca.gov/h/biography/governor_36.html|title=Official portrait of Pete Wilson as Governor of California |work=[[California State Capitol Museum]] |accessdate=2008-12-12}}</ref>]] |
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In the weeks following incumbent [[governor of California]] George Deukmejian announcing that he was not running for a third term, Wilson considered a gubernatorial bid; by late January 1989, Wilson admitted to the decision being agonizing for him amid his consulting with others on a possible run.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-20-mn-949-story.html |title=Wilson 'Agonizing' on Running for Governor, Will Make Decision Soon |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 20, 1989}}</ref> At the beginning of his second 6-year term in the Senate, Wilson announced plans to run for Governor of California. On October 2, 1990, Wilson, away from Washington to campaign for California governor, became the only sitting senator from either party to not vote on the nomination of [[David Souter]] for Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. He had previously endorsed Souter for confirmation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/03/us/senate-confirms-souter-90-to-9-as-supreme-court-s-105th-justice.html?pagewanted=all|title=Senate Confirms Souter, 90 to 9, As Supreme Court's 105th Justice|first=Richard L.|last=Berke|date=October 3, 1990|work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/10/02/Senate-vote-on-Souter/9176654840000/|title=Senate vote on Souter|date=October 2, 1990|work=United Press International}}</ref> Wilson voted in favor of the [[Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination]]. On January 7, 1991, he resigned from the Senate upon his inauguration as California's governor and appointed [[John Seymour (California politician)|John Seymour]] as his successor.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/03/us/new-senator-from-california-is-named.html|title=New Senator From California Is Named|first=Jane|last=Gross|date=January 3, 1991|work=The New York Times}}</ref> |
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Pete Wilson was elected the [[Governor of California]] in 1990, defeating the former San Francisco Mayor [[Dianne Feinstein]], who would go on to be elected to Wilson's former U.S. Senate seat two years later. Wilson was sworn in as Governor in early 1991. |
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==Governor of California== |
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As Governor, Wilson's oversaw economic recovery in California, just as the rest of the country was recovering from an economic slump. Inheriting the state's worst economy since the [[Great Depression]], Wilson insisted on strict budget discipline and sought to rehabilitate the state's environment for investment and new job creation. During his term, [[market-based]], unsubsidized [[health insurance|health coverage]] was made available for employees of small businesses. The Wilson administration also introduced anti-fraud measures credited for reducing [[workers' compensation]] premiums by as much as 40 percent.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} Wilson was the driving force behind the 1996 legislation that deregulated the state's energy market, which was the first energy utilities deregulation in the U.S. and aggressively pushed by companies such as [[Enron]]{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} |
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[[File:Pete Wilson official portrait, 1991.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Wilson's official portrait during his first term as governor, 1991]] |
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{{See also|1990 California gubernatorial election|1994 California gubernatorial election}} |
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Wilson won the Republican nomination for Governor of California to succeed two-term Republican governor George Deukmejian, who chose not to seek a third term in 1990. In the general election, he defeated Democratic former San Francisco Mayor [[Dianne Feinstein]], who would go on to be elected to Wilson's former U.S. Senate seat [[1992 United States Senate special election in California|2 years later]].<ref name="dukeistheremitchell"/> Wilson was sworn in as governor on January 7, 1991. |
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Wilson also enacted education reforms aimed at creating state-wide curriculum standards, reducing class size and replacing [[social promotion]] with early remedial education. Wilson promoted standardized testing of all students, increased teacher training, and a longer school year. However, it was Wilson's uncompromising stance on reducing education spending<ref>Lou Cannon, Education Funding at Center of California Budget Showdown. Washington Post, September 1, 1992</ref> that led to the budget impasse of 1992, leaving state workers without paychecks form July until September, when the California Supreme Court forced the Governor and the legislature to agree to terms that ended the sixty-three day stand-off.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/19/us/budget-crisis-forces-california-colleges-to-bar-the-doors.html?pagewanted=all Robert Reinhold, Budget Crisis Forces California Colleges to Bar the Doors. ''New York Times'', July 19, 1992]</ref><ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/1992-08-29/news/mn-5395_1_budget-crisis Patt Morrison, California's Budget Crisis - An IOU on Self-Esteem. California's Plight May be a Harbinger or Just Reason for Others to Gloat. ''Los Angeles Times'', August 29, 1992]</ref><ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/1992-08-30/news/mn-8555_1_spending-plan Daniel M. Weintraub & Jerry Gillam, Senate, Assembly OK Budget; Wilson Awaits Final Package. ''Los Angeles Times'', August 30, 1992]</ref> |
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As governor, Wilson oversaw economic recovery in California, just as the rest of the country was recovering from an economic slump.<ref name="dukeistheremitchell"/> Inheriting the state's worst economy since the [[Great Depression]], Wilson insisted on strict budget discipline and sought to rehabilitate the state's environment for investment and new job creation. During his term, [[market-based]], unsubsidized [[health insurance|health coverage]] was made available for employees of small businesses. |
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Wilson spoke at the funeral services for former First Lady [[Pat Nixon]] in 1993 and former President [[Richard M. Nixon]] in 1994 at the [[Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum|Nixon Library]] in [[Yorba Linda, California]]. Two years later, Wilson became, to date, the most recent Governor to speak at a California gubernatorial funeral, that of former Governor [[Pat Brown]]. |
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Despite his belief in fiscal conservatism, Wilson raised the sales tax to reduce the state deficit, including imposing a new sales tax on newspapers and a sales tax on "snack" foods.<ref name="dukeistheremitchell"/> He also raised car license fees and college tuition; by 1991, tuition fees at the [[University of California]] rose by 40%, while they rose by 24% at [[California State University]].<ref name="dukeistheremitchell"/> Additionally, he raised the income tax in the top bracket temporarily.<ref name="dukeistheremitchell"/> However, by 1993, the snack tax was repealed by the Democratic state legislature and the sales tax increase expired.<ref name="dukeistheremitchell"/> On April 26, 1991, Wilson proposed an increase in sales tax by 1 1/4 cents and state taxes by $6.7 billion (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|6700000000|1991}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}}) as part of plan to reduce the state's budget deficit. The revenue gap had increased by $5 billion (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|5000000000|1991}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}}) in the four months of his governorship.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-26-mn-761-story.html|title=Wilson Proposes Increasing State Sales Tax 1 1/4 Cents : Finances: His budget plan calls for a $6.7-billion hike in state levies. He also wants a $4.8-billion cut in spending, $700 million more than first sought.|date=April 26, 1991|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> In response to the April 1991 proposal, the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote of Wilson, |
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For most of his time as the Governor, Wilson reduced per-capita infrastructure spending for California, much as he had done as the Mayor of San Diego.<ref>[http://www.csus.edu/calst/Government_Affairs/reports/financing_california.pdf]</ref> Many construction projects - most notably highway expansion/improvement projects - were severely hindered or delayed, while other maintenance and construction projects were abandoned completely.<ref>[http://www.chicoer.com/indepth/hwy149/ci_4080721]</ref> |
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{{blockquote|He has done what has been asked of him, but thought near-impossible for any Republican centrist: constructing a revenue and spending plan that will hurt almost everyone and help almost no one, but that will also – for the first time in a long time – put the state on a sounder fiscal footing.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-30-me-823-story.html|title=The Governor Accepts the Budget Leadership : Wilson looks for something that hurts least, hits soonest|date=April 30, 1991|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>}} |
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In July 1991, the Senate voted 28 to 9 in favor of a bipartisan tax plan that would have increased taxes on the wealthiest Californians, boosted the corporate tax rate, and imposed a tax increase on telecommunication services by 2%. Wilson returned the budget bill to the legislature without his signature, revoking a prior commitment to vetoing the measure.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-04-mn-2292-story.html|title=Wilson Relents on Budget Veto : Finances: Governor returns the $56.4-billion spending plan to the Legislature without his signature. Action allows more time to work out a solution.|date=July 4, 1991|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> |
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On July 12, 1991, Wilson signed a bill mandating that parents neglecting paying for child support could warrant stiff fines and potential suspensions of business and professional licenses. The legislation was intended to address a rising cause of poverty among children and women in the state at a time when Californians collectively owed $2 billion (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|2000000000|1991}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}}) per year in unpaid child support.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-13-mn-1851-story.html|title=Wilson Signs Child-Support Bill : Divorce: The legislation provides new tools to enforce payment. Parents who fail to comply could have their business or professional licenses suspended.|first=Virginia|last=Ellis|date=July 13, 1991|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> On July 24, 1991, Wilson signed a bill requiring mass transit rail lines to be built underground in the event construction take place in the residential neighborhoods of North Hollywood and Van Nuys. The bill, requested by the residents of those neighborhoods, was aimed at easing "homeowners' fear of noise from ground-level trains running along a proposed rail route that parallels Chandler and Victory boulevards".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-25-me-1292-story.html|title=Governor Signs Bill Calling for Underground Rail Line : Transit: The law is aimed at easing the concerns of North Hollywood and Van Nuys homeowners.|date=June 25, 1991|work=Los Angeles Times|first=James|last=Quinn}}</ref> |
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[[Term limits|Term limit laws]] passed by voters in Proposition 140, and championed by Wilson in 1990, prohibited Wilson from running for reelection to a third term. At the end of his term of office, Wilson left California with a $16 billion budget surplus. |
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Less than a year into his first term as governor, Wilson vetoed AB 101, a bill written to prohibit [[employment discrimination]] based on [[sexual orientation]] in the state. Wilson feared that the bill would increase lawsuits and make California less competitive economically.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-02-09-op-3349-story.html |title=Courts Offer Wilson a Healing Opportunity : Equality: Since an appellate decision is tougher than AB 101 would have been, the governor could easily sign a law barring job prejudice against gays |website=Los Angeles Times |date=February 9, 1992 |access-date=January 14, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-30-mn-2220-story.html|title=Governor Vetoes Gay Job Bias Bill : Discrimination: Wilson says legislation is bad for business. Its author calls action 'cave-in to the right.'|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 30, 1991}}</ref> The veto was met with [[AB101 Veto Riot|protests in San Francisco]] that included demonstrations during Wilson's subsequent public appearances and speeches.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-10-02-mn-2872-story.html|title=Gay Rights Protest Disrupts Wilson Speech|date=October 2, 1991|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-10-01-mn-3522-story.html|title=Gay Activists Vent Rage Over Wilson's Veto : Protest: Governor's rejection of job discrimination bill sparks violence. Thousands of demonstrators march in Los Angeles and San Francisco.|date=October 1, 1991|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=California Spending Plan 1998–99 |url=https://lao.ca.gov/1998/1098_spending_plan/1098_spending_plan_chapter_3.html |website=lao.ca.gov |publisher=Legislative Analysts Office |access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref> Wilson was the driving force behind the 1996 legislation that deregulated the state's energy market, which was the first energy utilities deregulation in the U.S. and aggressively pushed by companies such as [[Enron]].<ref name="Time" /> |
