CAPITOL JOURNAL : Wilson Shows He Can Use ‘Sticks’ and ‘Carrots’

It was just a throwaway line, the governor’s aides insisted. A reporter had asked Gov. Pete Wilson whether he had “twisted arms” during his long meeting Monday with Assembly Republicans, all of whom stubbornly were opposing his budget package.

“Twist arms, I? Gentle, persuasive fellow that I am? I will break arms if it’s necessary.”

An ad lib throwaway? Perhaps. But hardly frivolous.

Intended or not, Wilson was sending a message that Capitol insiders--legislators and lobbyists--had been eager to hear. Figuratively, he was hanging out a shingle saying, “Open for Business.” The new Republican governor was ready to plead, coerce, browbeat--to deal, one on one. To talk about “carrots and sticks.” And it was about time, in the view of Democrats and Republicans alike.

Democrats in both houses and Republicans in the Senate had been grumbling for days that they were taking political risks by supporting Wilson’s proposed tax increases, welfare cuts and pension raids, but the governor was not leaning on the Assembly GOP to back the package. Even within the Assembly GOP--among the so-called ideological “cavemen”--there was impatience.

“We’re expecting him to play hardball,” one restless Assembly Republican had acknowledged to a reporter. “There are people here who are anxious to curry favor with the governor.”

Now, finally some action. Even some fun. Playing off the governor’s “break arms” comment, three Republicans showed up on the Assembly floor Tuesday with their arms in slings. None of them wound up voting for the governor’s $56.4-billion spending plan Thursday. But nine other Republicans did break ranks with their leadership and, indeed, curried favor with the governor by providing the minimum votes necessary to pass the measure.

“I’m still intact,” said freshman Assemblyman Paul Horcher (R-Hacienda Heights), who provided the deciding 54th vote after a long, dramatic roll call and two telephone chats with the governor. “It’s unbroken,” he added, holding out his arm. “Not really twisted.”

Horcher told reporters the same story given by most of the other Republicans who voted yes: He supported the spending plan after Wilson had promised he would veto the bill if the Legislature did not also pass “structural reforms” and permanent spending cuts.

Was a political deal cut? “No quid pro quo,” Horcher replied.

But a check at the secretary of state’s office showed that Horcher’s campaign committee, as of Jan. 1, still owed $353,643 from his 1990 election race. Of that, $330,146 was owed to Horcher personally. It would not be surprising if the popular governor were to help the freshman assemblyman raise money to retire that debt.

For that is one of the ways it works in the modern world of politics. No crass deals. No strong-arming. Just subtle smiles and winks and the storing of names of allies and adversaries in the memory bank. Wilson has an excellent memory, longtime associates report. “I told him to spell my name right,” Horcher said.

Any governor has an awesome arsenal of “carrots and sticks.” He can offer or withhold substantial campaign fund-raising support. He can sign or veto bills, the lifeblood of Sacramento. He can appoint friends to important state jobs. A governor has 556 political appointments to full-time positions, plus about 3,000 part-time slots.

And there are judicial appointments. Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown of San Francisco drew laughs from the chamber Thursday during a tense recess in the budget talks when he quipped: “Would ‘Justice’ Trice Harvey please call the governor!” Harvey, a Bakersfield Republican, had not yet voted on the bill. He wound up voting “no.”.

Wilson’s biggest “carrot” this year is his ability to influence the redrawing of legislative and congressional districts during the once-a-decade reapportionment. Some of the Assembly Republicans are eager to run for the state Senate or for Congress, or just hang onto their seats.

There was no mention of these “carrots” and “sticks” on the Assembly floor, of course. Republicans who voted for the budget merely spoke of loyally supporting their Republican governor and getting the Legislature off the dime.

“I couldn’t match the governor,” a subdued Assembly Republican Leader Ross Johnson of La Habra conceded after going up against him.

Capitol Journal will appear every other Friday.