Changes in the Assembly--Neither Side Has Majority

The subject had been raised repeatedly. But this time, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown was uncharacteristically subdued as he joked with reporters recently about the rebel faction of five Democrats that has been challenging his authority.

“The gang of who?” Brown asked, feigning ignorance of the dissidents’ threats to topple him from his powerful post.

The Democratic Speaker was engaging in some wishful banter. But as the Legislature’s 1988 session draws to a close, there is little question that the hoopla that once surrounded the “Gang of Five” has faded.

In its heyday, the rebels--Rusty Areias of Los Banos, Gary A. Condit of Ceres, Charles M. Calderon of Alhambra, Gerald R. Eaves of Rialto and Steve Peace of Chula Vista--could tip the balance of power by uniting with the Assembly’s 36 Republicans to form a majority in the 80-member house. The alliance, though sometimes strained, managed to deprive Brown of the control he had held over the Assembly for nearly eight years.

But the death of Republican Richard Longshore the morning after the June primary altered the balance and left both sides without a clear majority to do anything. For the five dissident Democrats, who emerged from relative obscurity to become overnight Capitol media stars, the change was jolting and cut short an ambitious and politically charged agenda.

“It’s true that no longer can it be said that (a majority of) 41 votes can be put together,” Calderon conceded. “But the one thing that hasn’t changed is that the Speaker also doesn’t have 41 votes to be reelected Speaker. . . . That throws everything up in the air in terms of what will happen.”

For Brown loyalists, Longshore’s death provided a hiatus from continual political embarrassments on the Assembly floor.

But those close to the Speaker acknowledge with some bitterness that the back-room sparring and political maneuvering is continuing, diverting attention from legislative matters as the session winds to a close and members look toward the November elections.

“The (Democratic) caucus is just tired of it,” complained Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Los Angeles). Katz, who is among the Speaker’s inner circle of advisers, said the five dissidents are still angry over the role the Democratic leadership played in opposing Eaves’ successful primary reelection effort. There is evidence, Katz added, that the Gang of Five is taking revenge by withholding support from Democratic bills where vote margins are extremely close.

“There is this whole level of intrigue and it takes time . . . and diverts attention from good policy,” Katz said.

Opposing Viewpoints

From the beginning, Brown loyalists have attempted to portray the rebel faction as obstructionists with a single goal: to remove Brown from the speakership and substitute one of their own. With equal fervor, the dissidents have argued that their purpose is to break the influence of “1960s liberals” like Brown and push a more conservative agenda that they contend is representative of mainstream Democrats, particularly those living outside the big cities.

In practical terms, the rebellion focused on several high-profile law enforcement bills. Prodded by the Gang of Five, the Assembly passed legislation that would allow authorities to tap telephones of suspected drug dealers, require prostitutes and their clients to be tested for the AIDS virus, extend the death penalty to murderers of children under 14 years of age and bar the sale of pornographic materials from newsstands where they might be viewed by minors.

Similar legislation had been blocked in committees dominated by Brown appointees. But in an election year, the bills’ anti-crime theme became impossible for legislators to ignore. Once they were snatched from the committees and taken to a floor vote, the measures encountered little resistance, even among many Democrats.

Constant hammering about the need to reform the committee system, first by the Gang of Five and then by the GOP, also prompted Brown earlier this month to appoint a Democratic task force to recommend ways of reorganizing the house.

“We’re winning on public policy issues,” Condit boasted. “It’s not every day . . . but we’ve won more times than we lost.”

Most Don’t Make It

Yet only the wiretap bill has thus far made it all the way through the legislative process and been signed into law by Gov. George Deukmejian. The rest are either languishing in Senate committees or have been significantly watered down.

On other highly charged and more complex issues, the Gang of Five found success equally elusive. The dissidents failed to win solid Republican support for a motion to oust Brown. And the rebels’ call for campaign reform was largely ignored in the Legislature, although voters approved a similar ballot initiative in June that limits campaign fund raising.

The group’s most disappointing failure involved the Assembly’s rejection of its efforts to enact a no-fault auto insurance system in California. Three Republicans joined with the Democratic leadership to block the move--exposing divisions within the Republican ranks that Brown has been able to exploit to his advantage when the chips are down.

Calderon, who predicted that a no-fault bill would be the dissidents’ most important legacy, said he was surprised by the outcome and expressed fear that the vote may show that Brown has the wherewithal to remain in power. Calderon’s concerns were underscored earlier in the session when a solid Republican majority helped thwart the move to oust Brown from the speakership.

“We just didn’t think the Republicans would be so duplicitous, so blatantly duplicitous as to bash Willie on one hand and protect him on the other,” Calderon said. “I don’t get disappointed any more, just surprised.”

Democratic Assembly sources say tensions between the rebels and Brown loyalists remain so high that the dissidents no longer attend party caucus meetings. Yet despite his harsh verbal attacks on the rebels, Brown privately remains cordial to them and, earlier this week, was seen dining with dissident Areias at a Sacramento restaurant.

May Be Seeking Peace

That may indicate Brown is quietly trying to make peace with his adversaries. But Assembly GOP leader Pat Nolan said he cannot foresee any way that Brown can round up enough votes to hang on to the speakership when it comes up for a vote after the November election. “Come December,” Nolan said, “we (Republicans) will have the largest bloc of votes and we’ll try to find enough conservative Democrats to elect one of us Speaker or find someone who will totally revamp the structure here.”

Brown’s efforts to hold on to the post also may be jeopardized by the illness of one loyal Democrat, Assemblyman Curtis Tucker of Inglewood, who is being treated for liver cancer and has been absent from the Assembly since June.

But Brown, who won the speakership in 1980 by wooing Republican support, has not given up. He is keeping his feelers out within the GOP ranks while gearing up to wrestle at least two seats away from the Republicans in November.

Part of that effort involves raising an estimated $6 million for the fall campaign, “not a nickel” of which, he vowed, will go to the dissident faction.

“All of this money will be expended on behalf of good, quality candidates,” said Brown, who charged the rebel Democrats with secretly helping Republicans plan their election strategy. The five strongly deny the charge and, in turn, contend that some Brown loyalists are meeting privately to come up with a possible successor to the Speaker.

Meanwhile, Brown has been trying to expand his political base by seeking favorable changes in the rules that govern the state Democratic Party. Among other things, he wants the party to be able to discipline rebellious Democrats like the Gang of Five. Having been rebuffed by party officials initially, Brown says he is considering running for party chairman and will make a final decision after the election.

Until then, there is little question that Brown will have to deal with the continuing rebellion by the Gang of Five.

“I think they have been recognized by the press as a force and they are not going to want to relinquish that title without a fight or without the appearance of some accommodation being made by (the Democratic) caucus,” said Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco), the Assembly’s Democratic whip.