Brown to Assign ‘Gang of Five’ to Benign Posts

Members of the rebellious “Gang of Five” Assembly Democrats, who were stripped of influential committee posts for challenging Speaker Willie Brown, will be assigned to new committees where they cannot “do damage,” Brown said Wednesday.

Brown left open when the new assignments would be made, but, in an apparent peace offering, he said the dissidents would become members of regular Assembly standing committees, rather than research or so-called special committees that wield little clout.

However, “they will be appointed to committees where they cannot do damage,” Brown told a press conference.

Over the last few weeks, Brown has punished the five by firing them as committee chairmen and dismissing them as members of other committees. In addition, they lose staff members and must relocate to smaller and more cramped offices in the Capitol.

The “Gang of Five” has staged a series of strikes at Brown’s leadership, including seeking to restrict his authority to discipline opponents. They maintain, among other things, that important legislation favored by Republicans and conservative Democrats, such as themselves, is left to die by Brown and his more liberal supporters.

The maverick Democrats infuriated Brown when they joined with minority Republicans to approve legislation to require that prostitutes be tested for AIDS and to outlaw the sale of pornography from vending machines at sites frequented by youngsters.

While disclosing that the dissidents, who also call themselves the “Five Amigos,” would receive new committee assignments, Brown indicated he is not finished with one, Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Alhambra), who remains a member of two committees--Human Services and Public Employees.

Asked why Calderon didn’t lose all his committees as did the others, Brown replied: “Probably a mistake.” Brown said he had not found time to deal fully with Calderon, and told reporters, “so just wait.”

Brown, who previously has denied that he was punishing the five, told reporters Wednesday he took the action because other members of the Assembly were “tired of the antics and the tactics” of the self-styled gang.

In addition to Calderon, the “Gang of Five” includes Assemblymen Gerald R. Eaves of Rialto, Rusty Areias of Los Banos, Gary A. Condit of Ceres and Steve Peace of Chula Vista.