Felando Assails Mail Campaign on Brown Reelection

Assemblyman Gerald Felando (R-San Pedro), who was accused in last spring’s GOP primary of having a cozy relationship with Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, said Wednesday that he is angry about a direct-mail campaign to pressure him to oppose Brown’s reelection as Speaker.

The campaign, launched this week, has been orchestrated by newly installed Assembly Republican Leader Ross Johnson (R-La Habra) and five dissident Democrats, known as the “Gang of Five.”

Besides Felando, it targeted two other Republicans, Stan Statham of Oak Run and Sonny Mojonnier of Encinitas, who have appeared to be reluctant to oppose Brown’s reelection, and four Democrats who last month won close elections in conservative districts.

But Felando said Wednesday that he has told Johnson he “wouldn’t vote for any Democrat” as leader of the lower house. Felando declined to name his choice for Speaker, saying, “When Monday comes, I will have made up my mind.”

The South Bay lawmaker also said he was “angry with what’s transpired.” Noting that he supported Johnson’s successful bid to become Republican leader last month, Felando called the mailers “a real poor way” for Johnson to begin his term.

Charges Collusion

“I’m real upset about Democrats and Republicans going into collusion on a mailer against me,” he said.

Johnson, he added, “dropped that mailer in my district before he ever discussed it with me. . . . I hadn’t told anyone I would vote for Willie Brown or not.” Felando said the direct-mail effort would not influence his decision.

It is unclear how many mailers were sent in Felando’s 51st District. About $100,000 reportedly was contributed by the state Republican Party for the campaign against the Republicans and the four Democrats. The mailers urged voters to tell their legislators to “pull the plug on Willie Brown,” who is described as “the ultra-liberal politician from San Francisco.”

A spokeswoman for Johnson said Tuesday that plans for a second mailer were canceled after Felando agreed not to vote for Brown or any other Democrat.

In a close contest for Speaker, Felando’s vote could be pivotal. Brown has claimed to have the 41 votes necessary to become leader of the 80-member lower chamber. But Johnson has sought to unify the Assembly’s 33 Republicans, along with the “Gang of Five” and several other Democrats, behind another candidate.

Two Republican legislative sources, both of whom asked not to be identified, suggested that Johnson mounted the campaign against Felando and the others partly because he was angered by an incident in Speaker Brown’s office the day Johnson was chosen as GOP leader.

The sources said that after his selection, Johnson went to Brown’s Capitol office for a meeting and found the Speaker with Felando and Mojonnier. They said Brown told Johnson that he was reassigning Felando to a large Capitol office that Felando had occupied a year ago when he was Assembly Republican Caucus chairman.

Anne Richards, Johnson’s press secretary, denied that the Republican leader was angry. She said the $100,000 cost of the mailers would be “a pretty high price for hurt feelings.”

Statham held a press conference Tuesday to complain about the campaign against himself, Felando and Mojonnier and accused Johnson of trying to intimidate him into voting against Brown.

In an unusual step, Johnson attended the news conference and denied Statham’s assertion. He also said that the GOP caucus poured at least $120,000 into Felando’s Republican primary campaign last June against Deane Dana III. “If Jerry Felando thinks he beat Deane Dana on his own, he’s in a dream world,” Johnson declared.

Felando won the Republican primary despite a barrage of mailers from the Dana campaign that accused the incumbent of having a “cozy relationship” with Brown.

At his news conference on Tuesday, Johnson said: “If Jerry Felando believes he is now a world beater and Willie Brown is not an issue in his district . . . he’s deluding himself.”