Gotch and Frazee Provide the Key Votes to Pass Budget

When it finally came to help ending the long, weary nightmare of California’s budget crisis, Gov. Pete Wilson turned to two familiar faces for help Tuesday night:

Robert C. Frazee, whose tenure as Carlsbad’s mayor overlapped with Wilson’s time in office as San Diego’s chief executive, and Mike Gotch, who served with Wilson on the San Diego City Council.

The two assemblymen provided the key votes to a tax bill that may have helped bring to a close the state’s budget crisis in the Legislature. Later, the Senate passed the budget and Wilson signed it.

The bill, which will raise the income tax rate on wealthy Californians while cutting the renter’s credit, was the last piece of legislation that Wilson needed to complete the $56.4-billion spending plan.

It was marooned in the Assembly earlier Tuesday evening when it fell two votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to get it out of the lower house.

Part of the reason was that Frazee (R-Carlsbad) and Gotch (D-San Diego) had voted against the measure.

Gotch in particular was vocal about his opposition to the measure for several weeks, vowing in floor speeches that he would never vote for a bill that cut the renter’s credit. In previous consideration, he had voted no.

But his resolve, and that of Frazee, wore down after Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) called a recess for Wilson to lobby to try to get the final votes he needed for the bill.

Frazee, who provided the final Assembly vote for the sales tax several weeks ago, shuttled off the floor to speak with Wilson on the phone and then told Brown he would switch.

Meanwhile, Gotch’s intransigence wilted as his seatmate, Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Rancho San Diego), pleaded with him on bended knee. Finally, Gotch relented and walked up to Brown at the podium, who immediately called the Assembly into session and recorded the two additional votes from San Diego County.

After the vote was recorded, Gotch was hugged, patted on the back and congratulated by several Democratic colleagues for his change of heart.

“I deplore the situation that renters are being made second-class citizens, but I held out until the 11th hour, and it was time to pass this budget and get the State of California moving again,” Gotch said.

He said Wilson lobbied for his vote earlier in the evening during an “upbeat, cordial” discussion but said he received no promises from the governor for his support.

“I don’t suspect he’ll be campaigning with me next year,” Gotch said.

Frazee said he met with the governor prior to his vote change but that Wilson never asked him directly to do it. “It was time to cut our losses,” he said, explaining his switch.

Frazee also said he changed to present “unity in the San Diego delegation” on the critical vote. “You notice that Mr. Gotch and I switched at the same time.”