CAPITOL NOTEBOOK: LURE OF WORLD TOO STRONG FOR DAVIS TO RESIST?

Byline: Terri Hardy and Dorothy Korber

AFTER declaring himself King of California with his ``implement my vision'' remark and then receiving the title of ``the most fearless governor in America'' from Time magazine, what's the next step for Gov. Gray Davis?

The world, of course.

On Monday, Davis and entourage will embark on an 11-day Business Development Mission that will take him to the United Kingdom, Greece, Israel and Egypt.

The governor will meet with an impressive list of dignitaries, including England's Prime Minister Tony Blair, Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, Greece's Prime Minister Konstandinos Simitis and Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres, minister of regional cooperation.

Davis is clearly relishing the trip. Asked at a press conference when he'd be back in Sacramento, the governor grinned and said, ``Who says I'm coming back?''

Maybe we should build that new Governor's Mansion in Cairo.

War of the Roses

State Sen. Tom Hayden strode into the Assembly chamber in September, arms full of white roses. With a flourish, he presented them to his longtime adversary, Sally Havice, startling the Cerritos assemblywoman and astonishing everyone else.

A month later, the senator probably wants his flowers back.

Though Hayden is a fellow Democrat, Havice and her working-class district view the West Los Angeles senator as a Santa Monica tree-hugger with a not-so-hidden agenda: ripping out their concrete flood control channels. Hayden, who calls the cemented riverbeds ``walled parapets,'' describes the conflict with Havice as ``slightly real, mostly imaginary.''

Back in September, though, Hayden was feeling gracious toward Havice. Moments earlier, the Assembly had passed Hayden's SB 754, which would create a Los Angeles River Commission to study ways to green the ugly urban river. Havice was suspicious of SB 754, but she held her tongue before the vote.

In turn, Hayden permitted the Senate to vote on Havice's bill to create a conservancy for the lower Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers. The two bills were approved by the Legislature, sent on to the governor, and Hayden ordered the roses.

He was premature. After intense lobbying by Los Angeles County and the Drainage Alliance led by Bellflower, Downey, Lakewood and Paramount, the governor vetoed Hayden's SB 754. The governor signed Havice's river conservancy.

Barely containing her glee, Havice was quick to respond, ``It would have been wrong to create this remarkable conservancy and to then immediately negate its very potential by setting up Mr. Hayden's big commission.''

Rocky Rushing, spokesman for Hayden, said the fight between the environmentalists and the ``down river'' city leaders won't be resolved anytime soon.

``It's not like anyone is going to plant marijuana on the banks or do pagan rituals along the river,'' Rushing said. ``For some reason, they're content to have the river buried under cement.''

No signature, no dice

Among other bills Davis vetoed last week:

SB 1016, by Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, would have required employers to notify workers if office e-mail was to be monitored. Davis said the bill placed ``unnecessary and complicating obligations'' on an employer - and employees should assume such monitoring is the bosses' right.

AB 527, by Assemblyman Scott Baugh, R-Huntington Beach, would have permitted defense attorneys at grand jury proceedings. Davis said the current system ``has served us well for 150 years.'' Baugh, who notes that 19 other states allow defense counsel, promises to bring the bill back next year.