persuaded the attending Republican delegates to refuse Pardee renomination, instead handing the nomination to the railroad-friendly Gillett. In response to their support, Gillett promised the Southern Pacific waterfront patronage. The denying of Pardee's renomination caused immediate controversy and outrage. Pardee, due to his efficient bureaucracy and direction of the state government's response to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, remained an enormously popular politician. His replacement by Gillett, a Railroad Republican, caused anger both in the press and within political circles. The San Francisco Call printed a photograph taken at the convention's end of Gillett among top party bosses entitled "the Shame of California." Gillett's nomination by special interests would fuel calls for a direct primary law in the state. Despite his highly controversial nomination, Gillett would win the governorship in the 1906 general elections, defeating Democrat Theodore A. Bell, Socialist Austin Lewis, Prohibitionist James H. Blanchard, and William Langdon of the Independence League. Langdon's strong third place showing of 14.4% sapped votes away from both the popular contenders Gillett and Bell, yet enough to tip the balance in Gillett's favor. Following his successful election, Gillett resigned from his U.S. House seat. Governorship Inaugurated on January 9, 1907, as the 22nd Governor of California Gillett's agenda included the construction of more transcontinental railroads between California and the East. In addition, Gillett, like his predecessor Pardee, encouraged the California State Legislature to debate the direct primary, though remained vague on his support for any such law. Gillett also included within his agenda the expansion of harbors, especially in the case of the Port of San Francisco following the 1906 firestorm, to keep up with the state's expanding commerce and ongoing population boom. Gillett also pushed bills through the Legislature to create state measures assisting federal food safety laws, particularly for the expanding fruit and California wine industries. During his governorship, Gillett encouraged and signed laws to reform state parole guidelines, assisting prisoners to more quickly reform themselves and return as productive members of society. In 1907, he signed landmark amendments to the state's Poison Act prohibiting the sale of opium and cocaine except by a doctor's prescription, setting the stage for the state Board of Pharmacy to launch an aggressive crackdown on narcotics and Chinese smoking opium seven years before the Harrison Act. In 1909, Gillett passed the state's first eugenics law, making it legal for state officials to sterilize mental patients