Trying to Build From the Ruins in Sacramento

There is a famous photograph from Sacramento, 1949. It shows a man named Artie Samish perched on a chair at the old Senator Hotel. A straw boater tilts backward on his head, and he is gesturing grandly to a small figure on his lap. The figure is a ventriloquist’s dummy.

At the time, Samish was the most powerful lobbyist in Sacramento, a man who ordered special favors for his clients like a pasha orders lunch. The dummy, of course, was the Legislature.

Those were the days when legislators were underpaid, understaffed and altogether ill fed. Suckers, we are told, for the big bankrolls of Samish and his like.

“Drop a $2 bill in the Capitol rotunda,” Samish once said, “and you’ll start a riot.”

Eventually, Samish was hauled off to prison for his sins, and California appeared to have learned its lesson. A reform movement began here that eventually spread across the nation. The Legislature was converted to a professional operation where lawmakers were paid a living wage, where they had the staff and the general wherewithal to handle affairs of state.

By the time Election Day arrives, you will likely hear much of Artie Samish. That’s because our leaders in Sacramento are frightened that we are about to abandon the philosophy and reforms that grew out of the Samish era. They are going to wave the specter of Artie Samish as a warning of what might return.

We are talking here about two propositions, 131 and 140, that have received only scant attention thus far. That is odd because either of them, if passed, would revolutionize Sacramento.

Both initiatives would limit the terms of legislators and statewide officers to periods ranging from six to 12 years. That is, they would preclude anyone from approaching lawmaking as a profession. Generally, 140 would do a much harsher job of it than 131 and would cut back the staffs of legislators to boot.

Interestingly, they have their roots in opposite philosophical camps. Proposition 131 is the child of John K. Van de Kamp’s failed campaign for governor, and we can only suppose it was meant to incite the passions of his liberal constituency. Meanwhile, 140 is the revenge weapon of Pistol Pete Schabarum, the Los Angeles County supervisor who has yet to encounter a government he likes.

Should these propositions pass, state government as we know it would cease to exist. Not only would they force the eventual retirement of the likes of Willie Brown and David Roberti, they would retire the whole notion of a Willie Brown or a David Roberti. No one becomes a Willie Brown in two terms.

Is that bad? If you’re a Sacramento politician, maybe you shouldn’t ask. I suspect that one of the strongest emotions driving 131 and 140 toward victory is the fervently held desire of millions to see Willie get his. If the anti-131 and anti-140 people are shrewd, they will keep Willie out of this campaign and off the tube.

Almost certainly, what the “antis” will do is forward the Artie Samish argument. It goes like this: If you force legislators to become amateurs, you play into the hands of the professional lobbyists. The insurance company types and oil company types will run circles around our know-nothing rookies. And ruin will result.

A permutation of this argument says 131 and 140 will work to transfer power to the bureaucrats. Because the bureaucrats are permanent and know all the levers of government, etc., etc., it is they who will become the true government of the state. And ruin will result.

These arguments have a fatal weakness: Sacramento is regarded as being in ruins already. Just witness the fall ballot; those 28 propositions represent our pathetic attempt to do the Legislature’s work for it.

And the truth is, no one knows exactly how 131 and 140 would change Sacramento. The allusions to the Artie Samish era are false because the 1990s are not the 1940s. Who can say what kind of men and women would be attracted to the idea of spending eight years, and eight years only, in the Legislature? Toadies? Hicks? Or some smart cookies who simply don’t want to spend their entire lives in a hearing room?

It may be worth a shot. Oklahoma passed a similar plan earlier this fall, and the early polls show both propositions are heavily favored here.

As campaigns begin, the “antis” should keep something in mind: These initiatives have something of the flavor of Proposition 13. That is, their support springs from a deep anger and a willingness to take a gamble. This revolution will not be easily defeated.