Republicans Oust Leader in Assembly

Assembly Republican Leader Ross Johnson, a staunch anti-tax conservative who had led the opposition to Gov. Pete Wilson’s tax increases, was abruptly ousted from his leadership post Wednesday only hours after the Legislature put the finishing touches on the state budget.

Johnson, one of a dwindling group of “Proposition 13 babies” who were swept into office in the aftermath of the 1978 “property tax revolt,” was overthrown by Assemblyman Bill Jones of Fresno, who has generally aligned himself with the new governor in the deeply split Assembly GOP.

The shake-up came amid a long-festering feud between Jones and Johnson, a La Habra lawyer who had held the top Republican minority post since November, 1988. It also came one day after GOP allies of Wilson joined with Democrats and approved a $2.3-billion “tax the rich” bill sought by Wilson to balance his overdue state budget.

The Republicans who had fought the tax bill and earlier Wilson budget-balancing measures had become an embarrassing political thorn in the side of the governor, who had to rely heavily on Democrats for support in enacting his budget package. Johnson’s faction also had become something of an embarrassment to other GOP members in the lower house who resented the “cavemen” label that had become attached to the caucus because of its strict no-new-taxes reputation and its philosophy that valued severe spending cutbacks.

Jones, first elected in 1982, said that Wilson “didn’t have anything to do with the change of leadership as far as I am aware.”

Wilson issued a statement congratulating Jones and said he looked forward to working with him. Wilson said he had stayed neutral in the intra-party leadership fight, “a policy that I have every intention of continuing.”

Both Johnson and Jones, who farms 1,000 acres of row crops in the San Joaquin Valley and operates a data marketing service, insisted after a closed-door session of Republicans that Jones’ election did not guarantee a new pro-Wilson tilt by the Assembly GOP.

“Part of the responsibility of the minority leader is to act as a floor leader for the governor and the positions of the Administration,” Jones said. “But I also think it is a two-way street. It is important for the minority leader to reflect to the governor the concerns and differences within the caucus.”

Stylistically, Jones and Johnson are miles apart. Johnson, 51, is combative and blunt. Jones, 41, is courteous and soft-spoken. Johnson had been criticized not only for opposing Wilson’s programs but for his inability to negotiate with Wilson early and head off a confrontation that the conservatives could not possibly win.

Johnson, who had survived several previous attempts to dump him in his 2 1/2-year tenure--including one by Jones--claimed he was delighted to be involuntarily relieved of a post that wields little real power in a legislative chamber controlled by Democrats.

“It’s a crummy job,” he told reporters, likening the position to “walking through the minefield, juggling hand grenades and herding cats.”

Insisting he was not angry, Johnson told reporters that “some of the folks who voted for Mr. Jones voted out of a sense of guilt or frustration. They voted for taxes they didn’t want to vote for and were looking for a scapegoat.”

Some Assembly GOP members who opposed Johnson had wanted him removed not so much because he opposed the governor’s program but because he failed to offer Wilson a coherent plan to balance the state budget with fewer taxes than the governor proposed.

Veteran Assemblyman Gerald Felando (R-San Pedro) said he made a motion in the closed meeting to vacate the position of minority floor leader and it was passed by 16 favorable votes, a simple majority of the 31-member caucus.

Then, Felando nominated Jones, who defeated a bedrock conservative, Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), by a 16-10 vote.

Felando said the deal was not put together until 15 minutes before the meeting.

Wilson has been reluctant to speak out publicly against specific Assembly Republicans who had opposed his budget-balancing policies, but is supporting at least one Republican moderate, state Youth Authority Director B.T. Collins, in a Sacramento-area special election race for the Assembly.

In an Orange County election for the Assembly, Wilson supporters are backing a moderate.