POLITICAL TWINS IS HAHN A GRAYER SHADE OF DAVIS?

Byline: MARIEL GARZA

THE historic recall election of Gov. Gray Davis should serve as a warning to every politician from president of the United States to members of the Dinkytown Water Board - voters are restless.

Mayor James Hahn, I hope, has been taking notes.

While there was a lot of political insider talk about the car tax, the energy crisis and Davis' culpability for the state's ``spending spree,'' most voters don't really know or care about the issues.

In the end, Davis was recalled mainly because no one really liked him that much. It was the governor's character that detractors hit most: his loner ways, his flatness of personality, his relentless fund raising. Even the fact he doesn't have a dog was touted in some quarters as more proof of his unsuitability for the job.

Davis once said running for governor isn't a popularity contest. Sorry, Gray, but that's exactly what it is. And Tuesday's ascension of a handsome, friendly, personable, colorful, socially confident political novice proved it.

And the political and personality parallels between Davis and Hahn are striking.

While both men are smart, they are also unapproachable, even intimidating to people unsure of themselves. Not every leader must be a happy-go-lucky backslapper, but when you're the most powerful person in the state/city/world, you automatically have the social advantage and should want to go the extra step to put people at ease. You know, be extra nice.

For all his smarts, Davis was not a well-liked man within the Democratic Legislature, a place he should have been naturally embraced. Not only did he not build alliances but he alienated other politicians with avoidable slights.

This feeling was evident to voters in the weak support the state Democratic Party offered up for their boy. Other than U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose anti-recall TV spot didn't even mention Davis by name, no other state Dem protected Gray's back.

Hahn hasn't engendered that level of ambivalence - yet. But it's a fair question if whether any members of the Los Angeles' version of the Legislature, the City Council - other than his sister, Janice - would put themselves on the line after what happened during budget negotiations last spring.

What should have been fairly routine council committee hearings on the general fund blew up when Hahn's budget director, Christa Binder, deliberately and mystifyingly stonewalled the council.

In the frosty voice of the meanest girl in high school, Binder refused to answer even basic questions from council members. We've presented a balanced budget, she told them, take it or leave it.

It got worse when Hahn and Police Chief William Bratton started publicly berating the council, accusing members of putting Angelenos in danger by their questioning the mayor's funding structure for hiring more cops.

Rather than trying to woo council members, who essentially wanted the same things, Hahn's tactic cost him a lot of good will among council members who had been generally genial until then.

Even Hahn's staunch ally, City Council President Alex Padilla, turned away, using the incident to show off his own leadership skills.

Another similarity between Hahn and Davis is their talent for fund raising, a reality of politics for those without large personal bank accounts.

For Davis, it was his relentless money gathering that became one of the most serious criticisms against him. And throughout his career, he has been plagued by accusations that his was a pay-to-play administration that handed out political favors to donors.

Hahn, too, has proved his skills in building a huge war chest, with many of his biggest contributions coming from the people doing business with the city or trying to do business with the city.

The list of similarities goes on - similar hair color, lack of political risk-taking and a sense that both are more bureaucrats than leaders. You couple that with the situational similarities in Los Angeles to those that framed the dumping of Davis - a tough economy, a projected budget deficit, a mismanaged bureaucracy and a sense that special interests are getting the goods over regular people - and you've got another recipe for removal.

Sadly, Davis' humanity only poked through at the very end, during his concession speech. In a moment of supreme sweetness, Davis turned to his crying wife next to him on stage, looked lovingly at her and then teased that he had declared the stage a ``no-crying zone.'' Even the most hardened observers couldn't help but let loose an ``ahhh.''

It was unfortunate that it took a crushing defeat to make Davis connect with constituents on a positive personal level. With the next mayoral elections a whole year and a half away, Hahn doesn't have to wait that long.

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(color) Is Mayor James Hahn, who politically resembles Gov. Gray Davis, headed for the same fate?

Gene Blevins