Brown Denies Personal Vendetta Against Wilson

Responding to an attack from Gov. Pete Wilson, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown denied Wednesday that he is carrying out a personal political vendetta and said his efforts to block parts of Wilson’s program reflect the will of all the Democrats under his leadership.

“He is trying his best, in my opinion, to focus the failures of his Administration on Willie Brown,” the San Francisco lawmaker said of the Republican governor. “He is not going to be permitted to do that. He is going to take on all 47 Democrats or nobody.”

Brown, speaking to Capitol reporters, was reacting to what appears to be a concerted effort by Wilson to make Brown’s leadership a major issue in this year’s legislative campaigns, when Republicans hope to seize control of the Assembly for the first time in two decades. Wilson also has proposed a ballot measure for November that would slash welfare payments by up to 25% and give the governor sweeping new powers over the budget.

Wilson last week singled out Brown and blamed him for legislative stalemates on a number of issues. He accused him of “holding hostage” various proposals and said the Speaker’s action “betrays the public trust.”

On Tuesday, Wilson again lashed out at Brown in a letter accusing him of blocking consensus on a $6-billion package of proposed bond issues, including $1.9 billion for the construction of public schools.

In response, Brown and a handful of Assembly Democrats said their differences with the governor are neither personal nor purely political, but real policy differences that need to be worked out through the legislative process.

Because Wilson has called off further negotiations on school bonds, Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-La Mesa) said the Democrats now plan to revive their own $2.9-billion school bond proposal and move it to the Assembly floor. He said most Democrats do not agree with Wilson’s demand that the fees that schools charge developers to build new schools should be capped even if the bond issue fails, the major obstacle to bipartisan agreement on the issue.

The Democrats also outlined their positions on several other issues that the governor has raised:

* The budget. Brown pledged to enact about $600 million in savings for this year’s budget by March 2 and to bring a budget for the next fiscal year to a vote on the Assembly floor by April 2. Brown conceded that the budget may only be as good as Wilson’s own revenue projections, which are widely considered to be too optimistic by $1 billion or $2 billion.

* Children. Wilson has criticized Brown for blocking creation of his proposed Office of Education and Child Development. Assemblywoman Delaine Eastin (D-Union City) described the Democratic alternative: consolidate all children’s social services, including welfare, under a new Cabinet-level department.

Eastin said Wilson’s proposal would needlessly rival state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig, the state’s elected education chief. And she complained that Wilson’s proposed agency would be mainly advisory with little power to actually run programs.

* Welfare. Wilson has proposed cutting benefits as the centerpiece of his plan to reduce the welfare rolls by giving people more incentive to work. Democrats have yet to unveil an alternative, but Assemblyman Tom Bates (D-Oakland) said he has a proposal that will “actually help people on welfare, assist them not to get on welfare and once they’re on welfare give them a true opportunity to get off welfare and find employment.”

* Workers’ compensation. Wilson blamed Brown for blocking his effort to make it harder for workers to collect disability payments for on-the-job stress. Peace noted that Wilson last year rejected a Democratic offer to do just that because it was tied to a proposal to eliminate the state-guaranteed minimum rate that insurance companies may charge employers for workers’ compensation coverage.