Bane’s Stepson in State Job, Says Family Played No Role

For the past two months, Neal Rothstein, stepson of Assemblyman Tom Bane (D-Tarzana), has been on the state payroll as a $3,000-a-month assistant to Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco).

Rothstein, 33, said he landed a job in the Speaker’s Office of Majority Services because of his experience in politics, not any family ties. “My employment has nothing to do with” Tom or Marlene Bane, he said.

Marlene Bane, Rothstein’s mother, is regarded as a key adviser to her husband, partly because she has helped raise millions of dollars in campaign contributions for Bane, chairman of the powerful Assembly Rules Committee, and Brown. A team of telephone solicitors she oversees has been criticized for using a high-pressure sales pitch, which the Banes have denied.

Employment of children or other relatives of lawmakers in the Legislature is not unusual. The Assembly’s anti-nepotism guidelines prohibit immediate relatives from supervising family members, said Bob Connelly, chief administrative officer of the Assembly Rules Committee.

Rothstein is one of about 40 staff members in the Office of Majority Services, which provides support services for the Assembly’s Democrats. Dan Eaton, office deputy director, said he hired Rothstein, a former teacher, to advise lawmakers on education and other policy issues.

Eaton said he has known Rothstein for 12 to 14 years, most recently as a field organizer for Assemblyman Robert Epple (D-Norwalk), who won a razor-thin victory in November. Eaton praised Rothstein as a “tireless worker.”

Rothstein is learning the ins and outs of the legislative computer system so that he can train staff members in legislative district offices. Rothstein said he is also advising Democratic lawmakers about restrictions on taxpayer-paid mailers imposed by voter-approved Proposition 73.

Before moving from Los Angeles to join the state work force Dec. 15, Rothstein said, he twice rejected Eaton’s job offer for personal reasons. Rothstein said he has had extensive political experience, serving as an aide to former U.S. Sen. John Tunney (D-Calif.) and on Bane’s district staff before his mother’s 1981 marriage to Bane. Rothstein said that after the wedding, he resigned from Bane’s staff “to avoid anyone assuming there was any impropriety.”

Tom Bane said Tuesday that he had cautioned his stepson about joining the Speaker’s staff, partly because Rothstein could lose his job if Brown is ousted as leader. “I advised him not to take the job,” Bane said. “It’s a political dead-end.”