Tough Fighter in Assembly : Margolin Has Tenacity, Light Touch

At a recent dinner for legislators, Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles) jokingly tried to enlist the support of California First Lady Gloria Deukmejian for his controversial bill requiring a deposit on beverage containers.

Margolin lightheartedly suggested that the Deukmejian family beagles--Sniffer, Berry and Pup--could benefit from the bill because it would reduce the broken glass littering parks and sidewalks.

Margolin’s banter allowed him to gently underscore his point, another guest at the dinner said.

Indeed, the two-term lawmaker has earned a reputation for using humor in a disarming fashion. One colleague went so far as to describe him as the “Woody Allen of the California Legislature.”

Backs the Unpopular

But Margolin, who came of age politically in the protest years of the 1960s, also is known for his persistence and willingness to back liberal and often unpopular causes. A case in point is the bottle bill.

Bottle bills have been proposed at least 14 times in the past 20 years without clearing either house of the Legislature, and in 1982 California voters rejected Proposition 11, a bottle deposit measure.

Margolin said the proposal’s legacy of rejection is “part of the challenge of this process--taking a controversial issue like this and forcing the Legislature to confront it.”

In fact, Margolin was sought to carry the bottle bill because supporters wanted a lawmaker who would be “relentless,” said Josiah Beeman, who has known Margolin for 20 years and is the lobbyist for Californians Against Waste, which is pushing the bill.

‘A Tough Adversary’

“Burt’s a tough adversary,” conceded A. E. Davis, lobbyist for glass and can trade associations opposed to the bottle bill. But he predicted eventual defeat for the proposal, which he criticized as part of the “liberal activists’ agenda.”

The bill was approved by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee by a 7-5 margin. But Margolin has conceded that rounding up 41 votes for passage by the full Assembly may be harder, and he may delay a vote until next year.

The bill would require a deposit of at least a nickel for plastic or glass containers of soft drinks, beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages.

In the bill, Margolin argues that “the increasing use of disposable beverage containers imposes enormous and unjustified costs on local governments for municipal solid-waste handling and litter control.”

Examined Track Record

Before agreeing to introduce the measure, Margolin said, he reviewed the experience of the eight other states with bottle laws and determined that the laws had increased recycling and decreased litter.

Lobbyist Davis contends, however, that Margolin “was leaned on hard and heavy” by a coalition of environmental groups to introduce the bill “without checking the other side.”

Although Davis concedes that litter has been reduced in some states with similar laws, he said that is only because of increased government spending for cleanup. Furthermore, he said, the price of beer and soft drinks has risen in those states because of the extra cost of handling empty containers, and jobs for skilled container makers have been reduced.

The Republican Assembly Caucus has assailed the Margolin bill as “one more measure in the perennial attempt to interject government into private enterprise.”

Seldom Criticized

Although Margolin’s positions often are attacked by conservatives, he is seldom criticized personally.

For example, Assemblyman Larry Stirling (R-San Diego) said, “He’s fair, except on law enforcement issues he’s Mr. Liberal.”

Stirling, a conservative who is chairman of the Criminal Law and Public Safety Committee, of which Margolin is vice chairman, often finds himself at odds with Margolin as they review anti-crime legislation.

He asserted that Margolin supports the American Civil Liberties Union position on bills “95% of the time.” In Stirling’s mind that “is not a balanced view,” since, in his view, it causes more delays and roadblocks in prosecuting and sentencing criminals.

Position on Crime

Margolin, however, said he shouldn’t automatically be pegged as a liberal.

“People from the ‘60s,” he said, “have to be hardheaded enough to recognize that there are people out there who don’t belong in the streets and who are a danger to us all.

“And, if I’m persuaded that there is an additional type of crime that needs to be created or a sentence is inadequate, I’ll vote for the bill.”

But, he cautioned, “I’m not going to vote for every proposal brought to me because it has the label ‘anti-crime measure.’ ”

Despite their differences, Stirling said he regards Margolin as a person of high integrity.

“His approach is sort of refreshing,” said Gerald Meral, a lobbyist for the League of Conservation Voters and a former deputy director of the state Department of Water Resources. “With Burt, we talk more about the merits than his political problems.”

But, on June 7, Margolin found himself in the spotlight when he told The Times that the FBI and the Orange County district attorney were investigating an allegedly laundered campaign contribution he received from fireworks manufacturer W. Patrick Moriarty.

Returned Moriarty Donation

Margolin returned the $7,500 donation in May, 1982, as soon as he learned the donor had ties to the fireworks industry. Of the half-dozen lawmakers who received the donations, Margolin was the only one to return his before the election.

Margolin, who has successfully helped sponsor anti-fireworks legislation, later said, “I don’t want anyone to have a misunderstanding about the standards I apply to campaign fund-raising.”

Margolin, 34, was elected to the 45th District seat in 1982 with the backing of the political organization of Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and Howard L. Berman (D-Studio City).

Democratic Edge

The district, which has a 2-1 Democratic registration edge, includes parts of North Hollywood, Studio City, Burbank, Los Feliz and West Hollywood, and the Pico-Robertson area, Fairfax, Hollywood and Laurel Canyon.

Margolin, who was born in Chattanooga, Tenn., grew up in West Los Angeles and attended Hamilton High School and UCLA.

His career was set when he was in high school and attended his first political meeting--a session to organize Waxman’s first run for the Assembly.

It led to a personal and political friendship between Margolin and Waxman, who went on to serve three terms in the Assembly. After Waxman’s election to Congress in 1974, Margolin served as his chief of staff. Margolin also worked as an assistant to Berman when Berman was in the Assembly.

In the 1960s, Margolin became active in the State Federation of Young Democrats and demonstrated against the Vietnam War. After protesting the war, Margolin said, it “was unthinkable that you could be involved without having some philosophical orientation that you really deeply cared about.”

Influenced by Rabbi

Margolin said his views also were influenced by Rabbi Albert M. Lewis of Temple Isaiah in West Los Angeles, whose sermons frequently related questions of social justice, such as civil rights, to religion.

Margolin’s own concern with social issues has spilled over into his legislative program. A member of the Health Committee, he has introduced a number of bills to expand health care services, especially to the poor.

Margolin said many bills have only a marginal effect on people’s lives, but in health care “you’re literally fighting battles that have a life-or-death consequence for the poorest people in our society.”

Margolin last year pushed a bill that was signed into law to provide a comprehensive program of pregnancy services for low-income women.

Margolin said he sought the measure because legislative and social “priorities have focused on developing emergency techniques to save small, sick babies rather than funding prevention strategies to reduce the number of small, sick newborns.”

Effort to Block Dam

In another case, Margolin has had a degree of success even though the bill he is backing has not been approved by lawmakers.

For two years, he has carried a measure to block a dam from being built by the East Bay Municipal Utility District on the Mokelumne River in Calaveras County and preserve a three-mile stretch of river for recreation.

The measure stalled in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee last year, but Margolin reintroduced it this year. He has shelved the measure until 1986 because he could not get the votes on the committee.

In the meantime, however, the Northern California utility has backed away from building the dam, in part because of the cost and the threat posed by Margolin’s bill, an East Bay spokesman said.