A BIG PRISON PAYCHECK

Maybe it's time to install a payment window in the governor's office.
Consider the raises that Gov. Gray Davis approved for the state's prison
guards.

On Jan. 16, he signed a 34 percent pay increase for the correctional
officers, raising pay from $50,000 to $65,000 per guard over the four- year
contract. Then, just over two weeks ago, he collected a campaign donation
of $251,000 from the officers' union.

It follows a familiar and dismaying pattern for both sides. Davis, a
nonstop fund-raiser, gets a step closer to a $30 million war chest for his
re-election drive.

The union shows its thanks for raises that put correctional officers on a
par with big-city police. The new contract totals $1 billion over four years.

It's a bargain that will please the main players, but few others. The state
faces a $17 billion deficit, and these raises can only incite other state
workers to push for more, too.

Guards deserve a decent wage. But the size of these wages put them beyond
most teachers, for example. Also, correctional officers receive less
training than other law enforcement and live in lower-cost rural areas
where most prisons are located.

Voters favor anti-crime measures and prison bonds. But this sentiment
shouldn't be an excuse for labor pacts of this size. Budgets for drug
treatment and job training will suffer.

Both sides will deny the obvious politics of this deal. A spokesman for
Davis notes that past governors have received hefty donations from the
guards' union.

That may be true. But Davis has gone the extra mile. Along with signing the
pay raises, he also plans to close five private prisons, which the union
regards as a low-wage rival.

This brand of flagrant deal-making is public policy at its worst. Davis has
rejected leadership for partisan gain.