Although a baptized Episcopalian, I'm not a regular church-goer -- at least since my days as an acolyte and since the occasional masses that my Catholic high school required everyone to attend. But once a year I give in and go with my family to a midnight mass on Christmas Eve. I can never keep my eyes open -- and this year was no exception. Call it boredom or a lack of interest, I simply can never stay awake in church.

Enter the Sunday night Celebration service at the First Covenant Church in Sacramento. I attended for the first time last night -- and managed to stay awake throughout the entire service. With a lively ensemble of guitar-toting leaders on stage at the front of the building, it would be difficult for anyone to doze off. Never before had I seen a group of young people so energetic about praising God. Mainly college students -- a few of whom brought their parents and grandparents along -- filled the standing-room-only chapel for the night of enthusiastic singing and praying. To think that every young person in attendance was there by choice is truly amazing.

What good news for those who think that the so-called "Generation Xers" represent nothing but corruption and debauchery in our society. Apparently there are plenty of us who care about more than keg parties after all.

-Gabe

(If you're in Sacramento and interested in First Covenant, you'll find it at 9000 La Riviera Drive -- near Highway 50 and Watt Avenue.)

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Labor had its own agenda, of course. It rightly viewed Proposition 226 on the June ballot as a death knell for its ability to wield political clout. It took out all the stops to defeat that measure, and in the process helped Davis immensely. Then, as November loomed, labor hung together to back Davis.

Now they are coming to the Capitol to collect. Not only in money, but in jobs and influence in his administration. And Davis is delivering.

Already, their presence is being felt, even before he takes the oath of office. The state employee unions, without a pay hike for their rank-and-file for three years, are clamoring for a pay hike. They are all but certain to get it, probably in the neighborhood of a 3 percent to 5 percent increase. Davis' newly appointed Finance Department director, Tim Gage, suggested as much recently, although he didn't provide details.

It is clear that the pay increase issue is a thorny one for Davis. He faces a $1 billion-plus budget shortage in his first year in office. But he is committed to finding some money for a salary hike, in part to make good on his campaign statements that state workers deserve to share in the state's economic prosperity and in part because he needs to keep labor happy; he will need their help again in 2002 when he runs for re-election.

Davis acted out of the thinly veiled threats of state workers' unions who said they would picket his inaugural unless he promised to deliver on pay increases. Clearly, Davis got the hint.

The more than 2 million unionized workers in the private sector also see Davis as a bulwark against binding arbitration and in support of overtime after an eight-hour day. Even the prison guards -- in the most dramatic support of Davis. That action reflected the growth of the correctional officers' union from handmaiden to tough-on-crime Republicans to a pragmatic labor union seeking the most sympathetic ear for its membership.

The powerful teachers unions, too, backed Davis and they are watching his transition team closely. Davis' appointment of former state Sen. Gary Hart as his top education adviser raised some alarms: Hart was instrumental in pushing through the charter-school legislation when he was in the Senate, much to the displeasure of many teachers.

Key administration positions are going to people with close labor ties, and more such appointments are certain to be announced in the coming weeks. For 16 years, the unions have been faced with governors who were anti-labor and their pent-up frustrations are going to be placed at Davis' door. Davis expects this. The question is, can he keep them happy?

Thus far, they seem to be content. But he hasn't even taken office yet and much can happen in 1999. The first big test Davis will face is the pay hike for state workers. How much he approves, and how he communicates that decision to the public will go far in establishing his credentials for his first term. It is likely that Gage's first marching order is to craft a pay raise within the framework of the budget shortage.

That will take some fancy footwork.

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