DAVIS DENIES INFLUENCING DRUG TRAFFICKER'S PARDON

Clinton Commuted Sentence Of Campaign Contributor's Son

WASHINGTON -- California Gov. Gray Davis on Sunday joined a growing chorus
from the Democratic Party in criticizing former President Clinton for
several controversial last-minute pardons while himself denying any
involvement in one.

The father of convicted cocaine trafficker Carlos Vignali gave Davis at
least $25,000 in campaign contributions. Clinton's commutation of Vignali's
prison sentence has been among the most scrutinized.

Appearing on NBC's ``Meet the Press,'' Davis said ``a legitimate inquiry''
into the pardons by Congress and the Justice Department ``may make some
sense,'' but the country must move on after those inquiries.

Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives have launched
inquiries into some of the 140 pardons and 36 commutations Clinton issued
in his final hours in office. The major focus is on the pardon of fugitive
Marc Rich, whose ex-wife was a major donor to Democratic causes.

``I think some of those pardons were a mistake and I think most people
believe that,'' Davis said. ``Clearly there's something about them in
general that doesn't ring right.''

Several other top Democrats have criticized Clinton for some of the
pardons, including former President Jimmy Carter.

But Davis declined to specifically criticize Clinton's decision to commute
Vignali's sentence. Vignali's father, Horacio, is a Los Angeles businessman
who held a fundraiser for Davis last year. Davis said on ``Meet the Press''
that the elder Vignali ``never brought it up, never asked me to intervene,
never did. All I know about this matter is what I read in the paper.''

Later, at the winter meeting of the Democratic Governors Association in
Washington, D.C., Davis told the Mercury News that nobody ever asked him to
solicit the Clinton White House -- with which he had a close relationship
- -- and that he never talked to anyone at the White House about commuting
Carlos Vignali's sentence.

``No, I was not asked to. I didn't,'' Davis said.

Horacio Vignali for several years has made political connections in hopes
of securing a pardon for his son, who served six years of a 15-year prison
sentence for cocaine trafficking before walking out of prison Jan. 20 after
Clinton officially commuted his sentence. Several California politicians
wrote to the White House in support of Vignali's pardon, including Assembly
Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, and two current candidates for mayor
of Los Angeles, Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, and former Assembly
Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, also a Democrat.

Davis added that he never in his career has written a letter to solicit a
pardon or ask a judge or other law enforcement official to grant anyone
special consideration. ``I don't think it's appropriate for me to do unless
it's someone I know intimately well like a member of my family. I've never
had occasion to do it and I have no place for it,'' Davis told the Mercury
News.

Last week, Assemblyman Ken Maddox, R-Garden Grove, said Davis should return
campaign contributions from Horacio Vignali in order to be consistent with
the governor's history of being against illegal drugs and tough on crime.
Davis was not asked about returning the contributions on Sunday, and his
office could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, Davis told the Mercury News that negotiations to buy the
transmission lines of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. were moving forward.
``We're making progress. They're more complicated because the debt is
substantially bigger than Southern California Edison.''

The state announced an agreement with Southern California on Friday to
purchase that utility's portion of the transmission lines as part of a deal
to help solve the state's electricity crisis and bail out the financially
troubled utilities.

On ``Meet the Press,'' Davis said he expected California to get through the
summer without blackouts if Californians cut back energy use by 10 percent
and with ``a little luck in getting some extra megawatts on line this summer.''