More Sway in Senate for County Legislators

Orange County lawmakers will have more clout in the state Senate and less in the Assembly under new committee lineups that were made final Monday, legislators say.

In the Senate, Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) will become the first woman to serve on the Appropriations Committee, an important 12-member panel that considers every measure that spends taxpayers’ money.

To serve on Appropriations, Bergeson will forfeit her seat on the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, but she will be replaced there by a fellow Orange County Republican, Sen. John Seymour of Anaheim. Seymour will probably be the sole Senate Republican on the two-house conference committee that hammers out the state budget.

Seymour, a former real estate company executive, will also pick up a seat on the Senate Housing Committee, where he can be expected to play a greater role in setting state policy on growth and development.

In the Assembly, where Republicans lost three seats statewide to the Democrats in the November elections, Orange County’s fortunes may be turning downward.

Orange County formerly had four lawmakers on the Ways and Means Committee, but now it will have just one--Assemblyman Dennis Brown (R-Los Alamitos).

But Brown will lose his seat as vice chairman of the powerful Revenue and Taxation Committee, which last session gave him a powerful voice on state tax policy. He will be replaced by Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), a freshman who will not exercise nearly as much clout as Brown.

The county will keep a voice on the transportation committees in both houses. In the Senate, Bergeson, Seymour and Cecil N. Green (D-Norwalk) will retain their seats. In the Assembly, Brown and Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) will serve on the panel that will be charged with finding solutions to California’s highway crisis.

Bergeson and Seymour, for different reasons, said they were happy with their new committee assignments.

“I’m very pleased,” Bergeson said. She said she expected to have a major impact on policy, even though the Appropriations Committee is officially designated to deal only with fiscal issues.

More Challenge

“The reality in politics is that whenever you have an issue you’re interested in, you are not going to keep your mouth shut,” Bergeson said. “There is more influence, more of a challenge. This is a year for legislative policy.”

Seymour returns to the budget committee slot he lost in 1987 as punishment for his role in an aborted challenge to the leadership of Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti (D-Los Angeles). He said he welcomed the assignment.

“This year portends one of the biggest budget battles we’ve seen in the Legislature,” he said. “I just love to be in the middle of that kind of fight.”

Seymour said he will be able to use his position to further the county’s interests by doing what others call “log-rolling”--supporting his colleagues’ pet projects so they will support his.

“I’ll make doggone sure that Orange County gets its oar in the stream and gets its fair share of funding,” he said. “On that committee, you’re able to negotiate with other members to get some of your priority items accomplished.”

Assemblyman Ferguson predicted that committee assignments will not be as valuable for Assembly Republicans this session because Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) has juggled the committee makeups so the GOP has fewer members on each panel. As a result, Ferguson said, Republicans will find it even harder than usual to win committee votes.

Doesn’t Like to Lose

“I don’t like serving on a committee where you’re going to lose every time,” Ferguson said.

Pringle was placed on the Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committee, where one of his first duties will be to vote on several bills aimed at prohibiting the use of private, uniformed guards at the polls. Pringle campaign officials, reportedly fearing that illegal aliens intended to vote in large numbers, were involved in a decision to station such guards at some polling places in the 72nd Assembly District last Election Day.

Although the assignment appears to have been a ploy to embarrass Pringle, he said he asked for the spot because he intends to introduce election-related legislation of his own. A list of assignments that were requested by Assembly Republicans shows that Pringle’s party leaders did not ask Speaker Brown to put him on the elections committee.

Pringle also said he was pleased with his placement on the Revenue and Taxation Committee, where, despite his inexperience, he pledged to be an able replacement for Dennis Brown. Pringle will also serve on the Local Government Committee, along with Ferguson and Assemblyman Robert Frazee, a Carlsbad Republican who represents part of south Orange County.

Orange County’s lack of powerful Assembly committee slots could be overcome by Assembly Republicans’ selection of Ross Johnson (R-La Habra) as their leader and Frazee as chairman of the Republican Caucus.

But early signs are that Johnson, who has tried to topple Speaker Brown, will not share the same cozy relationship with the Speaker that was enjoyed by Assemblyman Pat Nolan of Glendale, Johnson’s predecessor as Republican leader.

Johnson last week complained publicly that Brown had shortchanged Republicans in the committee selection process, contending that only about 60% of his recommendations were accepted by the Speaker.

“Our quarrel with Speaker Brown is he stands up and makes glowing speeches about how he is dedicated to fairness for all the members of the house,” Johnson said. “The naked truth is that he is for Willie Brown and the Democrats, and the devil take the hindmost.”

STATE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS--1989-90

SENATE

William Campbell, R-31st

Appropriations

Bonded Indebtedness and Methods of Financing

Governmental Organization

(V. Chair)

Health and Human Services

Industrial Relations (V. Chair)

Edward R. Royce, R-32nd

Business and Professions

Constitutional Amendments (Chair)

Health and Human Services

Industrial Relations

Public Employment and Retirement (V. Chair)

Cecil N. Green, D-33rd

Agriculture and Water Resources

Education

Insurance, Claims and Corporations

Local Government

Public Employment and Retirement (Chair)

Transportation

John Seymour, R-35th

Budget and Fiscal Review

(V. Chair)

Education

Housing and Urban Affairs

Revenue and Taxation

Transportation

Marian Bergeson, R-37th

Agriculture and Water Resources

Appropriations

Bonded Indebtedness and Methods of Financing (V. Chair)

Local Government (Chair)

Transportation

ASSEMBLY

Dennis Brown, R-58th

Finance and Insurance

Transportation

Ways and Means

Ross Johnson, R-64th

Johnson serves on no committees because he is Assembly Republican Leader.

John R. Lewis, R-67th

Finance and Insurance

Health

Labor and Employment

Nolan Frizzelle, R-69th

Governmental Efficiency and Consumer Protection

Governmental Organization

Natural Resources

Gil Ferguson, R-70th

Housing and Community Development

Local Government

Transportation

Doris Allen, R-71st

Economic Development and New Technologies

Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials

Health

Curt Pringle, R-72nd

Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments

Local Government

Revenue and Taxation

Robert C. Frazee, R-74th

Governmental Efficiency and Consumer Protection

Local Government

Natural Resources

Water, Parks and Wildlife