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In October 1999, Pete Wilson received the [[Woodrow Wilson Awards|Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service]] from the [[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]] of the [[Smithsonian Institution]]. Pete Wilson was recognized for his 40 years of public service to the state and the country. |
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Wilson also enacted education reforms aimed at creating statewide curriculum standards, reducing class size and replacing [[social promotion]] with early remedial education. Wilson promoted standardized testing of all students, increased teacher training, and a longer school year. However, it was Wilson's uncompromising stance on reducing education spending that led to the budget impasse of 1992,<ref>Lou Cannon, Education Funding at Center of California Budget Showdown. ''The Washington Post'', September 1, 1992</ref> leaving state workers without paychecks from July until September, when the California Supreme Court forced the Governor and the legislature to agree to terms that ended the sixty-three-day stand-off.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/19/us/budget-crisis-forces-california-colleges-to-bar-the-doors.html?pagewanted=all |title=Robert Reinhold, Budget Crisis Forces California Colleges to Bar the Doors. ''New York Times'', July 19, 1992 |date= July 19, 1992|access-date=January 21, 2011 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-29-mn-5395-story.html |title=Patt Morrison, California's Budget Crisis – An IOU on Self-Esteem. California's Plight May be a Harbinger or Just Reason for Others to Gloat. ''Los Angeles Times'', August 29, 1992 |date= August 29, 1992|access-date=January 21, 2011}}</ref> On February 22, 1993, Wilson issued an executive order banning smoke in a majority of state buildings barring "buildings controlled by the courts, the Legislature or the state's two university systems". The order was set to take effect December 31. Wilson said secondhand smoke "threatens the health of non-smoking state employees" and charged workplace smoking with increasing the cost of cleaning, damaged furniture and carpets, and heightening the chances of starting fires.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-02-23-mn-454-story.html|title=Governor Bans Smoking in Most State Buildings : Health: Wilson's order, which will affect prisons and thousands of offices, cites dangers of secondhand smoke.|first=Daniel M.|last=Weintraub|work=Los Angeles Times|date=February 23, 1993}}</ref> |
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===Opposition to Insurance Reform=== |
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Despite this, in a leaked Philip Morris memo, the company's chief executive, Hamish Maxwell, said, "You will be pleased to know that Pete is still 'pro-tobacco.'" His move to revoke Proposition 99, a $114 million dollar voter-approved bill to tax cigarette companies to research and educate on the effects of tobacco, as well as shut down a highly effective anti-tobacco ad with footage of tobacco executives testifying to Congress that nicotine was not addictive (which also a prompted defamation lawsuit against it), was claimed to be illegal and caused multiple lawsuits, and was criticized as being influenced by the tobacco lobby. While he claimed to take no funding personally in response to allegations of being pro-tobacco, he collected over $100,000 from a New York fund-raising dinner organized by Phillip Morris. While Phillip Morris didn't directly fund his campaign, they were major funders of the California Republican Party which he led. The leaked memo was in response to worries over Wilson's rejection of direct campaign donations. Maxwell claimed to have been told by Wilson over a phone call that this was to "protect Hamish and himself," assuring that it was not due to a lack of support.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-30-mn-8555-story.html |author1=Daniel M. Weintraub | author2=Jerry Gillam | title=Senate, Assembly OK Budget; Wilson Awaits Final Package : Spending: Governor says he will not approve $58-billion plan until all supporting bills are passed. State will continue to issue IOUs for up to a week even after it is signed | newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date= August 30, 1992|access-date=2024-08-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Russell |first1=Sabin |title=Philip Morris Called Wilson 'Pro-Tobacco' / '90 memo calls him a friend, though he returned donations |work=San Francisco Chronicle |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Philip-Morris-Called-Wilson-Pro-Tobacco-90-2986139.php |access-date=27 April 2024 }}</ref> |
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Wilson opposed all measures to enact insurance reform in California. He opposed a successful ballot measure to roll back auto insurance rates, Proposition 103. The Agents and Brokers Legislative Council bragged in a late 1994 newsletter that it had “successfully obtained the governor’s signature on every sponsored legislative proposal put forth in 1994.” Some attribute his support of the insurance industry to its $2.8 million in contributions to his campaigns.<ref>[http://www.buyingofthepresident.org/index.php/archives/1996/50/ Center for Public Integrity, The Buying of the President 1996 - Pete Wilson]</ref> |
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In late 1993, Wilson traveled to Asia to endorse Californian goods and investment opportunities abroad.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-14-mn-45512-story.html|title=A Traveling Salesman With a New Pitch|first=George|last=Skeleton|date=October 14, 1993|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> Wilson's six-day tour was also marked by his insistence on creating export-oriented jobs.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/12/01/UPI-Spotlight-California-Governor-Pete-Wilson-leaves-Japan-after-trade-talks/2978754722000/|title=UPI Spotlight California Governor Pete Wilson leaves Japan after trade talks|date=December 1, 1993|work=United Press International}}</ref> Wilson was re-elected to a second gubernatorial term in 1994, gaining 55% of the vote in his race against Democratic [[California State Treasurer|State Treasurer]] [[Kathleen Brown]], daughter of former California Governor [[Pat Brown]]. According to one study, Wilson exploited anti-immigrant sentiment to win re-election.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jacobson|first=Gary C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p9GDDwAAQBAJ|title=Presidents and Parties in the Public Mind|date=2019-01-12|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-58934-3|language=en}}</ref> Wilson spoke at the funeral services for former First Lady [[Pat Nixon]] in 1993 and former President [[Richard M. Nixon]] in 1994 at the [[Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum|Nixon Library]] in [[Yorba Linda, California]]. Two years later, Wilson became, to date, the most recent governor to speak at a California gubernatorial funeral, that of former Governor Pat Brown. |
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===Policies on Crime=== |
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For most of his time as governor, Wilson reduced per-capita infrastructure spending for California, much as he had done as the [[mayor of San Diego]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csus.edu/calst/Government_Affairs/reports/financing_california.pdf |title=Financing California |publisher=csus.edu |access-date=January 21, 2011 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305010139/http://www.csus.edu/calst/Government_Affairs/reports/financing_california.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Many construction projects – most notably highway expansion/improvement projects – were severely hindered or delayed, while other maintenance and construction projects were abandoned completely.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chicoer.com/indepth/hwy149/ci_4080721 |title=Project has taken a long time to get to this point – Chico Enterprise Record |access-date=January 21, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417114900/http://www.chicoer.com/indepth/hwy149/ci_4080721 |archive-date=April 17, 2011 }}</ref> [[Term limits|Term limit laws]] passed by voters as Proposition 140, and championed by Wilson in 1990, prohibited Wilson from running for re-election to a third term. At the end of his time in office, Wilson left California with a $16 billion budget surplus (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|16000000000|1998}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}}). He was succeeded by then-[[lieutenant governor]] [[Gray Davis]] as governor. A September 1998 ''Los Angeles Times'' poll found 55% of registered voters in California favored Wilson's job performance.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-sep-24-mn-26060-story.html|title=Economy Lifts Wilson to Record Approval Rating|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 24, 1998|first=Cathleen|last=Decker}}</ref> |
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Wilson led efforts to enact "tough on crime" measures and signed into law the popular but controversial "[[three strikes law|Three Strikes]]" (25 years to life for repeat offenders)<ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/1994-10-30/opinion/op-56438_1_pete-wilson Pete Wilson for Governor: On Balance the Best Choice. ''Los Angeles Times'', October 30, 1994]</ref> As a result of the Three Strikes Law, 4,431 offenders have been sentenced to 25 years to life for non-violent offenses such as stealing cookies.<ref>[http://facts1.live.radicaldesigns.org/section.php?id=55 FACTS About California's Three-Strikes Law]</ref> Because the Three Strike Law would require some 15 additional prisons in California, some questioned the role in his stance of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, a lobbying group of prison guards that gave $1.47 million to Wilson's gubernatorial campaigns.<ref>[http://www.buyingofthepresident.org/index.php/archives/1996/50/ Center for Public Integrity, The Buying of the President 1996 - Pete Wilson]</ref> |
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===Welfare=== |
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Wilson also supported resuming the [[death penalty]] in California, after a 25-year moratorium, and he signed the death warrant for the execution of [[Robert Alton Harris]], whom experts concluded was brain-damaged. Harris was executed in 1992 despite pleas for clemency by [[Mother Teresa]], who visited Harris on Death Row, and others. A total of [[capital punishment in California|five people were executed]] during his administration (the first two in the [[gas chamber]], the latter three by [[lethal injection]]). |
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On December 14, 1991, in an address to Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Wilson criticized the Democratic leaders of the state legislature for their opposition to his budget-balancing plan and "spent most of his hour at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles railing against the state's entitlement programs – including education and Medi-Cal, but especially Aid to Families with Dependent Children and other welfare programs".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-15-mn-1017-story.html|title=Wilson Rips Democrats, Warns of 'Chaos' : Politics: He assails welfare programs and accuses the Legislature's leaders of attacking his budget plan without offering one of their own.|first=Mark A.|last=Stein|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> On January 8, 1993, Wilson submitted the 1993 spending plan, advocating an immediate cut in welfare grants by 4.2% that would be followed 6 months later by a larger reduction of 15% that would be directed at recipient families with an able-bodied adult. The twin cuts would reduce California's standing as the 5th highest benefit granting state to the 12fth.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-09-mn-1030-story.html|title=Wilson Again Seeks Sharp Welfare Cuts to Make Ends Meet : Finances: His proposal would hit hard at the Aid to Families With Dependent Children program. Advocates for the young and the poor assail the plan.|first=Virginia|last=Ellis|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> By the end of his first term, Wilson allied with members of the state legislature that supported the continuation of recession-inspired cuts to welfare benefits. A bill imposing the continued reduction of benefits was passed by 2 committees of the Republican-majority assembly. H. D. Palmer maintained Wilson's priorities rested in other issues and though admitting to an improving in revenues, disclosed that "the governor does not believe that the first call on those revenues should go to double-digit cost-of-living increases for welfare recipients."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-03-mn-42566-story.html|title=Wilson, Allies Seek to Make Cuts in Welfare Benefits Permanent|work=Los Angeles Times|date=March 3, 1996|first=Max|last=Vanzi}}</ref> |
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Wilson's second inaugural address featured a proclamation that the administration would usher in welfare reform: |
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===Proposition 187=== |
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{{blockquote| We will demand that all citizens meet the test of common decency, respecting the rights of others, and we will demand that those who can, pull their own weight and meet the test of personal responsibility. We will make clear that welfare is to be a safety net, not a hammock — and absolutely not a permanent way of life. We will correct our laws to make clear that bringing a child into the world is an awesome personal responsibility for both the mother and the father. The costs are simply too high for society to continue tolerating the promiscuity and irresponsibility that have produced generations of unwed teen mothers. It is monstrously unfair to the children; to their sad, ill-equipped teen mothers; and certainly to working taxpayers, who must support them at a cost to their own children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://governors.library.ca.gov/addresses/36-Wilson02.html|title=Second Inaugural Address|date=January 2, 1995|publisher=governors.library.ca.gov}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-08-mn-17703-story.html|title=Wilson Sworn In, Bluntly Warns of Welfare Shake-Up : Inaugural: Governor says illegal immigrants, criminals and uneducated youths are draining resources. He calls on Californians to be prepared for 'dramatic change.'|date=January 8, 1995|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>}} |
