Democrats May Use Lungren OK to Strike Bargains With Governor

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown suggested Tuesday that Democrats in the Assembly would try to use the confirmation of treasurer-nominee Daniel E. Lungren as a bargaining chip to win Gov. George Deukmejian’s support for their own legislative agenda.

The San Francisco Democrat said at a press conference that if Deukmejian runs into trouble trying to get the Long Beach congressman confirmed and needs the Speaker’s “special assistance,” he might persuade fellow Democrats “to let the governor have his way on this one if the governor is willing to do some good public policy.”

Brown specifically mentioned expanded programs to combat AIDS and support for public education--particularly retention of so-called categorical programs such as bilingual instruction--as the kinds of issues that may come into play in the confirmation hearings, scheduled to begin Monday.

Conjuring up the image of Lungren as a lever for Democratic goals, Brown said with a grin, “Mr. Lungren may be the biggest advocate of retention of categorical programs.”

Later, Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) said “it would have to be a pretty good bargain” for Democrats to drop possible objections to Lungren and confirm him.

By confirming Lungren, Roberti said, Democrats would be creating a potential Republican political star who then could go on to defeat Democrats for high office, including the governorship.

“California is a media state,” Roberti said. “Who we elect and who we put in high office or who we confirm dictates in so many ways what the policies for the future are going to be.”

Roberti added that Democrats feel the treasurer’s office, occupied by Democrat Jesse M. Unruh for 13 years until his death Aug. 4, “rightly has been the province of Democrats” and they should not be expected to “serve (it) on a silver platter” to a conservative Republican. On the other hand, he said, a “technician or somebody who is open to our point of view” would have been acceptable to Democrats.

“To expect us on something as important as statewide confirmation just to ignore everything we believe in, everything we’ve fought for, everything we ran for election ourselves on is a ridiculously tall order,” Roberti said.

A top aide to the governor dismissed the talk of bargaining over Lungren as “posturing” and added, “You’d think they’d know how to deal with Gov. Deukmejian by now. If they want to end the ‘detente’ we had at the end of last year, this is a good way to do it.”

With Deukmejian set to deliver his State of the State address today and then unveil his budget proposal the next morning, Tuesday’s back-to-back press conferences by Brown and Roberti constituted the Democrats’ best attempt to lay out their own agenda for the coming session.

Both leaders indicated Tuesday that they want to continue the more cordial relationship with Deukmejian that began in 1987 after years of feuding. “As Democrats we underestimated this governor year in and year out and I don’t intend to proceed down that road,” Brown declared.

Critical Issues

However, 1988 also is an election year for all members of the Assembly and half the Senate’s membership. And both leaders appeared ready to go to battle over several issues they believe could be critical in those races. These include:

- Cal/OSHA--Roberti vowed to push legislation or a ballot initiative to reinstate Cal/OSHA, the state’s worker safety program, which Deukmejian eliminated last year with his veto. Courts have ruled against the governor but he has appealed to the state Supreme Court.

- Transportation--Brown said Assembly Democrats would line up behind legislation to place on the June ballot a $3.3-billion revenue bond issue for streets, highways and mass transit projects. Brown said gasoline taxes or fees would have to be increased to retire the bonds. But Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), the author, said no gas tax increase would be required and that the bonds would be repaid by earmarking part of existing gas tax receipts.

- AIDS--Both Democratic leaders promised to wage a legislative war against AIDS, including requiring education about the deadly disease in grades 7 through 12. Additionally, Brown said it was important for the Senate to pass a bill already approved by the Assembly that would carry out recommendations of the U.S. surgeon general, including creation of a major commission to develop a comprehensive policy to cope with AIDS.

- Schools--Brown said Assembly Democrats will insist that categorical programs frowned upon by Deukmejian, including urban impact aid to inner city schools, receive more funds in line with cost-of-living increases. Another such program, bilingual instruction, no longer comes under state regulation as the result of Assembly Republican opposition to extending it into the 1990s.

Little Opposition

The idea of Democrats using Lungren as a lever to win Deukmejian’s support for their programs could well be hollow, because only a handful of lawmakers so far have indicated that they oppose his confirmation. The main issue that has surfaced thus far is Lungren’s disputed civil rights voting record, particularly his opposition to paying reparations to Japanese-Americans who were locked up in camps during World War II.

Even Brown conceded that no more than five or six members of the Assembly have expressed a view on Lungren and “four or five people with impressions or opinions do not in fact make 41 votes,” the simple majority needed to reject Lungren’s appointment in the Assembly.

However, Roberti said if a Senate vote were taken now on confirmation, Lungren would fail. But Roberti cautioned that “minds are not made up.”

Both legislative leaders relished the fact that the Legislature had been given new powers by courts to shape the state budget in its own Democratic image.

Question of Authority

In two recent rulings, the Deukmejian-dominated state Supreme Court and the state 1st District Court of Appeal held that the governor had overstepped his constitutional authority in using his line-item veto to eliminate entire programs--including Cal/OSHA--that were authorized by the Legislature. The Deukmejian Administration is appealing the Cal/OSHA decision.

For years, lawmakers have chafed over a governor’s ability to blue-pencil their pet programs. But now, with the new court rulings, Roberti said “the power equation” will be tipped away from the governor.

Both Roberti and Brown said that in refashioning the governor’s proposed state budget this year, they intend to use the “new tools” that the courts have given them.