Flood Control, Road Measures Hit Snag : Robinson Sidelines Transportation Bill

Political squabbling has led to a surprise roadblock to legislation that would create a new local transportation fund for Orange County.

Democratic Assemblyman Richard Robinson, who sits on the Assembly Transportation Committee, where the measure by state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) faces its next test, said Wednesday that he will try to defeat the bill unless substantial changes are made.

Robinson’s opposition could deal a crushing blow to the legislation, which would allow $9 million in annual interest on funds set aside for rapid transit projects to be spent on local roads and other transportation projects.

Seen as Local Issue

Although it constitutes a major policy shift, the measure had been viewed in Sacramento as a purely local issue since it affected only Orange County.

For that reason, Robinson’s support could be crucial to the bill’s survival because legislators almost always follow the lead of local representatives on issues that affect only their constituents.

Three other Orange County legislators--Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) and Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach)--are also on the Transportation Committee. But Democrats outnumber Republicans on the panel 9 to 6.

The vote was scheduled for Wednesday but was postponed until next week after Robinson raised objections.

Robinson, a Democrat from Santa Ana, said his major concern is that the county’s urban core, which he represents, will not get its “fair share” of the money unless a formula guaranteeing it is written into Seymour’s bill.

But he acknowledged in an interview that he also is angered that some Republican legislators and city council members engineered last month’s successful ouster of Santa Ana Mayor Daniel Griset from the boards of the Orange County Transportation Commission (OCTC) and the Orange County Transit District (OCTD).

Came Up With Idea

Ironically, Griset was among county transportation officials who came up with the idea of tapping interest from the transit account. But the idea was quickly embraced by the county’s anti-transit conservatives.

Griset, 40, had been mentioned as a potential challenger to Congressman Robert Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

Several city council members who voted for Tustin Councilman Richard Edgar to replace Griset as Orange County’s representative on the two key transportation panels expressed fears that Griset would use the posts he had held since 1981 as a platform to run for higher office.

Echoing council members who backed Griset in his bid to retain the posts, Robinson said the transportation panels “should not be partisan.”

” . . . I’m not going to further the partisanship,” added Robinson, who authored legislation creating the county Transportation Commission.

“But I think it is fair to say that my insistence on a formula (for allocating money in the new transportation fund) would not be there had not the Republicans made the commission a partisan tool.”

Supporters Surprised

Robinson’s threatened opposition surprised supporters of Seymour’s bill. Seymour had expected no opposition to the bill and did not attend the scheduled hearing.

Robinson said he has had no conversations with Griset concerning his reservations about the bill.

The bill, which had passed the Senate in May without a single “no” vote, would have been approved without discussion or debate had Robinson not raised objections.

The Transit District, which under current law gets one-fourth cent from each $1 of state sales tax revenues, has accumulated about $85 million, which is set aside for future rapid transit development. Seymour’s bill would allow the interest from that money, about $9 million annually, to be spent on transportation projects other than public transit.

With the overwhelming defeat last year of Proposition A, a proposed sales tax increase to finance transportation projects, OCTD officials have scaled back their ambitious plans for a 38-mile light rail line through central Orange County.

Opposition Linchpin

Opposition to the light rail line was a keystone in the campaign against Proposition A.

OCTC Executive Director Stan Oftelie said the county’s cities already have begun discussions on how money in the new fund should be spent. He said there is a general consensus that half of the money should be spent on freeways and half spent on streets ands roads, mainly in central Orange County cities.

But Oftelie said he did not know if that arrangement would satisfy Robinson. And he said he had not discussed any potential amendments to the bill with either Seymour or the commission’s Sacramento lobbyist.

Times staff writer Kim Murphy contributed to this story.