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In Wilson's 1994 successful campaign for re-election against [[Kathleen Brown]], his two signature issues were his opposition to the State funding services for [[illegal immigrants]] and the associated [[California Proposition 187 (1994)|Prop 187]]. Although the popularity of [[California Proposition 187 (1994)|Prop 187]] helped to lead Wilson to victory, the measure was subsequently ruled to be unconstitutional. Wilson's campaign against immigration has often been credited with building a substantial and durable Democratic majority in California and has been repudiated by later Republican leaders such as George W. Bush.<ref>[http://articles.sfgate.com/2000-04-08/news/17642940_1_latino-voters-illegal-immigration-bush-administration Reaching Out to State's Latinos / Bush distances himself from Pete Wilson, San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 2000]</ref> |
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In his 1997 State of the State address, Wilson criticized welfare recipients<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-05-09-mn-57101-story.html|title=Stigma of Welfare Hampers State Push Toward Jobs|date=May 9, 1997|work=Los Angeles Times|first=Carla|last=Rivera|quote="Taxpayers [will] no longer subsidize idleness and promiscuity," he declared in praising the arrival of welfare reform. "We're ending welfare's warehousing of people who don't want to work."}}</ref> and charged the program with creating conditions producing out-of-wedlock births, the lack of paternal involvement in the lives of children, and the lifelong ramifications to children caused by the father not being of presence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://governors.library.ca.gov/addresses/s_36-Wilson05.html|title=1997 State of the State Address|date=January 7, 1997|first=Pete|last=Wilson|publisher=governors.library.ca.gov}}</ref> Under Wilson's welfare overhaul package, mothers would have to go to work after two years and a year would pass before they could return to welfare, which would only have a five-year lifetime. Paternity for each child would also have to be established for the mother to begin receiving benefits.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Demos-rip-Wilson-s-plan-for-state-3143360.php|title=Demos rip Wilson's plan for state|date=January 8, 1997|work=San Francisco Chronicle|first=Steven A.|last=Capps}}</ref> |
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===Veto of AB101=== |
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===Proposition 187=== |
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In 1991, Pete Wilson broke a campaign promise to the gay and lesbian community when he vetoed AB101, a bill passed by the California legislature that would have outlawed workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians. Wilson had solicited financial support and endorsements from the gay and lesbian community on this basis during his campaign, but on being elected he deferred to the extreme right wing of the Republican party and vetoed the bill. As a result of Wilson's betrayal, weeks of angry street protests occurred in California's major cities. Wilson's veto of AB101 was an early indicator of the slide of the Republican Party toward accommodation of right-wing religious groups.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974022,00.html Civil Rights: Test Case for a Gay Cause, Time Magazine, Oct. 14, 1991]</ref> |
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{{main|California Proposition 187 (1994)}} |
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As governor, Wilson was closely associated with [[California Proposition 187 (1994)|California Proposition 187]], a 1994 ballot initiative to establish a state-run citizenship screening system and prohibit [[illegal immigrant]]s from using health care, public education, and other social services in the U.S. State of California. Voters passed the proposed law as a referendum in November 1994; it was the first time that a state had passed legislation related to immigration, customarily an issue for federal policies and programs.<ref>[http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/bupi7&div=11&id=&page= Allison Fee, "Forbidding States from Providing Essential Social Services to "undocumented Immigrants": The Constitutionality of Recent Federal Action"], Boston University ''Public Interest Law Journal'', Vol. 7, No. 93, 1998. Retrieved June 26, 2011</ref> The law was challenged in a legal suit and found unconstitutional by a federal court in 1998 and never went into effect.<ref>{{cite news|title=Davis Won't Appeal Prop. 187 Ruling, Ending Court Battles |first1=Patrick J.|last1=McDonnell|work=Los Angeles Times|date=July 29, 1999|page=1}}</ref> |
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Passage of Proposition 187 reflected state residents' concerns about illegal immigration into the United States and the large Hispanic population in California. Opponents believed the law was discriminatory against immigrants of Hispanic origin; supporters generally insisted that their concerns were economic: that the state could not afford to provide social services for so many who entered the state illegally or overstayed their visas.<ref>{{cite news|title=Jewish Coalition Opposes Prop. 187|first=SAM|last=ENRIQUEZ|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 19, 1994|page=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Sorting through facts and fiction of immigration|first=Alan W.|last=Bock|work=Orange County Register|location=Santa Ana, Calif.|date=October 2, 1994|page=J.01}}</ref> Wilson himself would state that the policy was "about supporting the people who came here the right way".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ocregister.com/2015/10/16/former-gov-pete-wilson-id-absolutely-do-prop-187-all-over-again/|title=Former Gov. Pete Wilson: I'd 'absolutely' do Prop. 187 all over again|publisher=The Orange County Register|date=October 16, 2015}}</ref> |
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==Energy deregulation and the roots of the California energy crisis== |
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{{Main|California electricity crisis}} |
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Opponents of Proposition 187 cited its passage as the cause of long-term negative effects for the California Republican Party statewide. Noting a rapid increase in the Latino participation in California elections, some analysts cite Wilson and the Republican Party's embrace of Proposition 187 as a cause of the failure of the party to win statewide elections.<ref>{{cite book| |
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Wilson supported deregulation of the energy industry in California during his administration due to heavy lobbying efforts by [[Enron]].<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,237028,00.html Time Magazine, "California Scheming," May 12, 2002]</ref> Nevertheless, during the California energy crisis caused by companies such as Enron, Wilson authored an article titled "What California Must Do" that blamed Gray Davis for not building enough power plants. Wilson defended his record of power plant construction and claimed that between 1985 and 1998, 23 plants were certified and 18 were built in California.<ref>[http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3459551.html Pete Wilson, What California Must Do. ''Hoover Digest'', No. 3, 2001]</ref> |
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url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lp09-NVtQm8C&pg=PA131| |
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title=The death of the California GOP | |
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access-date=April 9, 2009| |
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author=Raoul Lowery Contreras | |
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date=August 16, 2002| |
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publisher=calnews.com| |
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isbn=9780595256914 }}</ref> Governor [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] is the only Republican to win a California gubernatorial, senatorial, or presidential election since 1994, in a [[2003 California gubernatorial recall election|unique 2003 recall election]] and then a [[2006 California gubernatorial election|re-election in 2006]]. |
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Since 1995 the following states have had similar ballot initiatives or laws passed: [[Arizona]], [[Colorado]], [[Florida]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Illinois]], [[Nevada]], [[New Mexico]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[Oklahoma]] and [[Texas]].<ref name=Lacayo>{{cite magazine|author1=Richard Lacayo|author2=Ann Blackman|author3=Margot Hornblower|author4=Joseph R. Szczesny|title=Down on the Downtrodden|url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,982006,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204074750/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,982006,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 4, 2013|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]| date=December 19, 2004|access-date=December 17, 2008}}</ref> |
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==Presidential campaign (1996)== |
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Despite a campaign promise to the people of California not to do so, Wilson also unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for [[President of the United States|President]] in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1996|1996 election]], making formal announcements on both coasts.<ref>[http://www.buyingofthepresident.org/index.php/archives/1996/50/ Center for Public Integrity, The buying of the President 1996 - Pete Wilson]</ref> Wilson announced first in New York City, at [[Battery Park]], with the [[Statue of Liberty]] as a backdrop. He completed a cross-country tour. |
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===Policies on crime=== |
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The Wilson campaign had problems from the start. After deciding to run, he almost immediately had throat surgery that kept him from announcing — or even talking — for months. His campaign lasted a month and a day and left him with a million dollars in campaign debt. |
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Wilson led efforts to enact "tough on crime" measures and signed into law the "[[three strikes law|Three Strikes]]" (25 years to life for repeat offenders)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-30-op-56438-story.html |title=Pete Wilson for Governor: On Balance the Best Choice|work=Los Angeles Times |date= October 30, 1994|access-date=January 21, 2011}}</ref> As a result of the Three Strikes Law, 4,431 offenders have been sentenced to 25 years to life for strings of crime.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://facts1.live.radicaldesigns.org/section.php?id=55 |title=FACTS About California's Three-Strikes Law |access-date=January 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610031647/http://facts1.live.radicaldesigns.org/section.php?id=55 |archive-date=June 10, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The law required the construction of new prisons, leading some to question the role in his stance of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, a lobbying group of prison guards that gave $1.47 million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|1470000|1996}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}}) to Wilson's gubernatorial campaigns.<ref name="buyingofthepresident.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.buyingofthepresident.org/index.php/archives/1996/50/ |title=Center for Public Integrity, The Buying of the President 1996 – Pete Wilson |publisher=Buyingofthepresident.org |access-date=January 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219233954/http://www.buyingofthepresident.org/index.php/archives/1996/50/ |archive-date=February 19, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On September 26, 1995, Wilson signed a bill authorizing the possible use of the death penalty toward any individual who committed a murder amid a carjacking or killed a juror. Wilson said the law was the result of 4 years' worth of attempts on his part to toughen the laws against carjacking: "This bill sends an unmistakable message to gang bangers: If you take someone's life while committing a cowardly carjacking, you can expect to pay for your crime with your own life."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/09/26/Wilson-makes-carjacking-a-capital-crime/4203812088000/|title=Wilson makes carjacking a capital crime|date=September 26, 1995|work=United Press International}}</ref> Wilson also supported resuming the death penalty in California, after a 25-year moratorium, and he signed the death warrant for the execution of child-murderer [[Robert Alton Harris]]. Harris was executed in 1992. A total of five people were executed during his administration (the first 2 in the [[gas chamber]], the latter 3 by [[lethal injection]]). |
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==Energy deregulation== |
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==Banking, teaching, and corporate advisory career== |
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{{See also|California electricity crisis}} |
