County’s Legislators Gaining Clout in Capitol

Orange County’s state legislative delegation received some choice committee assignments last week, but whether this will translate into specific legislative action on county problems, such as transportation and housing, remains in doubt.

For example, most county officials had hoped the chairmanship of the Assembly Transportation Committee would go to Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove). Indeed, some legislators say Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) promised the post to Robinson three months ago.

Instead, the chairmanship went to Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) after an extensive lobbying campaign by supporters of the Los Angeles-based Metrorail subway project and Los Angeles County transportation and business interests.

While all this might seem like inside baseball, Supervisor Bruce Nestande and other political game players agree it shows that Orange County still has a long way to go before it can go head to head with Los Angeles on issues important to both counties.

Robinson has been under fire from Speaker Brown since last May.

Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach) was named vice chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, but a vice chairmen typically does little more than preside over legislative hearings while the chairman is out of the room.

Robinson and county Republican Chairman Tom Fuentes said, however, that they believe the county’s Sacramento delegation did quite well, and at least has been given more of a chance to showcase its abilities.

For instance, Robinson was given the chairmanship of the Assembly Committee on Public Investments, Finance and Bonded Indebtedness, one of six new panels created by Brown to increase the number of posts he could spread around.

“It’s a major plum,” Robinson said. “It’s a high-visibility, broad-based committee that will have oversight on all publicly financed projects in California, including transportation, and membership includes the entire Assembly Democratic leadership. This committee will deal with the total infrastructure of the state.”

Other legislators agreed that Robinson could make the new committee one of the most important in Sacramento.

Robinson said he would be heavily involved in issues surrounding the financing of the planned highway through the San Joaquin Hills between Irvine and Laguna Beach, and that his committee will also have jurisdiction over the state’s $35-billion pension fund investments.

Another chairmanship went to Assemblyman Robert Frazee (R-Carlsbad), who will head the new Consumer Protection Committee.

Brown named Assemblymen Ross Johnson (R-La Habra), Dennis Brown (R-Long Beach, whose district includes part of Orange County) and John Lewis (R-Orange) to the influential Ways and Means Committee.

Vice chairmanships went to Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), Housing and Community Development; to Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Westminster), Water, Parks and Wildlife; to Dennis Brown, Revenue and Taxation; and to Johnson, Finance and Insurance.

“Orange County came out extremely well,” Lewis said. “I predicted that Orange County would fare well, and I think these assignments prove that I was right.”

In the state Senate, former Assemblywoman Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), a former school trustee and teacher, was named vice chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee by Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti (D-Los Angeles).

Meanwhile, Senate GOP Caucus Chairman John Seymour of Anaheim took the vice chairmanship of the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) was put on the Senate Governmental Organization Committee, which will handle bills involving the new state lottery.

An Inaugural Party for Those Not in Washington Orange County Republicans will celebrate President Reagan’s inauguration with dancing and entertainment--including bagpipe music--beginning Monday evening at 6 in the Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel, Costa Mesa.

Admission and parking are free; cocktails will be sold. County political figures will attend, and there will be television hookups, via satellite, to Reagan and to Orange County Republicans at the inaugural balls in Washington.

Nestande on the Move Toward Statewide Race Supervisor Bruce Nestande, who chairs the White House Inaugural Committee in California and who compiled the list of names of Californians invited to Washington, said he is close to signing a contract with a political fund-raising and consulting firm to manage his embryonic campaign for lieutenant governor.

Nestande would not name the consultant with whom he has been negotiating.

He said he is in the race “unless, at some future time, I become convinced that the money and the support is just not out there.”

Political observers say Nestande must run in 1986 if he is to take advantage of his strong White House ties for fund-raising and political help. Nestande’s public name-recognition is very low outside Orange County, but the state transportation commissioner and former state assemblyman is well known among political activists and campaign donors.

Other Republicans often mentioned as likely candidates include Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and State Sen. Ken Maddy, of Fresno.

Black Activist Seeks Party Controller Post Josh White, the Anaheim insurance salesman and black political activist, is running for Southern California state Democratic Party controller, despite the controversy surrounding his handling of money in the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign last year.

White came under fire for failing to turn over to Jackson campaign officials in Los Angeles the funds raised in Orange County, and for keeping what party officials called inadequate financial records.

Party officials said White has virtually no chance of winning the controller’s post at the state Democratic convention Saturday in Sacramento.

Meanwhile, unsuccessful state Assembly candidate Paul Broughton, a Yorba Linda teacher, is seeking to become state Democratic Party secretary.

Broughton, also an underdog, hopes to give Orange County some visibility because state party decision-making is dominated by political activists from Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove) acknowledged that his wife, Becky, has initiated divorce proceedings against him in Sacramento. Twice-divorced, Robinson said his wife was upset by his absence of nearly five months during his close and bitter but successful reelection battle. He said she told him, “I have to put my life together, and that doesn’t include the Legislature.”