Walter M. Ingalls; Led Transit Measures

Walter M. Ingalls, the caustic but highly respected former state Assemblyman whose battles with Caltrans produced years of debate, is dead.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that he had died Sunday at his Los Angeles home of liver cancer.

Quoting the Riverside Press-Enterprise, the wire service said his death certificate listed the cause of death as liver failure due to chronic active hepatitis. He was 46.

Ingalls, a Democrat who was the butt of Sacramento jokes because of his short stature and youth, was one of the youngest people ever elected to the Legislature. He was only 27 when he won his Assembly seat in Riverside County in 1972. He retired in 1982 and was named to the state Transportation Commission, which he helped create, serving until 1985, when he returned to practicing law.

In Sacramento, he became chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee and the Joint Legislative Audit Committee.

Generally, he was at the forefront of most of the transit-oriented legislation that came out of the Assembly during his tenure.

In 1979, as part of an ongoing feud with Caltrans Director Adriana Gianturco over what he perceived as slowness in constructing highways, Ingalls led a move that would have eliminated Gianturco’s salary from the state budget.

He also chastised the Southern California Rapid Transit District Board of Directors for what he said were policy failures and was a prime supporter of legislation that produced biennial smog inspections for motor vehicles.

Ingalls graduated from UC Riverside with a degree in political science and earned a law degree from UC Berkeley.

In 1972, he resigned as a Riverside County deputy district attorney to run for the 74th District seat.

Four years after leaving office, he was arrested for lewd conduct after exposing himself to two plainclothes Riverside police officers at a neighborhood park. He pleaded guilty to the charge the following year, 1987, and was fined $180 and placed on three years probation.

Many of his former colleagues remembered him fondly.

“He represented Riverside County probably better than any legislator because of the way he knew our county and city,” said Assemblyman Steve Clute (D-Riverside), who succeeded Ingalls.

“He was truly a supporter of those who believe freeways make sense. . . . He was truly a friend of the motorist,” said Assemblyman Phillip Wyman (R-Tehachapi).

Assemblyman William J. Filante (R-Greenbrae) recalled Ingalls’ sense of humor. In his farewell speech to the Assembly, Filante said, “he said what he would miss most was his telephone credit card.”

Richard Lemire, a spokesman for the family, said Ingalls was diagnosed with liver cancer in October.

He is survived by his parents and two sisters.