Gang of 5 Fails in 2nd Attempt to Oust Brown

For the second time in less than a week, a group of rebel assemblymen, led by Democratic dissenters who call themselves the “Gang of Five,” tried but failed Monday to topple embattled Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.

In contrast to last week, however, when the language of the day was polite political rhetoric, Monday’s debate was characterized by vitriol. Gang of Five members were accused of being “power-hungry opportunists,” and one of the five lashed out at Brown for parliamentary maneuvers that Assemblyman Charles M. Calderon (D-Alhambra) called “political pig Latin.”

At one point, while most Democrats and Republicans were huddling privately in party meetings, Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra) broke off an interview with reporters on the Assembly floor to angrily tell Gang of Five member Steve Peace (D-Chula Vista), standing only a few feet away: “You’re a hypocrite and a phony and I’m up to here with it.”

The Assembly was taken by surprise Monday when Calderon moved to vacate the Speaker’s chair. Both Democrats and Republicans promptly went into closed-door meetings for more than an hour to decide what to do next.

When they returned, Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) moved to amend the motion to designate GOP leader Pat Nolan of Glendale as the new Speaker.

The amendment passed by a 28-10 vote with the Gang of Five and five Republicans voting no. The five GOP votes included Assemblyman Bill Jones (R-Fresno), who reportedly is unhappy with Nolan’s leadership.

The amended motion to vacate the chair then lost by a 35-37 straight party line vote, with Republicans voting yes and Democrats voting no. The Gang of Five abstained because they did not want to vote for a Republican Speaker.

As the power struggle over the speakership has cast a shadow over Brown’s leadership, it also appears to have slowed the day-to-day work of the Assembly to a crawl.

“We aren’t getting the work done,” said Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) during one of several long breaks Monday. “Look, this has already taken four hours. It stresses people out. This is almost to the point of getting dilatory.”

And according to key Assembly staffers who spoke on the condition that they not be identified, committee work has ground to a virtual halt because of the leadership battle.

“We were all listening to the (intercom) box, wondering whether we still had a job,” said one legislative staffer, referring to the floor debate that was piped into offices throughout the Capitol.

One aide to a Democratic assemblyman said staff morale is so low that some staffers even are thinking of looking for other work. “Nothing has been getting done. Everything seems to be on hold, put in limbo by uncertainties over the speakership. This is not why a lot of us came to work here,” he said.

Nevertheless, it was clear Monday that both the Gang of Five and at least some Republicans hope to make challenges to Brown’s speakership a regular, almost daily, event.

Jones, the Fresno Republican who supported the Gang of Five on Monday and has been mentioned as a possible future minority leader, said he will bring back “again and again” the motion to unseat Brown, explaining that he may do it as early as Thursday. Jones said he wants a “clean” motion to vacate the chair without the encumberances of a specific substitute for Brown.

Assemblyman Rusty Areias (D-Los Banos), a member of the Gang of Five, said his dissident group viewed the two attempts to oust Brown as part of a continuing day-to-day campaign to end the San Francisco Democrat’s record 7 1/2-year rule.

Areias and his four counterparts criticized Republicans for attacking Brown in their home districts on one hand, while still providing the votes in Sacramento to help keep him in power.

Areias and Calderon also said that the goal of the five dissident Democrats is to enact a package of “reforms” that would significantly change the traditional power structure in the Assembly, stripping the Speaker of the ability to punish members who oppose him.

Also proposed are creation of an Assembly ethics committee; limitations on campaign contributions and a ban on transferring political funds between candidates; curtailing speaking fees, and a constitutional amendment that would increase the terms of assemblymen from two to four years and senators’ terms from four to six years.

However, Assemblyman William Baker (R-Danville) noted with sarcasm that a few years ago he introduced a similar reform measure, which was rejected by Assembly Democrats, including the Gang of Five.

The two other members of the Gang of Five are Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres) and Gerald Eaves (D-Rialto).