‘Gang of Five’ Seen as Ungrateful Lover by ‘Hurt’ Speaker Brown

Comparing himself to a man who is used and then discarded by an ungrateful lover, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown said Tuesday that he feels “hurt” and “pained” by the actions of a dissident band of Democrats now challenging his leadership, but would welcome any of the “Gang of Five” back “home.”

Speaking to reporters one day after the rebel group forced to the floor a bill to expand use of the death penalty, Brown said he will not stand in the measure’s way, predicting that it will easily pass the Assembly. Nor, the Speaker said, would he try to block another measure sponsored by the dissidents to allow wiretapping of suspected drug dealers, even though he personally opposes it.

Resigned to the Facts

Apparently resigned to the notion that the dissidents will continue to join with Republicans to force votes on other controversial measures, Brown was calm, almost sanguine, as he delivered yet another jab at the rebels:

“I’m 54 years of age and I’ve been around much too long to be upset about those kinds of things. You understand that when you look through the crack in the door long enough, you’re going to see the hearse taking every one of your enemies to the cemetery.”

But in almost the same breath, Brown used personal terms to describe that he feels stabbed in the back by a group he once used his powers to promote.

Responding to the rebels’ recent assertions that his leadership is out of step with the public, Brown said, “Don’t suggest there was something wrong with me when you slept with me the first time.”

He also said, referring to his dissident Assembly colleagues: “When it comes to individual members of our family, it’s like your mother saying, ‘No, they made a mistake at the hospital. They gave me somebody else’s. Willie ain’t my boy.’ That hurts a little.”

Assemblyman Gary A. Condit of Ceres, speaking later for the dissidents, said he was “real surprised” that Brown was taking the challenge so personally. “It has nothing to do with personality and likes and dislikes, but public policy and the way the house has been operating,” Condit said.

Brown has been sparring openly with the five dissidents--Condit, Rusty Areias of Los Banos, Charles M. Calderon of Alhambra, Gerald R. Eaves of Rialto and Steve Peace of Chula Vista--since they began teaming up with the GOP to yank bills from committees over the objections of the Assembly’s Democratic leadership.

By and large those bills have either been killed in committees or blocked from reaching the floor. The rebel Democrats blame Brown who, they say, has packed the committees with a core of “urban liberals.”

Hands Are Clean

Referring to the death penalty bill, which is expected to come to a floor vote on Thursday, Brown said he never pressured committee members into killing the measure in the Public Safety Committee, where it recently died. The legislation, introduced by Assemblyman Bill Bradley (R-San Marcos), would allow imposition of the death penalty on those who murder anyone under the age of 14. At present, the age of a victim is not included among the “special circumstances” that can be used to justify imposing the death penalty.

Brown said he believes as many as 50 of the Assembly’s 80 members will vote for the bill.

The legislation was brought to the floor in a maneuver that Brown in the past has characterized as a direct assault on the committee system and his own leadership.

But on Tuesday, in the face of what appeared to be the inevitable, Brown said the dissidents were acting appropriately under the rules of the Assembly.

But on a personal level, Brown insisted that he misses contact with several of the dissidents with whom he said he developed “relationships that were cherished.”

“There is a dispute and it’s a legitimate dispute,” Brown said. “But it’s not a dispute where I would feel uncomfortable tomorrow going back to Rusty Areias’ house, as I’ve done on several occasions, hanging out with Rusty Areias’ dad, as I’ve done, his two or three sisters or hosting Rusty in San Francisco.”

Brown expressed hope that “there is someway, frankly, for them to get back home. Or maybe the Gang of Five will get religion and come back to the fold and embrace goodness.”