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Wilson supported deregulation of the energy industry in California during his administration due to heavy lobbying efforts by [[Enron]].<ref name=Time>{{cite magazine|last=Taylor |first=Chris |url=https://content.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,237028,00.html|title=California Scheming |magazine=Time |date=May 20, 2002|volume=159|issue=20|access-date=July 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021203224556/http://www.time.com/time/business/printout/0,8816,237028,00.html|archive-date=December 3, 2002|url-status=live}}</ref> Nevertheless, during the California energy crisis caused by companies such as Enron, Wilson authored an article titled "What California Must Do" that blamed Gray Davis for not building enough power plants. Wilson defended his record of power plant construction and claimed that between 1985 and 1998, 23 plants were certified and 18 were built in California.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wilson |first=Pete |url=http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3459551.html |title=Pete Wilson, What California Must Do. ''Hoover Digest'', No. 3, 2001 |publisher=Hoover.org |access-date=January 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091206160040/http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3459551.html |archive-date=December 6, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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[[File:pw.statue.jpg|thumb|right|Statue of Wilson in downtown San Diego]] |
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After leaving office, Wilson spent two years as a managing director of [[Pacific Capital Group]], a merchant bank based in [[Los Angeles, California]]. He has served as a director of the [[Irvine Company]], the [[U.S. Telepacific Corporation]], Inc., National Information Consortium Inc., an advisor to Crossflo Systems, and [[IDT Entertainment]]. He has been a member of the Board of Advisors of Thomas Weisel Partners, a [[San Francisco]] merchant bank. He also served as chairman of the [[Japan]] Task Force of the Pacific Council on International Policy, which produced an analysis of Japanese economic and national security prospects over the next decade entitled "Can Japan Come Back?"<ref>[http://www.pacificcouncil.org/pdfs/Japan.pdf Pete Wilson, Can Japan Come Back?]</ref> |
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==1996 presidential campaign== |
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Wilson is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at the [[Hoover Institution]], a conservative [[think tank]] located on the campus of [[Stanford University]], the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the [[Richard M. Nixon]] Foundation, the Donald Bren Foundation, is the founding director of the California Mentor Foundation and is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National World War II Museum. Wilson sits on two prestigious [[Federal Advisory Committee Act|Federal advisory committees]], the [[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]] and the [[Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee]]. He currently works as a consultant at the Los Angeles office of [[Bingham McCutchen]] LLP, a large, national law firm.<ref>[http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-02-25/business/17412450_1_pacific-rim-investment-bank-wilson-s-work George Raine, Former governor to join business consulting firm. ''San Francisco Chronicle'', February 25, 2004]</ref> |
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[[File:Pete Wilson presidential campaign, 1996.png|thumb|245px|Wilson's presidential campaign logo]] |
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Despite a campaign promise to the people of California not to do so, Wilson also unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for President in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1996|1996 election]], making formal announcements on both coasts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.buyingofthepresident.org/index.php/archives/1996/50/ |title=Center for Public Integrity, The buying of the President 1996 – Pete Wilson |access-date=January 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219233954/http://www.buyingofthepresident.org/index.php/archives/1996/50/ |archive-date=February 19, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Wilson announced first on August 28, 1995, in New York City, at [[Battery Park]], with the [[Statue of Liberty]] as a backdrop.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1995/0829/29032.html|title=Wilson Makes Debut, Again|work=Christian Science Monitor |via=Christian Science Monitor}}</ref> He completed a cross-country tour. In April of 1995, he had surgery to remove a benign nodule on his vocal cords. When Wilson did not lighten his speaking schedule, it resulted in the occasional cracking of his voice. It ended up keeping him from announcing – or even talking – for months.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-07-06-mn-21635-story.html|title=Wilson Has Minor Outpatient Surgery on His Vocal Cords|first=Max|last=Vanzi|date=July 6, 1996|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> His campaign ended on September 30, 1995 |
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<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-09-30-mn-51609-story.html|title=Wilson Drops Out of White House Race, Blames Cash Woes : Politics: Governor is first to withdraw from crowded GOP field. Move creates California opportunities for his former rivals.|date=September 30, 1995|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> |
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A September 6, 1995, [[UC Irvine]] poll showed equal support for Wilson and incumbent President [[Bill Clinton]] among [[Orange County, California|Orange County]] voters. The same poll indicated Wilson as trailing his former Senate colleague [[Bob Dole]] by a 20-point margin.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-09-07-me-43076-story.html|title=Clinton Even With Wilson, UCI Poll Shows : Politics: County respondents favor Dole for President by wide margin. They also support state initiative against affirmative action.|first=Len|last=Hall|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 7, 1995}}</ref> Dole would become the Republican nominee in the general election. Later that month, a ''Los Angeles Times'' poll found 23% of Californians believed Wilson should seek the presidency, including 30% of state voters identifying as Republican.<ref name="LATimes1995">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-09-12-mn-44994-story.html|title=THE TIMES POLL : Wilson's Popularity Plummets With Voters : Election matchups place him far behind Clinton and Dole. The governor is seen as lacking deep convictions|first=Cathleen|last=Decker|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 12, 1995}}</ref> On September 29, 1995, Wilson told supporters in Sacramento that he was dropping out of the Republican primary, citing he lacked the "necessary campaign funds to take this message to the people who need to hear it". He became the first candidate to exit the Republican primary.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/09/29/Wilson-drops-out-of-presidential-race/7281812347200/|title=Wilson drops out of presidential race|date=September 29, 1995|work=United Press International}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/30/us/wilson-trailing-in-voters-polls-drops-1996-quest.html|title=WILSON, TRAILING IN VOTERS' POLLS, DROPS 1996 QUEST|first=B. Drummond Jr.|last=Ayres|date=September 30, 1995|work=The New York Times}}</ref> |
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In 2003, Wilson was co-chair of the campaign of [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] to replace [[Gray Davis]] as governor of [[California]].<ref>[http://petewilsonalumni.org/bio.html]</ref> |
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On September 27, 2007, Wilson endorsed [[Rudolph Giuliani]] for the [[U.S. President]],<ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/2007/sep/28/nation/na-wilson28 Scott Martelle, Pete Wilson endorses Giuliani. ''Los Angeles Times'', September 28, 2007]</ref> but Giuliani later dropped out of the primary. On February 4, 2008, Wilson endorsed [[John McCain]] as a candidate for U.S. President. |
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==Post-political careers and commemoration== |
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In 2007, a statue of Wilson joined [[Ernest Hahn]] and [[Alonzo Horton]] on the [[San Diego Walk of Fame]].<ref>[http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070826-9999-1m26wilson.html Jeanette Steele, Wilson statue is unveiled as Latinos, gays protest. ''San Diego Union-Tribune, August 26, 2007]</ref> At the unveiling, Wilson quipped, "Isn't this a great country that anyone can make a perfect horse's ass of himself at any time?" He also said, "View this statue, as I will, as a surrogate recipient of the tribute that's deserved by all of you who shared the dream, who made it come true and gave all the proud neighborhoods of San Diego the vibrant heart they needed."<ref>[http://bingham.com/Media.aspx?MediaID=5750]</ref> |
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After leaving office, Wilson spent 2 years as a managing director of Pacific Capital Group, a [[merchant bank]] based in Los Angeles. He has served as a director of the [[Irvine Company]], [[TelePacific Communications]], Inc., National Information Consortium Inc., an advisor to Crossflo Systems, and [[IDT Entertainment]]. He has been a member of the Board of Advisors of Thomas Weisel Partners, a San Francisco merchant bank. He also served as chairman of the Japan Task Force of the Pacific Council on International Policy, which produced an analysis of Japanese economic and national security prospects over the next decade entitled "Can [[Japan]] Come Back?"<ref>{{cite web |
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On 23 May 2009, Wilson gave the commencement speech and received an honorary degree from the San Diego State College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts.<ref>[http://psfa.sdsu.edu/econnect/2009_06.html]</ref> |
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| url=http://www.japaninc.com/jin208 | publisher=Japaninc.com |
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| title=Can Japan Come Back? The Pacific Council Thinks So |
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| date=December 12, 2002 | access-date=January 21, 2011 |
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}}</ref> |
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Wilson is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at the [[Hoover Institution]], a conservative [[think tank]] located on the campus of [[Stanford University]], the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the [[Richard Nixon Foundation]], the Donald Bren Foundation, is the founding director of the California Mentor Foundation and is the chairman of the board of trustees of the National World War II Museum. Wilson sits on two prestigious [[Federal Advisory Committee Act|Federal advisory committees]], the [[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]] and the [[Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee]]. He previously worked as a consultant at the Los Angeles office of [[Bingham McCutchen]] [[LLP#United States|LLP]], a large, national law firm.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Former-governor-to-join-business-consulting-firm-2818136.php |title=George Raine, Former governor to join business consulting firm. ''San Francisco Chronicle'', February 25, 2004 |date= February 25, 2004|access-date=January 21, 2011 |work=The San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref> He is currently Of Counsel with Ellis George Cipollone O'Brien Annaguey LLP d/b/a Ellis George Cipollone, a bicoastal trial boutique law firm.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://egcfirm.com/attorneys/pete-wilson/ |title=Pete Wilson bio |date=September 10, 2016 |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref> He is also a Principal at Wilson Walsh Consulting.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wilsonwalsh.com/ |title=Wilson Walsh |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref> In 1999, Wilson was awarded the prestigious Patriot Award by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society National Convention in Riverside, California.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Honorees List {{!}} Awards and Recognitions {{!}} CMOHS |url=https://www.cmohs.org/about-the-society/awards |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=Congressional Medal of Honor Society |language=en}}</ref> In 2003, Wilson was co-chair of the campaign of [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] to replace Gray Davis as governor of California.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://petewilsonalumni.org/bio.html |title=Governor Pete Wilson Alumni Association |access-date=January 21, 2011}}</ref> |
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In 2009, Wilson became the campaign chairman of the [[Meg Whitman]] for Governor Campaign.<ref>[http://www.megwhitman.com/experience_detail.php?id=17]</ref> |
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On September 27, 2007, Wilson endorsed [[Rudolph Giuliani]] for U.S. President,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-sep-28-na-wilson28-story.html |title=Scott Martelle, Pete Wilson endorses Giuliani. ''Los Angeles Times'', September 28, 2007 |date= September 28, 2007|access-date=January 21, 2011}}</ref> but Giuliani later dropped out of the primary. On February 4, 2008, Wilson endorsed [[John McCain]] as a candidate for U.S. president. |
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In 2007, a statue of Wilson joined Ernest Hahn and [[Alonzo Horton]] on the San Diego Walk of Fame.<ref>{{cite web |last=Steele |first=Jeanette |url=http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070826-9999-1m26wilson.html |title=Jeanette Steele, Wilson statue is unveiled as Latinos, gays protest. San Diego Union-Tribune, August 26, 2007 |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=August 26, 2007 |access-date=January 21, 2011 |archive-date=February 24, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100224075242/http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070826-9999-1m26wilson.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> Two hundred sponsors donated $200,000 to build the statue. Progressive Latino and LGBT groups protested the unveiling.<ref>{{cite web |last=Steele |first=Jeanette |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070826/news_1m26wilson.html |title=Wilson statue is unveiled as Latinos, gays protest |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=August 26, 2007 |access-date=January 21, 2011}}</ref> On May 23, 2009, Wilson gave the commencement speech and received an honorary degree from the San Diego State University of Professional Studies and Fine Arts.<ref>{{cite web |
