Once-Praised Vuich Now Rated Too Independent for Governor

The Capitol pendulum has come full swing for Sen. Rose Ann Vuich, a Democrat from the sleepy San Joaquin Valley farming village of Dinuba and the first woman elected to the California Senate.

In 1977, then-Sen. George Deukmejian, the Senate Republican leader, praised her as “an independent individual (who) is not going to be dictated to either by the governor’s office or by the leaders of the Legislature. We have concluded that every decision she makes is in an honest and independent fashion.”

But times do change.

Last week, usually circumspect senior assistants to Deukmejian unleashed an uncharacteristically angry attack on Vuich, now in her 12th year in the Legislature and running unopposed for a fourth term. In interviews, they made clear they were reflecting Deukmejian’s own animosity.

Harsh Characterization

One termed Vuich less than persona non grata while another labeled her an expedient politician who portrays herself as “an independent conservative” and an ally of Deukmejian, but who “is never there for us.”

At least in part, it stems from the Senate’s Feb. 27 refusal by a one-vote margin to confirm Deukmejian’s nomination of Rep. Daniel Lungren as state treasurer. Vuich and Sen. Quentin Kopp (Ind.-San Francisco) surprised the upper chamber when they voted “no” with the Democratic majority and handed a stinging political defeat to Deukmejian.

Consequently, Deukmejian aides say, Vuich should not be surprised if Deukmejian vetoes “close call” bills that she authors. Rarely does the governor allow his private anger to emerge in public and rarely does he threaten legislation in advance of receiving it.

The threat to Vuich by his aides, and also to Kopp, represented an extraordinary departure for Deukmejian.

Vuich is both a farmer and an accountant and is as strait-laced as the stereotypical school marm. She is generally regarded as a conservative Democrat and delights in keeping both Republicans and Democrats off balance on how she will vote.

Her political skin has toughened since the emotional day on Dec. 6, 1976, when she fought back tears as she was sworn in as the state’s firstwoman senator. She agrees that her relations with Deukmejian have been icy for the last two years since Deukmejian, in a Fresno speech to supporters of both him and Vuich, accused her of obstructing his controversial plan to construct a state prison near downtown Los Angeles.

At the time, she voiced both surprise and “disappointment” at the attack and told The Times, “I’ve always felt that I have been the best friend that the Duke has had in the Democratic Party in the Senate.”

But Vuich adds: “I vote for what I think is right for my district. I don’t remember my people telling me that I should listen to Gov. Jerry Brown tell me how to vote. I didn’t do it then and I don’t intend to do it with Duke or anybody else.”

Vuich’s name had appeared on both Republican and some Democratic lists as a likely “aye” vote for Lungren, but she steadfastly refused to divulge in advance how she would vote.

Kopp, on the other hand, had publicly indicated that he intended to support Lungren, reportedly even telling Lungren so. But, in what irate Republicans deplored as a political double-cross, Kopp told Deukmejian half an hour before the Lungren roll call that he would vote “no.”

Kopp’s vote infuriated Deukmejian and Vuich’s vote stoked up the old antagonism toward her stretching back to 1986 when she opposed building the Los Angeles prison, citing costs and contending that there were less expensive sites available.

“She is not persona non grata ,” gubernatorial Press Secretary Kevin Brett said of Vuich. “She is probably a step or two below that. There is a great deal of anger in the governor’s office and justified anger.”

Uncharacteristic Move

Kopp, he said, “has absolutely no influence in the governor’s office.”

Several days before the vote, Deukmejian took a step out of character and told reporters that he would be more kindly disposed to bills of lawmakers who supported Lungren. Later, an aide indicated there also was a flip side and Brett amplified on this last week.

“If there is a bill that needs to be signed, he is going to sign it,” Brett said. “If there is a close call, and someone like Kopp or Vuich wants the benefit of the doubt from the governor, they shouldn’t be surprised if their bills are vetoed.”

