Calif. gov known as ‘ Iron Duke’ ran law- and- order administration
GEORGE DEUKMEJIAN | 1928- 2018
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two- term California governor George Deukmejian, whose anti- spending credo earned him the nickname “The Iron Duke,” died Tuesday of natural causes. He was 89.
The Republican spent three decades in California politics as an assemblyman, senator, state attorney general and governor. He was elected as the state’s 35th governor in 1982 when a massive absentee voting campaign edged him just ahead of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.
“It was a real comeback,” said Ken Khachigian, a longtime friend of Mr. Deukmejian who recalled the governor- elect celebrating his win with a bowl of his favorite ice cream.
As governor from 1983 to 1991, Mr. Deukmejian ran a law- and- order administration, expanding the state prison system, bringing the left- leaning California Supreme Court to the center and supporting tough, anti- crime legislation.
Despite a few notable exceptions, Mr. Deukmejian made his opposition to new taxes and increased government spending a focus of his political career. His favorite phrase was “commonsense,” which in many cases translated into “cut” or “stop.”
He earned the nickname “The Iron Duke” from his Republican supporters in the Legislature for his willingness to veto spending proposals. He issued thousands of vetoes during his two terms, said Steve Merksamer, who worked with Mr. Deukmejian as his gubernatorial chief of staff.
He described the former governor as “decent, humble and gracious” and someone who “demanded honesty and integrity.”
After he eliminated a $ 1.5 billion deficit, Mr. Deukmejian declared in a State of the State address that he had “taken California from I-O-U to A- OK .”
But his reputation for prudent fiscal management was based in part on the robust national economy of that time. In the final months of his administration, a nationwide economic slowdown eroded state tax receipts, leaving his successor, Pete Wilson, with a deficit greater than the one Mr. Deukmejian inherited from Democrat Jerry Brown during his first two terms as governor.
Brown, who returned to serve as governor in 2011, remembered Mr. Deukmejian as a popular governor who “made friends across the political aisle.”
Mr. Deukmejian led the largest prison expansion platform in state history. During his time in office, he brought the number of state prisons from 12 to 28.
His agenda included more things hewanted to stop than start.
“Some equate a visionary administration with the number of new massive and expensive government programs that are proposed,” he said in his second inaugural address in 1987. “We embrace the vision of our nation’s founders that only a limited government is compatible with liberty and democracy.”
The child of Armenian immigrants, Mr. Deukmejian was seen as a hero among young Armenians in politics, Khachigian said.
It was his family’s experience with the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I that helped inspire Mr. Deukmejian to back efforts to divest California’s pension funds and university system from companies doing business with South Africa during apartheid.
The move came a year after Mr. Deukmejian vetoed a less aggressive divestment bill and Democratic critics accused him of switching his position for political gain as he sought re- election.
Merksamer said Mr. Deukmejian’s act was deeply personal and recalled it as his “best moment” in their years working together.
“This was an act of enormous political courage,” he said.
Mr. Deukmejian’s anti- crime stance dated back to his days as a state senator from Long Beach, when he led the move to reinstate California’s death penalty.
Mr. Deukmejian drafted a 1977 law that legalized the death penalty in California. It passed in the Legislature, but then- Gov. Brown refused to sign it — so Mr. Deukmejian headed one of the few successful overrides of a governor’s veto in state history.
Deukmejian was born June 6, 1928, to Armenian immigrants in Menands, New York. He graduated from Siena College in 1949 with a degree in sociology then worked his way through St. John’s University, earning his law degree in 1952.
He later moved to California, where he met his wife, Gloria Saatjian, also the child of Armenian immigrants.