Rookie Marston the Tripwire in Political Battle

All rookie Assemblyman Jeff Marston (R-San Diego) ever wanted Friday night was to stand up, make a short speech and watch as his legislative colleagues passed the first--and only--bill of his three-month career.

But before he knew it, the unassuming Marston found himself as the flash point in an angry political standoff between fellow Republicans and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown that was partly responsible for dragging the 1990 session into dramatic overtime.

Before it was over--at 5:03 a.m. Saturday--rebellious Republicans held $23 million in mental health programs hostage in Marston’s name, the powerful Democratic Speaker was forced to beat a procedural retreat, and the lowly San Diego Republican became an instant figure of sympathy.

“I was the tripwire, that’s pretty true,” an exhausted and bleary-eyed Marston said about the night’s events.

“All I was trying to do was get the bill out,” he said. “The tragedy is that I think there have been a dozen Democrats that have come up to me and said, ‘You’re being screwed. We want to help you out but we don’t know what to do.’ ”

What happened to Marston illustrates that even the most routine item can become a bizarre exercise in the frantic final days of a legislative session. At 10:15 p.m. Friday, Marston stood up on the Assembly floor to present the only piece of legislation he had authored since narrowly winning a June special election to represent the 78th District.

His bill proposed a 20% increase in fines against motorists who park illegally in handicap zones, and the extra money would be earmarked to replace $2.1 million in budget cuts made to a state referral service for the elderly and disabled.

Like many measures pulled out of the air in the waning days, Marston created his proposal by amending its language into a second “spot bill” languishing in the Assembly. As for all bills drafted this way, he had to make sure that his new bill would be deemed germane to the measure it replaced--in this case another proposal relating to the disabled.

The Senate on Friday approved it before transmitting it to the Assembly for what looked like a slam-dunk.

Yet when the measure arrived in the lower house Friday evening, Brown (D-San Francisco) was waiting with a little surprise. The Speaker had set a trap, quietly obtaining a legal opinion from the Legislature’s counsel declaring the Marston bill nongermane. When Marston tried to present the measure, Brown cut him off, pointed to the opinion and threw the bill out.

Republicans were stunned. They immediately suspected political motives, especially since the Speaker is heavily backing Marston’s democratic challenger in November, former San Diego City Councilman Mike Gotch.

“They did it for purely political reasons,” said Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra), Assembly Republican leader. “That’s absolutely the belief.”

Three sources close to Assembly Democrats also confirmed early Saturday that Brown’s handling of the Marston bill was politically inspired, an attempt to deprive the rookie legislator of any bragging rights.

The maneuver, however, was to backfire.

Within minutes, the Assembly took up an unrelated bill to restore a $23 million cut in mental health programs earlier this year. Under a bipartisan agreement, the greatest share--about $6.1 million--was earmarked for Brown’s own San Francisco County.

The catch: Since the measure contained an appropriation, it required a two-thirds super-majority for passage--54 “aye” votes out of the 80-member Assembly. And since there are only 45 Democrats, that meant at least nine of the 32 Republicans would have to go along. There are three vacancies.

“The Democrats, out of pure meanness, killed a program to help senior citizens,” said Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale). “And yet the Speaker, after doing that blatant political act, wanted us to vote to give most of the mental health funds to San Francisco.”

So when it came time to vote for the Speaker’s mental health funds, the militant Republicans simply folded their arms and stared off into the night. The slight to Marston prompted them to hold hostage the entire $23 million mental health package.

And it didn’t end there. Seven other measures--some dear to the hearts of other Democrats--required the two-thirds vote as emergency bills. Sensing the growing crisis, Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) tried to spring the emergency measures by publicly asking Brown to rescind his germane rulings. The Speaker summarily refused, thus assuring a deadlock.

At 12:15 a.m., the political grudge match deteriorated even further when one Republican pointed out that the Assembly couldn’t conduct business any longer without a two-thirds vote. Brown suddenly declared the session over and soberly walked off the podium, leaving Marston and the other lawmakers milling around the floor in tired confusion.

“He (Brown) is in a box and he can’t get out,” Nolan said shortly after the Speaker disappeared into his office across from the Assembly chambers. “He made a mistake and he kept compounding it and compounding it. Maxine (Waters) publicly and his friends privately tried to get him off his petard.”

The Marston matter wasn’t the only thing holding up the Assembly early Saturday. Brown was waiting for nearly $3.3 billion in bond proposals to be sent over from the Senate--proposals that also required two-thirds votes.

While the fate of the bonds were not directly tied to the Marston stalemate, Nolan and others indicated they were somehow bound up in the gestalt of the evening.

Behind the scenes, prominent Democrats approached Brown and gently urged him to defuse the political hostilities, say the Democratic sources. Among the visitors was Assemblyman John Burton (D-San Francisco), whose district also would have lost mental health funds, the sources said.

Eventually, a plan began to take form. Everyone would forget the Marston bill that was ruled not germane earlier in the evening. Instead, the language would be crammed into yet another spot bill lingering in the Senate, waiting for a second chance.

The solution seemed ideal: A proud Brown would save face by not having to back down publicly. Marston would save his only bill. And the Republicans would stop the legislative blockade with their abstentions.

“It was obvious we had to find a way for a graceful exit,” Assemblyman Tom Hannigan (D-Fairfield) acknowledged.

Legislative staff members were dispatched to search computer records for a suitable recipient of the Marston bill, while the rookie legislator walked around the Assembly floor nervously, largely unaware of the effort to help him save face.

By 2:20 a.m., a visibly relaxed and jovial Brown once again called the lower house to order and asked for a two-thirds vote to resume the deadlocked session. The Republicans delivered as part of a 62-3 vote.

The political logjam had been broken. When the Speaker asked for a reconsideration of the $23 million mental health package, it passed with a resounding 72-0 vote. Assembly members also began working on pieces of the bond package.

By 3:40 a.m., the tenseness in the Capitol seemed to give way to relief. Down the hall from the Assembly, Sen. Ken Maddy (R-Fresno) stood up before his peers to present Marston’s measure.

“Whatever happened in the Assembly, I have a bill to correct it, or at least the feelings,” he smiled, clutching the revived Marston bill.

Sen. Barry Keene (D-Benicia) jumped up. “Well, let’s kill it and see what happens,” he said to peals of laughter.

Maddy continued, “I wish to amend this bill to include the author to be Mr. Marston, which I think is the most important part.” The knowing crowd roared again.

With minimal debate, the Senate voted 34-2 to pass Marston’s measure once more at 3:50 a.m. Three minutes later, the bill was whisked into the Assembly chambers and its newest member rose and finally got his chance.

“I want to thank all of my colleagues for their indulgences and respectfully request an ‘aye’ vote,” Marston said.

Speaker Brown, who had earlier quashed the measure, declared it passed by a unanimous 77-0 roll call.

The irony: No one even had to push a vote button.

After Brown finally gavelled the 1990 session to a close at 5:03 a.m., he maintained that his initial ruling on the Marston bill was correct.

“The Marston bill was a pure, unadulterated nongermane measure,” he said. “You have to absolutely respect the rules. You play around with the rules, you rewrite the rules for your own purposes, and it becomes a process by which the system totally breaks down.

“Pure and simply, that’s all it was,” he said.

Even after the vote, Marston admitted he didn’t know what bill was plucked from the Senate to salvage his measure. It was a bill pertaining to sexual battery.

Asked if he thought the new spot bill was germane, Marston managed a grin.

“Doesn’t sound like it was,” he said.