Assemblyman Collins Suffers Heart Attack

Assemblyman B.T. Collins (R-Carmichael), a colorful political maverick who has served at high levels in both Republican and Democratic administrations, suffered a heart attack Friday and was in “very critical condition” at Mercy General Hospital.

Collins, 52, who has a history of heart problems, collapsed at a hotel where he was waiting to greet Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs, who was to give a speech to a local civic group.

“He was clinically dead when he got here,” said Dr. Tully Wiedman, emergency room medical director at Sutter General Hospital, where Collins was brought by ambulance. “Mr. Collins has been unconscious since he got here. His condition changes from minute to minute. He is very, very sick.”

The doctor said that the lawmaker’s heartbeat was erratic and that he was put on an external pacemaker to try to regulate it.

“His heart has been continuously starting and stopping since he got here,” the doctor said.

Collins was later transferred to Mercy General Hospital where, according to an Assembly aide, he was placed on equipment not available at the first hospital. A spokeswoman at Mercy General said that Collins was still unconscious five hours after he collapsed and was in “very critical condition.”

Collins, who also has diabetes, underwent surgery last December to clear two blocked coronary arteries. He had similar surgery in 1987.

A feisty Vietnam War veteran who lost an arm and leg in combat, Collins has served in the administrations of governors of both parties. He was elected to the Assembly in 1991.

Collins was chief of staff to former Democratic Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown; deputy state treasurer under former Treasurer Tom Hayes, who was appointed by former Republican Gov. George Deukmejian; and head of the California Youth Authority under Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.

He led the fund-raising campaign to build a Vietnam War Memorial in Capitol Park.

Wilson said Friday: “If personal toughness or courage or generosity of spirit can pull anybody through, then he’ll make it. God knows, we’re all praying for him to do that. He is an extraordinary human being. He is one of the gutsiest, most generous, most decent and most outrageously funny men I’ve ever known.”

Collins, one of the most popular figures in Sacramento, ran for the Assembly at the urging of Wilson.

Gen. Powell opened his speech to the Comstock Club civic group by saying: “While I don’t know Mr. B. T. Collins, I do know he was a fellow Vietnam vet and sacrificed in that war. I also know that he never forgot his fellow veterans and led the drive for the war memorial here.”

Powell asked his audience to pray for Collins’ recovery.