AFTER THE ELECTIONS : STATE ASSEMBLY : 28 Newcomers Bring a Sense of Purpose

The state Assembly’s newly minted Class of ‘92--the first batch of California legislators to run for office knowing their terms would be limited by law--will be the largest in 26 years and will bring an infusion of women and minorities to the Capitol.

The 28 newcomers, who will account for more than one-third of the 80 members to be sworn in Dec. 7, are generally older and more experienced than recent crops of first-termers. And they include far fewer former legislative aides than are typically elected to the Legislature each term.

Still, it is not yet clear whether these new lawmakers are the “citizen politicians” that advocates of term limits predicted their law would produce. The group includes a higher percentage of lawyers than have been serving in the Legislature recently as well as a typical number moving up to the Statehouse from positions in local government.

Several newcomers said in interviews that they intend to get a fast start in the Legislature because they know they have a maximum of three terms to serve in the Assembly before they are shown the door. Shunning the traditional role of freshmen as quiet backbenchers, they are eager to clear a path through California’s gridlocked government.

“We have to get into step quickly,” said Republican Bill Morrow of Oceanside.

Democrat Louis Caldera, elected in the 46th District in central Los Angeles, said: “People have a sense that they’ve been elected to do a job and they have only a short period of time to do it. I’m not going there to occupy space.”

Ted Weggeland, a Riverside Republican whose narrow victory over Democrat Jane Carney is still in doubt as absentee ballots are counted, said the new members are bringing with them “a real sense of purpose.”

“These people want to do some things, accomplish some things,” Weggeland said.

Weggeland stands out in this class because he is more like legislators of the recent past than what is expected to be the wave of the future. Just 29 years old, Weggeland is a recent law school graduate who lobbied in Washington for a short time and then spent 14 months as a district aide to Republican Rep. Al McCandless of La Quinta.

Weggeland would have fit right in with the Class of ’82. That year, there were 24 new members, and 10 former legislative or congressional aides were among their ranks. More than half of that group was age 35 or younger, and three were shy of their 30th birthdays.

By contrast, Weggeland is the only member of the Class of ’92 under age 30. Most are in their 40s or 50s.

This class includes two law enforcement officers, a home builder, a retired military officer, a school teacher, an insurance company executive, and the owner of a chain of video stores.

There are 16 men and 12 women, bringing the number of females in the Assembly to an all-time high of 22. The six Latinos among them mean that the number of Latinos, after retirements, will climb to seven from the previous high of four. The one new African-American elected last week will maintain the number of blacks in the Assembly at seven. And the group includes the first Asian-American elected to the Legislature in 14 years. The eight ethnic minorities among the 28 compares to just two in the 24-member Class of ’82.

But the most important difference between this class and the last big one may be that, because of term limits, all of those elected Nov. 3 will be gone in six years at the most. Of the 24 Assembly members elected a decade ago, 10 remain in office today.

Lewis K. Uhler, co-author of the 1990 ballot initiative that limited Assembly members to three two-year terms and state senators to two four-year terms, said this year’s candidates were different because they knew before running that they could not make a career out of legislative service.

“It’s a whole different group who hold up their hand to serve than the ones who thought they could be there the rest of their natural life,” Uhler said. “What we thought we did with this noble experiment in state government is ask some people to step forward who already had some life experiences that might enable them to deal with problems as part of a political body.”

But there are plenty of members among the new crop who, at least judging by their resumes, appear to be no different than their predecessors.

The group includes eight graduates of local government, including a former county supervisor, three city council members and four mayors. Another five are school board members, including three community college trustees.

Interestingly, at least seven of the 28, or one of four, are attorneys. That may signal a reversal of a recent trend away from lawyer-lawmakers. A Times survey of the Legislature in 1989 found just 14 lawyers out of 80 Assembly members.

Although the 13 new Republicans will give the formerly balanced GOP caucus a decidedly conservative tilt, several said they expect to see less partisanship in an Assembly that has been known for bitter divisions.

“We know we have to get some things done,” said Poway Mayor Jan Goldsmith, elected in the 75th District. “I think the Democratic freshmen will have the same feeling, and that hopefully will make for a little less partisanship. We don’t want to look back at six years and say: ‘Gee, that was nice training, now we’ll go do something else.’ ”