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On January 26, 2010, Wilson wrote an opinion piece in the ''[[Sacramento Bee]]'' accusing the federal government of failure to adequately reimburse California for mandates and other costs such as illegal immigration.<ref>[http://www.sacbee.com/1190/story/2488955.html Pete Wilson, Viewpoints: Federal formulas are harming California. ''Sacramento Bee'', Jan. 26, 2010]</ref> |
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| url=http://psfa.sdsu.edu/econnect/2009_06.html |
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| title=Professional Studies and Fine Arts Newsletter |
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|access-date=January 21, 2011}}</ref> In 2009, Wilson chaired the unsuccessful campaign of [[Meg Whitman]] for governor.<ref>{{cite web |
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| url=http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2010/0830/In-California-Meg-Whitman-leans-less-overtly-on-Pete-Wilson |
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| title=In Calif., Meg Whitman leans less overtly on Pete Wilson |
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| work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=August 30, 2010|access-date=January 22, 2011 |
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}}</ref> On April 30, 2016, Wilson endorsed U.S. Senator [[Ted Cruz]] for the Republican nomination in the [[2016 United States presidential election|2016 presidential election]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/04/30/pete-wilson-of-california-backs-ted-cruz-and-warns-of-donald-trump/?_r=0|title = Pete Wilson of California Backs Ted Cruz and Warns of Donald Trump|newspaper = The New York Times|date = April 30, 2016|last1 = Martin|first1 = Jonathan}}</ref> On April 4, 2019, Wilson donated $5,000 to the reelection campaign of President [[Donald Trump]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fec.gov/|title=Browse Receipts|website=FEC.gov|language=en|access-date=August 8, 2019}}</ref> Wilson was among the signatories of a letter released on October 1, 2020, endorsing President Trump for reelection in the [[2020 United States presidential election|2020 presidential election]] and argued in an interview that the president "has very good judgment, and very good people around him making honest calls."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Marinucci|first=Carla|title=Pete Wilson endorses Trump, says president has 'very good judgment'|url=https://politi.co/2SjGq3f|access-date=2020-10-02|website=Politico PRO|language=en}}</ref> He served as a campaign advisor for [[Larry Elder]]'s unsuccessful [[2021 California gubernatorial recall election|2021]] gubernatorial campaign.<ref>{{cite web|website=Los Angeles Times|title=Column: Larry Elder is the most Latino candidate in California's recall. It won't help him|date=September 4, 2021|author=Gustavo Arellano|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-04/larry-elder-latinos-california-recall}}</ref> |
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==Honors and awards== |
==Honors and awards== |
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During and after Wilson's |
During and after Wilson's career, he was awarded numerous awards and honors: |
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*The [[Woodrow Wilson |
* The [[Woodrow Wilson Awards]] for Distinguished Public Service |
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*The Patriots Award by the |
* The Patriots Award by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society |
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*An honorary degree from the [[San Diego State College]] of Professional Studies and Fine Arts |
* An honorary degree from the [[San Diego State College]] of Professional Studies and Fine Arts |
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*The Distinguished Alumnus Award from [[University of California, Berkeley School of Law|Boalt Hall]], [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]] |
* The Distinguished Alumnus Award from [[University of California, Berkeley School of Law|Boalt Hall]], [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]] |
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*The Bernard E. Witkin Amicus Curiae Award given by the [[Judicial Council of California]] |
* The Bernard E. Witkin Amicus Curiae Award given by the [[Judicial Council of California]] |
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* Wilson was also honored by the [[San Francisco Giants]] by having him open their 1998 home schedule by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in honor of his final full year in office. |
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* Governor Pete Wilson Liberty Flagstaff was raised at [[The National WWII Museum]] in [[New Orleans]] in June 2017. The spire that bears Wilson's name serves as an enduring symbol of the unique American spirit—unity, resolve, and devotion to the principles of freedom.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/visit/museum-campus/founders-plaza/governor-pete-wilson-liberty-flagstaff|title = Governor Pete Wilson Liberty Flagstaff}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
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* Wilson was honored by the [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] with the [[Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service]] in November 2018, including his service on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee. |
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*[http://www.petewilson.info Pete Wilson's official website] |
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{{Portal|United States Marine Corps}} |
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==References== |
==References== |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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{{CongBio|W000607}} |
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* {{C-SPAN|434}} |
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* [http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/5750 Join California Pete Wilson] |
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===Campaign literature and videos=== |
===Campaign literature and videos=== |
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*[http://www.4president.org/brochures/petewilson1996brochure.htm Reaffirming Liberty: Wilson for President Campaign Brochure] |
* [http://www.4president.org/brochures/petewilson1996brochure.htm Reaffirming Liberty: Wilson for President Campaign Brochure] |
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*[http://www.calvoter.org/archive/94general/cand/governor/wils/wilsindex.html Pete Wilson, Candidate for Governor, 1994 Platform Papers, Speeches and Endorsements] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090506102331/http://www.calvoter.org/archive/94general/cand/governor/wils/wilsindex.html Pete Wilson, Candidate for Governor, 1994 Platform Papers, Speeches and Endorsements] |
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===Miscellaneous=== |
===Miscellaneous=== |
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*[http://www.californiagovernors.ca.gov/h/biography/governor_36.html Pete Wilson Biography and Inaugural addresses] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070827035719/http://www.californiagovernors.ca.gov/h/biography/governor_36.html Pete Wilson Biography and Inaugural addresses] |
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*[http://www.hoover.org/bios/2811421.html Hoover Institution Biography] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060927150256/http://www.hoover.org/bios/2811421.html Hoover Institution Biography] |
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*[http://www.calvoter.org/archive/94general/cand/governor/wils/wilsplat1.html Cal Voter: Gov. Wilson's Record on Crime] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090501035940/http://www.calvoter.org/archive/94general/cand/governor/wils/wilsplat1.html Cal Voter: Gov. Wilson's Record on Crime] |
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*[http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/docs/wilson.html Undated speech by Pete Wilson on Affirmative Action titled "The Minority-Majority Society"] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060823124624/http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/docs/wilson.html Undated speech by Pete Wilson on Affirmative Action titled "The Minority-Majority Society"] |
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|SHORT DESCRIPTION= Politician and United States Marine Corps officer |
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Latest revision as of 07:02, 13 January 2025
Pete Wilson | |
---|---|
36th Governor of California | |
In office January 7, 1991 – January 4, 1999 | |
Lieutenant |
|
Preceded by | George Deukmejian |
Succeeded by | Gray Davis |
United States Senator from California | |
In office January 3, 1983 – January 7, 1991 | |
Preceded by | S. I. Hayakawa |
Succeeded by | John Seymour |
29th Mayor of San Diego | |
In office December 6, 1971 – January 3, 1983 | |
Preceded by | Francis Earl Curran |
Succeeded by | Roger Hedgecock |
Member of the California State Assembly from the 76th district | |
In office January 2, 1967 – December 5, 1971 | |
Preceded by | Clair Burgener |
Succeeded by | Bob Wilson |
Personal details | |
Born | Peter Barton Wilson August 23, 1933 Lake Forest, Illinois, U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Spouses |
|
Education | Yale University (BA) University of California, Berkeley (JD) |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Branch/service | United States Marine Corps |
Years of service | 1955–1958 |
Rank | First lieutenant |
Unit | 1st Marine Division |
Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1983 to 1991 and as the 36th governor of California from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the 29th mayor of San Diego from 1971 to 1983.
Born in Lake Forest, Illinois, Wilson graduated from the UC Berkeley School of Law after serving in the United States Marine Corps. He established a legal practice in San Diego and campaigned for Republicans such as Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater. Wilson won election to the California State Assembly in 1966 and became the mayor of San Diego in 1971. He held that office until 1983, when he became a member of the United States Senate. In 1982, he defeated then-incumbent Governor Jerry Brown to become the United States senator from California. In the Senate, Wilson supported the Strategic Defense Initiative and the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, while he opposed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990.
Wilson resigned from the Senate after winning the 1990 California gubernatorial election. As governor, Wilson signed a three-strikes law and supported energy deregulation and term limits. He was also an advocate for California Proposition 187, which established a state-run citizenship screening system with the intention of preventing illegal immigrants from using social services. Wilson won reelection in the 1994 gubernatorial election. He sought the Republican nomination in the 1996 United States presidential election but dropped out of the race before the primaries began.
Wilson retired from public office after serving two terms as governor. Since leaving office, he has worked for several businesses and has been affiliated with several other organizations. He is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. As of to date, Wilson's 1988 re-election is the last time Republicans won a Senate election in California.
Early life
[edit]Peter Barton Wilson was born on August 23, 1933, in Lake Forest, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago, at the height of the Great Depression. His parents were James Boone Wilson and Margaret (Callaghan) Wilson.[1] His father sold college fraternity jewelry to work his way through University of Illinois, and later became a successful advertising executive. The Wilson family settled in St. Louis, Missouri, when Pete was in elementary school. He then attended the private, non-sectarian preparatory middle school John Burroughs (grades 7–9) in Ladue, and then St. Louis Country Day School, an exclusive private high school, where he won an award in his senior year for combined scholarship, athletics, and citizenship. In the fall of 1951, Pete Wilson enrolled at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he received a United States Navy Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship, majored in English, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree. In his junior year he elected to join the Marine Corps upon his graduation.
After graduating from Yale, Wilson served for three years in the United States Marine Corps as an infantry officer, eventually becoming a platoon commander. Upon completion of his Marine Corps service, Wilson earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in June 1962. In 1962, while working as an Advance Man for the Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard M. Nixon, Wilson got to know Herb Klein, one of Nixon's top aides. Klein suggested that Wilson might do well in Southern California politics, so in 1963, Wilson moved to San Diego.
After passing the bar exam on his fourth attempt,[2] Wilson began his practice as a criminal defense attorney in San Diego, but he found such work to be low-paying and personally repugnant. He later commented to the Los Angeles Times, "I realized I couldn't be a criminal defense lawyer – because most of the people who do come to you are guilty." Wilson switched to a more conventional law practice and continued his activity in local politics, working for Barry Goldwater's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1964. Wilson's liking for politics and managing the day-to-day details of the political process was growing. He put in long hours for the Goldwater campaign, earning the friendship of local Republican boosters so necessary for a political career, and in 1966, at the age of thirty-three, he ran for, and won a seat in the California State Assembly, succeeding Clair Burgener. Wilson was re-elected to the Assembly in 1968 and 1970, and in 1971 was elected mayor of San Diego.
