Editing Gray Davis (section)

==State Controller==
[[File:Gray Davis, Shelly Duvall, Morgan Fairchild and Alan Cranston, 1986.jpg|thumb|Davis with [[Shelley Duvall]], U.S. Senator [[Alan Cranston]], and [[Morgan Fairchild]] in 1986.]]
In 1986, Davis ran against six other contenders in the race for [[California State Controller|State Controller]]; several of those candidates, including Democrat [[John Garamendi]] and Republican [[William Campbell (California politician)|Bill Campbell]], were arguably better known at the time.<ref name="survival"/> Davis won the election and served as State Controller for eight years until 1995. As California's chief fiscal officer, he saved taxpayers more than half a billion dollars by cracking down on Medi-Cal fraud, rooting out government waste and inefficiency and exposing the misuse of public funds.<ref name="Smart">{{cite web | url=http://www.smartvoter.org/2002/11/05/ca/state/vote/davis_g/bio.html |title=Full Biography for Davis | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930180527/http://www.smartvoter.org/2002/11/05/ca/state/vote/davis_g/bio.html |archive-date=2007-09-30 |website=League of Women Voters of California |access-date=September 7, 2007 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}</ref> He was the first controller to withhold paychecks from all state elected officials, including himself, until the governor and the Legislature passed an overdue budget. He also found and returned more than $1.8 billion in unclaimed property to California citizens, including forgotten bank accounts, insurance settlements and stocks.<ref name="Smart"/>