Vuich shrugged off the threat, asserting that she votes on the basis of what she thinks is best for her constituents. “If it upsets the governor, his Administration or the leadership in either of the two houses, I am sorry. But that is the way I base my votes,” she said.

Some Republican sources, who asked not to be identified, suggested that the publicly displayed anger swirling in Deukmejian’s office may be genuine enough but that it also may be used to shield embarrassment over what supporters and opponents of Lungren alike have criticized as an inept effort by Deukmejian to win Lungren’s confirmation.

Issue Before Court

Top aides have conceded that although they knew the vote would be close, they believed that Lungren would be approved by the Senate. The Democratic-dominated Assembly did confirm him and the issue is now before the state Supreme Court.

Never before elected to public office, Vuich won a tissue-thin upset victory in 1976 but went on in 1980 and in 1984 to overwhelm her opponents by margins of 72% and 76%, respectively. Republicans failed to field an opponent against her this year, but there is talk, encouraged by the governor’s staff, of finding someone to run as a write-in candidate.

Republican Pressure

“We would like to see a good strong Republican candidate go down there and make her defend her record in her district,” said Michael Frost, the governor’s chief of staff. “I’m sure the governor would be helpful to that candidate.”

Frost said that what particularly angers him and others is Vuich’s effort “to paint the picture that she is an independent conservative and votes with the governor on a lot of major issues. She is never there for us and never has been. . . . She’s with Roberti.”

As evidence, among other things, he cited a series of nine unsuccessful veto overrides in which she voted with majority Democrats. She also failed to support key nominees early in Deukmejian’s Administration who were denied Senate confirmation.

But he said that, based on reports from “friends of ours” in her conservative and agricultural Fresno and Tulare counties district, Vuich tells constituents in speeches “how helpful and supportive she is of the governor.”

For her part, Vuich points to the scores of gubernatorial nominees she has voted for and legislation she has carried for Deukmejian Administration departments. Frost counters that these are irrelevant because they were not contentious issues where one vote either way would determine the outcome.

“I shouldn’t be labeled by anyone as anti-Deukmejian,” she said, noting that recently she voluntarily spoke up at a confirmation hearing for Public Utilities Commissioner John Ohanian, a Fresno resident who she said feared he would be rejected. “I vote for what I think is right for my district.”

As for running a write-in candidate against Vuich, Senate Republican leader Ken Maddy of Fresno is dubious. “There is nothing to show that Rose Ann is personally weak,” he said, recalling that a potential GOP challenger dropped out only hours before the filing deadline March 11.

Governor’s Preference

Maddy said Deukmejian is anxious to install a Republican senator in Vuich’s seat, noting that Deukmejian received 70% of the vote in Vuich’s district in his 1986 campaign against Tom Bradley, the highest percentage vote he received in any Democratic senatorial district. (The district is 52.9% Democratic and 39.4% Republican).

In her district, Vuich still is as closely watched by her constituents even after 12 years in the Senate as she was during her first term. “How is Rose Ann doing?” is a question frequently asked of visitors from Sacramento.

Roberti said she is very popular in her district where “anything she does is gold.”

Spokesmen for Deukmejian contend--after the Lungren defeat in the Senate--that they never counted Vuich as an “aye” vote, although there was an audible gasp from Republicans and Democrats alike when she voted “no.”

Several days before the vote, Deukmejian had sent letters to senators inviting them to call him if they wanted to discuss Lungren. Critics on both sides of the aisle contend that Deukmejian should have made the calls to lawmakers and should not have waited for his telephone to ring.

“I felt that he needed my vote and if he had something to say to me he would have called me,” Vuich said later of Deukmejian. “But I am not saying that a phone call from the governor would have made a difference in my vote.”

One Senate source close to Vuich suggested, however, that a call from Deukmejian might have made the difference. “Had he called and said, ‘Let’s let bygones be bygones, I need you on this,’ there’s a very strong likelihood she would have voted for Lungren. George isn’t one for the soft touch.”