Mayor of San Diego
[edit]Wilson served 3 terms as mayor of San Diego, from 1971 to 1983, winning election by a 2:1 margin each time.[3] During his three terms he restructured the San Diego City Council, reorganized the planning and civil service commissions, instituted campaign finance reform, and promoted the redevelopment of downtown San Diego.[3] He also helped to keep Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres in the city, helping to persuade local millionaire Ray Kroc to buy the team. The 1972 Republican National Convention had been scheduled to take place in San Diego in August 1972. However, in May 1972 the Republican National Committee voted to move the convention to Miami because of a scandal involving a donation to the event by ITT Corporation, as well as concerns about the proposed venue (the San Diego Sports Arena) and the adequacy of hotel space. Wilson proclaimed the week of the convention to be America's Finest City Week, which became an annual event and gave rise to San Diego's unofficial nickname.[4] In 1972, Wilson recruited Clarence M. Pendleton Jr. to head the Model Cities Program in San Diego. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Pendleton to chair the United States Commission on Civil Rights, a position that he held from 1981 until his death in San Diego in 1988.[5]
United States Senator from California (1983–1991)
[edit]In 1982, Wilson won the Republican primary in California to replace the retiring U.S. Senator S. I. Hayakawa. Wilson's Democratic opponent was the outgoing two-term Governor Jerry Brown. Wilson was known as a fiscal conservative who supported the property-tax limiting Proposition 13, although Wilson had opposed the measure while mayor of San Diego. However, Brown ran on his gubernatorial record of building the largest state budget surpluses in California history. Both Wilson and Brown were moderate-to-liberal on social issues, including support for abortion rights and environmentalism. The election was expected to be close, with Brown holding a slim lead in most of the polls leading up to Election Day. Wilson hammered away at Brown's appointment of California Chief Justice Rose Bird, using this to portray himself as tougher on crime than Brown was. Brown's late entry into the 1980 Democratic presidential primary, after promising not to run, was also an issue. President Ronald Reagan made a number of visits to California late in the race to campaign for Wilson. Reagan quipped that the last thing he wanted to see was both of his home state's U.S. Senate seats falling into Democrats' hands, especially to be occupied by the man who succeeded him as governor. Despite exit polls indicating a narrow Brown victory, Wilson edged him out to win the election. A major contributing factor may also have been a late influx of the Armenian vote in the California Governor's race between George Deukmejian and Tom Bradley.[citation needed] Many of these votes came from heavily Republican areas. The Deukmejian voters likely also voted for Wilson for United States Senator.
On October 19, 1983, Wilson voted in favor of a bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day.[6] The legislation was signed into law by President Reagan the following month.[7] In January 1988, Wilson voted in favor of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President Reagan's veto in March).[8][9] In June 1984, Wilson voted in favor of legislation restricting federal highway funds for states that did not raise the minimum age for drinking to 21.[10][11] In May 1985, Wilson underwent surgery for a ruptured appendix at Bethesda Naval Hospital, concurrently as fellow Republican Senator Bob Dole hoped to gather enough votes for the Reagan administration's 1986 budget. The surgery was expected to keep Wilson hospitalized for days, but Wilson returned to Capitol Hill via an ambulance to cast a vote in favor of the budget on May 10.[12] After voting, Wilson stated he made the decision to forgo further bed rest as he believed the vote was possibly the most important of his career.[13]
Convinced by Japanese American farmers in the Central Valley to support redress, Wilson co-sponsored the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. The bill was signed into law by President Reagan.[14] As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he called for early implementation of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, a national ballistic missile defense system.[15] Wilson also co-sponsored the Federal Intergovernmental Regulatory Relief Act requiring the federal government to reimburse states for the cost of new federal mandates. A fiscal conservative, he was named the Senate's "Watchdog of the Treasury" for each of his eight years in the nation's capital.[16] In 1988, Wilson won the race for the United States Senate against his Democratic opponent, Leo T. McCarthy. In that election, he became the first person to get more than 5 million votes in a single Senate race, and his 5.1 million votes was a record for the most won by a Republican candidate for Senator that wasn't broken until 2020, when John Cornyn of Texas topped it. On January 20, 1989, he presided over the inauguration of George H. W. Bush as President of the United States. He voted against Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, Bush's tax increase, thus remaining a fiscal conservative.[17]
In the weeks following incumbent governor of California George Deukmejian announcing that he was not running for a third term, Wilson considered a gubernatorial bid; by late January 1989, Wilson admitted to the decision being agonizing for him amid his consulting with others on a possible run.[18] At the beginning of his second 6-year term in the Senate, Wilson announced plans to run for Governor of California. On October 2, 1990, Wilson, away from Washington to campaign for California governor, became the only sitting senator from either party to not vote on the nomination of David Souter for Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. He had previously endorsed Souter for confirmation.[19][20] Wilson voted in favor of the Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination. On January 7, 1991, he resigned from the Senate upon his inauguration as California's governor and appointed John Seymour as his successor.[21]
Governor of California
[edit]Wilson won the Republican nomination for Governor of California to succeed two-term Republican governor George Deukmejian, who chose not to seek a third term in 1990. In the general election, he defeated Democratic former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who would go on to be elected to Wilson's former U.S. Senate seat 2 years later.[17] Wilson was sworn in as governor on January 7, 1991.
As governor, Wilson oversaw economic recovery in California, just as the rest of the country was recovering from an economic slump.[17] Inheriting the state's worst economy since the Great Depression, Wilson insisted on strict budget discipline and sought to rehabilitate the state's environment for investment and new job creation. During his term, market-based, unsubsidized health coverage was made available for employees of small businesses.
Despite his belief in fiscal conservatism, Wilson raised the sales tax to reduce the state deficit, including imposing a new sales tax on newspapers and a sales tax on "snack" foods.[17] He also raised car license fees and college tuition; by 1991, tuition fees at the University of California rose by 40%, while they rose by 24% at California State University.[17] Additionally, he raised the income tax in the top bracket temporarily.[17] However, by 1993, the snack tax was repealed by the Democratic state legislature and the sales tax increase expired.[17] On April 26, 1991, Wilson proposed an increase in sales tax by 1 1/4 cents and state taxes by $6.7 billion (equivalent to $13.4 billion in 2023[22]) as part of plan to reduce the state's budget deficit. The revenue gap had increased by $5 billion (equivalent to $9.97 billion in 2023[22]) in the four months of his governorship.[23] In response to the April 1991 proposal, the Los Angeles Times wrote of Wilson,
He has done what has been asked of him, but thought near-impossible for any Republican centrist: constructing a revenue and spending plan that will hurt almost everyone and help almost no one, but that will also – for the first time in a long time – put the state on a sounder fiscal footing.[24]
In July 1991, the Senate voted 28 to 9 in favor of a bipartisan tax plan that would have increased taxes on the wealthiest Californians, boosted the corporate tax rate, and imposed a tax increase on telecommunication services by 2%. Wilson returned the budget bill to the legislature without his signature, revoking a prior commitment to vetoing the measure.[25]
On July 12, 1991, Wilson signed a bill mandating that parents neglecting paying for child support could warrant stiff fines and potential suspensions of business and professional licenses. The legislation was intended to address a rising cause of poverty among children and women in the state at a time when Californians collectively owed $2 billion (equivalent to $3.99 billion in 2023[22]) per year in unpaid child support.[26] On July 24, 1991, Wilson signed a bill requiring mass transit rail lines to be built underground in the event construction take place in the residential neighborhoods of North Hollywood and Van Nuys. The bill, requested by the residents of those neighborhoods, was aimed at easing "homeowners' fear of noise from ground-level trains running along a proposed rail route that parallels Chandler and Victory boulevards".[27]
Less than a year into his first term as governor, Wilson vetoed AB 101, a bill written to prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation in the state. Wilson feared that the bill would increase lawsuits and make California less competitive economically.[28][29] The veto was met with protests in San Francisco that included demonstrations during Wilson's subsequent public appearances and speeches.[30][31][32] Wilson was the driving force behind the 1996 legislation that deregulated the state's energy market, which was the first energy utilities deregulation in the U.S. and aggressively pushed by companies such as Enron.[33]
Wilson also enacted education reforms aimed at creating statewide curriculum standards, reducing class size and replacing social promotion with early remedial education. Wilson promoted standardized testing of all students, increased teacher training, and a longer school year. However, it was Wilson's uncompromising stance on reducing education spending that led to the budget impasse of 1992,[34] leaving state workers without paychecks from July until September, when the California Supreme Court forced the Governor and the legislature to agree to terms that ended the sixty-three-day stand-off.[35][36] On February 22, 1993, Wilson issued an executive order banning smoke in a majority of state buildings barring "buildings controlled by the courts, the Legislature or the state's two university systems". The order was set to take effect December 31. Wilson said secondhand smoke "threatens the health of non-smoking state employees" and charged workplace smoking with increasing the cost of cleaning, damaged furniture and carpets, and heightening the chances of starting fires.[37]
Despite this, in a leaked Philip Morris memo, the company's chief executive, Hamish Maxwell, said, "You will be pleased to know that Pete is still 'pro-tobacco.'" His move to revoke Proposition 99, a $114 million dollar voter-approved bill to tax cigarette companies to research and educate on the effects of tobacco, as well as shut down a highly effective anti-tobacco ad with footage of tobacco executives testifying to Congress that nicotine was not addictive (which also a prompted defamation lawsuit against it), was claimed to be illegal and caused multiple lawsuits, and was criticized as being influenced by the tobacco lobby. While he claimed to take no funding personally in response to allegations of being pro-tobacco, he collected over $100,000 from a New York fund-raising dinner organized by Phillip Morris. While Phillip Morris didn't directly fund his campaign, they were major funders of the California Republican Party which he led. The leaked memo was in response to worries over Wilson's rejection of direct campaign donations. Maxwell claimed to have been told by Wilson over a phone call that this was to "protect Hamish and himself," assuring that it was not due to a lack of support.[38][39]
In late 1993, Wilson traveled to Asia to endorse Californian goods and investment opportunities abroad.[40] Wilson's six-day tour was also marked by his insistence on creating export-oriented jobs.[41] Wilson was re-elected to a second gubernatorial term in 1994, gaining 55% of the vote in his race against Democratic State Treasurer Kathleen Brown, daughter of former California Governor Pat Brown. According to one study, Wilson exploited anti-immigrant sentiment to win re-election.[42] Wilson spoke at the funeral services for former First Lady Pat Nixon in 1993 and former President Richard M. Nixon in 1994 at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California. Two years later, Wilson became, to date, the most recent governor to speak at a California gubernatorial funeral, that of former Governor Pat Brown.
