While polls attributed Davis's declining popularity to the energy and budget problems, some newspaper articles and commentators have identified other issues that limited his effectiveness and political appeal. Davis, a moderate, had some disagreements with the more liberal Democratic-controlled Legislature. Democrat John L. Burton, the leader of the California State Senate, was Davis's chief antagonist. In 2003, Republican leader Jim Brulte told The Los Angeles Times that Davis lacked the basics of political collegiality to pull him through hard times. "I never felt I got to know him ... I always felt a little sorry for him".