Brown Aide Takes Leave; Ran Losing Campaigns

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) on Thursday granted a leave of absence to Richard Ross, his chief of staff and top political operative who directed losing Democratic campaigns in more than half a dozen key Assembly races in last month’s general election.

As a result of the losses, the Republicans picked up three new seats and Brown’s Democratic majority in the lower house dipped from 47-33 to 44-36 over the Republicans.

Brown said that Ross, 37, a one-time organizer for farm labor leader Cesar Chavez, was taking an indefinite leave of absence as his chief of staff, effective immediately. There was no announcement of who his replacement would be in the $74,460-a-year position.

Regarded as a master political strategist, Ross left the state payroll early in the year to run the legislative campaigns on behalf of the Speaker. Ross’ public relations firm, however, was paid thousands of dollars for its campaign services.

“Political campaigning is too tough and too sophisticated to rely on street smarts,” Brown said in a statement, adding that Ross plans to sharpen his campaigning skills by studying at the Stanford Research Institute.

“Ross wants to dedicate some time to ‘self-study’ in an effort to master the skills of his craft,” Brown’s statement said.

“I ran better campaigns in 1986 than in 1984 or in 1982,” Ross said in a statement issued by the Speaker’s office. “But the results are irrefutable. The campaigns deteriorated faster than I improved.”

When he was at the top of his political success several years ago, Ross said, “In this business, winning is everything. All excess is forgiven in victory, and all virtue is forgotten in defeat.”

Over the years, Ross has been criticized for his reliance on negative campaign tactics and his use, with Brown’s consent, of campaign-mail “hit pieces.”

In previous elections, the strategy was largely successful, and Ross chalked up a mostly winning campaign record. During the 1986 campaign, however, in addition to losing several races that had seemed winnable, he drew even heavier flak than usual for the negative tactics.

Earlier this week, even Brown charged that “voter turnout turned to voter turnoff” in November’s election because of negative campaigning.

He called on his Assembly colleagues to voluntarily subscribe to a personal code of conduct to reduce negative campaigning in the 1988 elections.

Perhaps Ross’ most serious loss was in the 54th Assembly District in southeast Los Angeles County, where in spite of a Democratic voter registration edge over the GOP of more than 2 to 1, Republican Lakewood City Councilman Paul E. Zeltner defeated Democrat Edward K. Waters, son of Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), a member of Brown’s inner circle.

Edward Waters spent more than $800,000, most of it supplied by his mother and Brown, in the losing effort.

Ross also coordinated the unsuccessful campaign of Assemblyman Louis J. Papan (D-Millbrae), a close Brown ally who lost to independent San Francisco Supervisor Quentin Kopp in a race for an open state Senate seat.