For most of his time as governor, Wilson reduced per-capita infrastructure spending for California, much as he had done as the mayor of San Diego.[43] Many construction projects – most notably highway expansion/improvement projects – were severely hindered or delayed, while other maintenance and construction projects were abandoned completely.[44] Term limit laws passed by voters as Proposition 140, and championed by Wilson in 1990, prohibited Wilson from running for re-election to a third term. At the end of his time in office, Wilson left California with a $16 billion budget surplus (equivalent to $27.9 billion in 2023[22]). He was succeeded by then-lieutenant governor Gray Davis as governor. A September 1998 Los Angeles Times poll found 55% of registered voters in California favored Wilson's job performance.[45]
Welfare
[edit]On December 14, 1991, in an address to Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Wilson criticized the Democratic leaders of the state legislature for their opposition to his budget-balancing plan and "spent most of his hour at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles railing against the state's entitlement programs – including education and Medi-Cal, but especially Aid to Families with Dependent Children and other welfare programs".[46] On January 8, 1993, Wilson submitted the 1993 spending plan, advocating an immediate cut in welfare grants by 4.2% that would be followed 6 months later by a larger reduction of 15% that would be directed at recipient families with an able-bodied adult. The twin cuts would reduce California's standing as the 5th highest benefit granting state to the 12fth.[47] By the end of his first term, Wilson allied with members of the state legislature that supported the continuation of recession-inspired cuts to welfare benefits. A bill imposing the continued reduction of benefits was passed by 2 committees of the Republican-majority assembly. H. D. Palmer maintained Wilson's priorities rested in other issues and though admitting to an improving in revenues, disclosed that "the governor does not believe that the first call on those revenues should go to double-digit cost-of-living increases for welfare recipients."[48]
Wilson's second inaugural address featured a proclamation that the administration would usher in welfare reform:
We will demand that all citizens meet the test of common decency, respecting the rights of others, and we will demand that those who can, pull their own weight and meet the test of personal responsibility. We will make clear that welfare is to be a safety net, not a hammock — and absolutely not a permanent way of life. We will correct our laws to make clear that bringing a child into the world is an awesome personal responsibility for both the mother and the father. The costs are simply too high for society to continue tolerating the promiscuity and irresponsibility that have produced generations of unwed teen mothers. It is monstrously unfair to the children; to their sad, ill-equipped teen mothers; and certainly to working taxpayers, who must support them at a cost to their own children.[49][50]
In his 1997 State of the State address, Wilson criticized welfare recipients[51] and charged the program with creating conditions producing out-of-wedlock births, the lack of paternal involvement in the lives of children, and the lifelong ramifications to children caused by the father not being of presence.[52] Under Wilson's welfare overhaul package, mothers would have to go to work after two years and a year would pass before they could return to welfare, which would only have a five-year lifetime. Paternity for each child would also have to be established for the mother to begin receiving benefits.[53]
Proposition 187
[edit]As governor, Wilson was closely associated with California Proposition 187, a 1994 ballot initiative to establish a state-run citizenship screening system and prohibit illegal immigrants from using health care, public education, and other social services in the U.S. State of California. Voters passed the proposed law as a referendum in November 1994; it was the first time that a state had passed legislation related to immigration, customarily an issue for federal policies and programs.[54] The law was challenged in a legal suit and found unconstitutional by a federal court in 1998 and never went into effect.[55]
Passage of Proposition 187 reflected state residents' concerns about illegal immigration into the United States and the large Hispanic population in California. Opponents believed the law was discriminatory against immigrants of Hispanic origin; supporters generally insisted that their concerns were economic: that the state could not afford to provide social services for so many who entered the state illegally or overstayed their visas.[56][57] Wilson himself would state that the policy was "about supporting the people who came here the right way".[58]
Opponents of Proposition 187 cited its passage as the cause of long-term negative effects for the California Republican Party statewide. Noting a rapid increase in the Latino participation in California elections, some analysts cite Wilson and the Republican Party's embrace of Proposition 187 as a cause of the failure of the party to win statewide elections.[59] Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the only Republican to win a California gubernatorial, senatorial, or presidential election since 1994, in a unique 2003 recall election and then a re-election in 2006.
Since 1995 the following states have had similar ballot initiatives or laws passed: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma and Texas.[60]
Policies on crime
[edit]Wilson led efforts to enact "tough on crime" measures and signed into law the "Three Strikes" (25 years to life for repeat offenders)[61] As a result of the Three Strikes Law, 4,431 offenders have been sentenced to 25 years to life for strings of crime.[62] The law required the construction of new prisons, leading some to question the role in his stance of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, a lobbying group of prison guards that gave $1.47 million (equivalent to $2.64 million in 2023[22]) to Wilson's gubernatorial campaigns.[63] On September 26, 1995, Wilson signed a bill authorizing the possible use of the death penalty toward any individual who committed a murder amid a carjacking or killed a juror. Wilson said the law was the result of 4 years' worth of attempts on his part to toughen the laws against carjacking: "This bill sends an unmistakable message to gang bangers: If you take someone's life while committing a cowardly carjacking, you can expect to pay for your crime with your own life."[64] Wilson also supported resuming the death penalty in California, after a 25-year moratorium, and he signed the death warrant for the execution of child-murderer Robert Alton Harris. Harris was executed in 1992. A total of five people were executed during his administration (the first 2 in the gas chamber, the latter 3 by lethal injection).
Energy deregulation
[edit]Wilson supported deregulation of the energy industry in California during his administration due to heavy lobbying efforts by Enron.[33] Nevertheless, during the California energy crisis caused by companies such as Enron, Wilson authored an article titled "What California Must Do" that blamed Gray Davis for not building enough power plants. Wilson defended his record of power plant construction and claimed that between 1985 and 1998, 23 plants were certified and 18 were built in California.[65]
1996 presidential campaign
[edit]Despite a campaign promise to the people of California not to do so, Wilson also unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for President in the 1996 election, making formal announcements on both coasts.[66] Wilson announced first on August 28, 1995, in New York City, at Battery Park, with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.[67] He completed a cross-country tour. In April of 1995, he had surgery to remove a benign nodule on his vocal cords. When Wilson did not lighten his speaking schedule, it resulted in the occasional cracking of his voice. It ended up keeping him from announcing – or even talking – for months.[68] His campaign ended on September 30, 1995 [69]
A September 6, 1995, UC Irvine poll showed equal support for Wilson and incumbent President Bill Clinton among Orange County voters. The same poll indicated Wilson as trailing his former Senate colleague Bob Dole by a 20-point margin.[70] Dole would become the Republican nominee in the general election. Later that month, a Los Angeles Times poll found 23% of Californians believed Wilson should seek the presidency, including 30% of state voters identifying as Republican.[71] On September 29, 1995, Wilson told supporters in Sacramento that he was dropping out of the Republican primary, citing he lacked the "necessary campaign funds to take this message to the people who need to hear it". He became the first candidate to exit the Republican primary.[72][73]
Post-political careers and commemoration
[edit]After leaving office, Wilson spent 2 years as a managing director of Pacific Capital Group, a merchant bank based in Los Angeles. He has served as a director of the Irvine Company, TelePacific Communications, Inc., National Information Consortium Inc., an advisor to Crossflo Systems, and IDT Entertainment. He has been a member of the Board of Advisors of Thomas Weisel Partners, a San Francisco merchant bank. He also served as chairman of the Japan Task Force of the Pacific Council on International Policy, which produced an analysis of Japanese economic and national security prospects over the next decade entitled "Can Japan Come Back?"[74]
Wilson is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank located on the campus of Stanford University, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the Richard Nixon Foundation, the Donald Bren Foundation, is the founding director of the California Mentor Foundation and is the chairman of the board of trustees of the National World War II Museum. Wilson sits on two prestigious Federal advisory committees, the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee. He previously worked as a consultant at the Los Angeles office of Bingham McCutchen LLP, a large, national law firm.[75] He is currently Of Counsel with Ellis George Cipollone O'Brien Annaguey LLP d/b/a Ellis George Cipollone, a bicoastal trial boutique law firm.[76] He is also a Principal at Wilson Walsh Consulting.[77] In 1999, Wilson was awarded the prestigious Patriot Award by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society National Convention in Riverside, California.[78] In 2003, Wilson was co-chair of the campaign of Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace Gray Davis as governor of California.[79] On September 27, 2007, Wilson endorsed Rudolph Giuliani for U.S. President,[80] but Giuliani later dropped out of the primary. On February 4, 2008, Wilson endorsed John McCain as a candidate for U.S. president.
In 2007, a statue of Wilson joined Ernest Hahn and Alonzo Horton on the San Diego Walk of Fame.[81] Two hundred sponsors donated $200,000 to build the statue. Progressive Latino and LGBT groups protested the unveiling.[82] On May 23, 2009, Wilson gave the commencement speech and received an honorary degree from the San Diego State University of Professional Studies and Fine Arts.[83] In 2009, Wilson chaired the unsuccessful campaign of Meg Whitman for governor.[84] On April 30, 2016, Wilson endorsed U.S. Senator Ted Cruz for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election.[85] On April 4, 2019, Wilson donated $5,000 to the reelection campaign of President Donald Trump.[86] Wilson was among the signatories of a letter released on October 1, 2020, endorsing President Trump for reelection in the 2020 presidential election and argued in an interview that the president "has very good judgment, and very good people around him making honest calls."[87] He served as a campaign advisor for Larry Elder's unsuccessful 2021 gubernatorial campaign.[88]
Honors and awards
[edit]During and after Wilson's career, he was awarded numerous awards and honors:
- The Woodrow Wilson Awards for Distinguished Public Service
- The Patriots Award by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society
- An honorary degree from the San Diego State College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts
- The Distinguished Alumnus Award from Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley
- The Bernard E. Witkin Amicus Curiae Award given by the Judicial Council of California
- Wilson was also honored by the San Francisco Giants by having him open their 1998 home schedule by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in honor of his final full year in office.
- Governor Pete Wilson Liberty Flagstaff was raised at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans in June 2017. The spire that bears Wilson's name serves as an enduring symbol of the unique American spirit—unity, resolve, and devotion to the principles of freedom.[89]
- Wilson was honored by the Secretary of Defense with the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service in November 2018, including his service on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee.
References
[edit]- ^ "San Diego Genealogy Project: Pete Wilson".
- ^ Dolan, Maura (February 21, 2006). "A High Bar for Lawyers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
- ^ a b Kaye, Peter (August 16, 2013). "Bob Filner, just the latest rotten San Diego mayor". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
- ^ Ancona, Vincent S. (Fall 1992). "When the elephants marched out of San Diego: The 1972 Republican Convention Fiasco". Journal of San Diego History. 38 (4).
- ^ "Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr". aapra.org. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
- ^ "SENATE'S ROLL-CALL VOTE ON KING HOLIDAY". The New York Times. October 20, 1983.
- ^ Reagan, Ronald (November 2, 1983). "Remarks on Signing the Bill Making the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a National Holiday". Reagan Library. Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- ^ "TO PASS S 557, CIVIL RIGHTS RESTORATION ACT, A BILL … -- Senate Vote #432 -- Jan 28, 1988". GovTrack.us.
- ^ "TO ADOPT, OVER THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF S 557, CIVIL … -- Senate Vote #487 -- Mar 22, 1988". GovTrack.us.
- ^ "The 81–16 vote by which the Senate approved legislation ..." United Press International. June 27, 1984.
- ^ Tolchin, Martin (June 27, 1984). "SENATE VOTES BILL AIMED AT FORCING DRINKING AGE OF 21". The New York Times.
- ^ "SENATOR BRINGS A VOTE FROM HIS HOSPITAL BED". The New York Times. May 10, 1985.
- ^ "Sen. Pete Wilson, a tough former Marine, said he ..." United Press International. May 10, 1985.
- ^ "H.R. 442 (100th): Civil Liberties Act of 1987". govtrack.us. Civic Impulse, LLC. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
- ^ Clifford, Frank (October 25, 1988). "McCarthy, Wilson Exchange Shots as Race Heats Up". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
- ^ "Watchdogs". Archived from the original on November 6, 2010. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g Mitchell, Daniel J. B. (Winter 2008). ""Duke, Is There Perhaps Something You Forgot to Tell Me?" Pete Wilson's First-Term Struggle with the California Budget". Southern California Quarterly. 90 (4): 379–418. doi:10.2307/41172444. JSTOR 41172444.
- ^ "Wilson 'Agonizing' on Running for Governor, Will Make Decision Soon". Los Angeles Times. January 20, 1989.
- ^ Berke, Richard L. (October 3, 1990). "Senate Confirms Souter, 90 to 9, As Supreme Court's 105th Justice". The New York Times.
- ^ "Senate vote on Souter". United Press International. October 2, 1990.
- ^ Gross, Jane (January 3, 1991). "New Senator From California Is Named". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d e Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved November 30, 2023. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
- ^ "Wilson Proposes Increasing State Sales Tax 1 1/4 Cents : Finances: His budget plan calls for a $6.7-billion hike in state levies. He also wants a $4.8-billion cut in spending, $700 million more than first sought". Los Angeles Times. April 26, 1991.
- ^ "The Governor Accepts the Budget Leadership : Wilson looks for something that hurts least, hits soonest". Los Angeles Times. April 30, 1991.
- ^ "Wilson Relents on Budget Veto : Finances: Governor returns the $56.4-billion spending plan to the Legislature without his signature. Action allows more time to work out a solution". Los Angeles Times. July 4, 1991.
- ^ Ellis, Virginia (July 13, 1991). "Wilson Signs Child-Support Bill : Divorce: The legislation provides new tools to enforce payment. Parents who fail to comply could have their business or professional licenses suspended". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Quinn, James (June 25, 1991). "Governor Signs Bill Calling for Underground Rail Line : Transit: The law is aimed at easing the concerns of North Hollywood and Van Nuys homeowners". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Courts Offer Wilson a Healing Opportunity : Equality: Since an appellate decision is tougher than AB 101 would have been, the governor could easily sign a law barring job prejudice against gays". Los Angeles Times. February 9, 1992. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
- ^ "Governor Vetoes Gay Job Bias Bill : Discrimination: Wilson says legislation is bad for business. Its author calls action 'cave-in to the right.'". Los Angeles Times. September 30, 1991.
- ^ "Gay Rights Protest Disrupts Wilson Speech". Los Angeles Times. October 2, 1991.
- ^ "Gay Activists Vent Rage Over Wilson's Veto : Protest: Governor's rejection of job discrimination bill sparks violence. Thousands of demonstrators march in Los Angeles and San Francisco". Los Angeles Times. October 1, 1991.
- ^ "California Spending Plan 1998–99". lao.ca.gov. Legislative Analysts Office. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
- ^ a b Taylor, Chris (May 20, 2002). "California Scheming". Time. Vol. 159, no. 20. Archived from the original on December 3, 2002. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
- ^ Lou Cannon, Education Funding at Center of California Budget Showdown. The Washington Post, September 1, 1992
- ^ "Robert Reinhold, Budget Crisis Forces California Colleges to Bar the Doors. New York Times, July 19, 1992". The New York Times. July 19, 1992. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "Patt Morrison, California's Budget Crisis – An IOU on Self-Esteem. California's Plight May be a Harbinger or Just Reason for Others to Gloat. Los Angeles Times, August 29, 1992". August 29, 1992. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ Weintraub, Daniel M. (February 23, 1993). "Governor Bans Smoking in Most State Buildings : Health: Wilson's order, which will affect prisons and thousands of offices, cites dangers of secondhand smoke". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Daniel M. Weintraub; Jerry Gillam (August 30, 1992). "Senate, Assembly OK Budget; Wilson Awaits Final Package : Spending: Governor says he will not approve $58-billion plan until all supporting bills are passed. State will continue to issue IOUs for up to a week even after it is signed". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
- ^ Russell, Sabin. "Philip Morris Called Wilson 'Pro-Tobacco' / '90 memo calls him a friend, though he returned donations". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
- ^ Skeleton, George (October 14, 1993). "A Traveling Salesman With a New Pitch". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "UPI Spotlight California Governor Pete Wilson leaves Japan after trade talks". United Press International. December 1, 1993.
- ^ Jacobson, Gary C. (January 12, 2019). Presidents and Parties in the Public Mind. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-58934-3.
- ^ "Financing California" (PDF). csus.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "Project has taken a long time to get to this point – Chico Enterprise Record". Archived from the original on April 17, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ Decker, Cathleen (September 24, 1998). "Economy Lifts Wilson to Record Approval Rating". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Stein, Mark A. "Wilson Rips Democrats, Warns of 'Chaos' : Politics: He assails welfare programs and accuses the Legislature's leaders of attacking his budget plan without offering one of their own". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Ellis, Virginia. "Wilson Again Seeks Sharp Welfare Cuts to Make Ends Meet : Finances: His proposal would hit hard at the Aid to Families With Dependent Children program. Advocates for the young and the poor assail the plan". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Vanzi, Max (March 3, 1996). "Wilson, Allies Seek to Make Cuts in Welfare Benefits Permanent". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Second Inaugural Address". governors.library.ca.gov. January 2, 1995.
- ^ "Wilson Sworn In, Bluntly Warns of Welfare Shake-Up : Inaugural: Governor says illegal immigrants, criminals and uneducated youths are draining resources. He calls on Californians to be prepared for 'dramatic change.'". Los Angeles Times. January 8, 1995.
- ^ Rivera, Carla (May 9, 1997). "Stigma of Welfare Hampers State Push Toward Jobs". Los Angeles Times.
Taxpayers [will] no longer subsidize idleness and promiscuity," he declared in praising the arrival of welfare reform. "We're ending welfare's warehousing of people who don't want to work.
- ^ Wilson, Pete (January 7, 1997). "1997 State of the State Address". governors.library.ca.gov.
- ^ Capps, Steven A. (January 8, 1997). "Demos rip Wilson's plan for state". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ Allison Fee, "Forbidding States from Providing Essential Social Services to "undocumented Immigrants": The Constitutionality of Recent Federal Action", Boston University Public Interest Law Journal, Vol. 7, No. 93, 1998. Retrieved June 26, 2011
- ^ McDonnell, Patrick J. (July 29, 1999). "Davis Won't Appeal Prop. 187 Ruling, Ending Court Battles". Los Angeles Times. p. 1.
- ^ ENRIQUEZ, SAM (October 19, 1994). "Jewish Coalition Opposes Prop. 187". Los Angeles Times. p. 2.
- ^ Bock, Alan W. (October 2, 1994). "Sorting through facts and fiction of immigration". Orange County Register. Santa Ana, Calif. p. J.01.
- ^ "Former Gov. Pete Wilson: I'd 'absolutely' do Prop. 187 all over again". The Orange County Register. October 16, 2015.
- ^ Raoul Lowery Contreras (August 16, 2002). The death of the California GOP. calnews.com. ISBN 9780595256914. Retrieved April 9, 2009.
- ^ Richard Lacayo; Ann Blackman; Margot Hornblower; Joseph R. Szczesny (December 19, 2004). "Down on the Downtrodden". Time. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- ^ "Pete Wilson for Governor: On Balance the Best Choice". Los Angeles Times. October 30, 1994. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "FACTS About California's Three-Strikes Law". Archived from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "Center for Public Integrity, The Buying of the President 1996 – Pete Wilson". Buyingofthepresident.org. Archived from the original on February 19, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "Wilson makes carjacking a capital crime". United Press International. September 26, 1995.
- ^ Wilson, Pete. "Pete Wilson, What California Must Do. Hoover Digest, No. 3, 2001". Hoover.org. Archived from the original on December 6, 2009. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "Center for Public Integrity, The buying of the President 1996 – Pete Wilson". Archived from the original on February 19, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "Wilson Makes Debut, Again". Christian Science Monitor – via Christian Science Monitor.
- ^ Vanzi, Max (July 6, 1996). "Wilson Has Minor Outpatient Surgery on His Vocal Cords". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Wilson Drops Out of White House Race, Blames Cash Woes : Politics: Governor is first to withdraw from crowded GOP field. Move creates California opportunities for his former rivals". Los Angeles Times. September 30, 1995.
- ^ Hall, Len (September 7, 1995). "Clinton Even With Wilson, UCI Poll Shows : Politics: County respondents favor Dole for President by wide margin. They also support state initiative against affirmative action". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Decker, Cathleen (September 12, 1995). "THE TIMES POLL : Wilson's Popularity Plummets With Voters : Election matchups place him far behind Clinton and Dole. The governor is seen as lacking deep convictions". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Wilson drops out of presidential race". United Press International. September 29, 1995.
- ^ Ayres, B. Drummond Jr. (September 30, 1995). "WILSON, TRAILING IN VOTERS' POLLS, DROPS 1996 QUEST". The New York Times.
- ^ "Can Japan Come Back? The Pacific Council Thinks So". Japaninc.com. December 12, 2002. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "George Raine, Former governor to join business consulting firm. San Francisco Chronicle, February 25, 2004". The San Francisco Chronicle. February 25, 2004. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "Pete Wilson bio". September 10, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2022.
- ^ "Wilson Walsh". Retrieved November 2, 2022.
- ^ "Honorees List | Awards and Recognitions | CMOHS". Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
- ^ "Governor Pete Wilson Alumni Association". Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "Scott Martelle, Pete Wilson endorses Giuliani. Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2007". September 28, 2007. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ Steele, Jeanette (August 26, 2007). "Jeanette Steele, Wilson statue is unveiled as Latinos, gays protest. San Diego Union-Tribune, August 26, 2007". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on February 24, 2010. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ Steele, Jeanette (August 26, 2007). "Wilson statue is unveiled as Latinos, gays protest". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "Professional Studies and Fine Arts Newsletter". Retrieved January 21, 2011.
- ^ "In Calif., Meg Whitman leans less overtly on Pete Wilson". The Christian Science Monitor. August 30, 2010. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
- ^ Martin, Jonathan (April 30, 2016). "Pete Wilson of California Backs Ted Cruz and Warns of Donald Trump". The New York Times.
- ^ "Browse Receipts". FEC.gov. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Marinucci, Carla. "Pete Wilson endorses Trump, says president has 'very good judgment'". Politico PRO. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ Gustavo Arellano (September 4, 2021). "Column: Larry Elder is the most Latino candidate in California's recall. It won't help him". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Governor Pete Wilson Liberty Flagstaff".
External links
[edit]- United States Congress. "Pete Wilson (id: W000607)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Join California Pete Wilson
Campaign literature and videos
[edit]- Reaffirming Liberty: Wilson for President Campaign Brochure
- Pete Wilson, Candidate for Governor, 1994 Platform Papers, Speeches and Endorsements
Miscellaneous
[edit]- 1933 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American lawyers
- 20th-century American military personnel
- 20th-century mayors of places in California
- 20th-century Presbyterians
- 21st-century Presbyterians
- Activists from California
- American bankers
- American campaign managers
- California Republicans
- Candidates in the 1996 United States presidential election
- Governors of California
- Hoover Institution people
- Lawyers from San Diego
- Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School alumni
- Mayors of San Diego
- Members of Congress who became lobbyists
- Military personnel from Illinois
- People from Lake Forest, Illinois
- People from St. Louis County, Missouri
- Politicians from St. Louis
- Protestants from California
- Protestants from Missouri
- Republican Party governors of California
- Republican Party members of the California State Assembly
- Republican Party United States senators from California
- UC Berkeley School of Law alumni
- United States Marine Corps officers
- Yale College alumni
- 20th-century members of the California State Legislature
- 20th-century United States senators