GOP’s Nolan Had Expected to Be Speaker

SACRAMENTO — In 1988, Republican minority leader Pat Nolan believed he was on his way to toppling Democrat Willie Brown as Speaker of the state Assembly.

Two years earlier, the Glendale lawmaker and his GOP forces had come within striking distance of wresting control from Brown and the Democrats, making the smooth-talking Nolan a rising GOP star.

But then he was videotaped by FBI agents accepting two $5,000 checks, and in August, 1988, his Capitol office was raided by agents as part of an ongoing political corruption probe.

In the election that November, the Republicans lost three seats in the 80-member Assembly and Nolan was stripped of his leadership post.

Now, indicted by a federal grand jury on political corruption charges, the 42-year-old Nolan’s political survival appears very much in doubt.

In part because the probe has dragged on for five years, some of his colleagues question whether Nolan had done anything wrong. Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), a staunch conservative ally, acknowledged that Nolan “emulated Willie’s fund-raising” efforts among special interests in Sacramento.

But Ferguson said that he believes Nolan’s strong family background would preclude him from doing anything illegal. “I can’t believe that the Pat Nolan I know would be indicted,” he said.

Nolan became enthralled with politics in 1960 when he hung brochures on doorknobs for Richard Nixon’s failed presidential campaign. As a student at USC, he helped found the campus chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom.

But all was not politics for the outgoing, joke-telling Nolan, the sixth of nine children. For instance, in the 1974 Rose Parade he rode as USC mascot Tommy Trojan.

After graduating from USC Law School, he passed the bar exam on his second try. By 1978, in his first bid for public office, he upset more seasoned politicians and won an Assembly seat.

He quickly emerged as a leader of the so-called cavemen, a group of unflagging conservatives swept into office because of their support for Proposition 13.

In 1984, Nolan became Republican leader on his second try, boosting his prospects as a potential statewide candidate. To gain control over his members, Nolan worked out a deal with Speaker Brown.

Nolan agreed not to challenge Brown’s position as Speaker as long as the Democrats held a majority in exchange for Republican staff appointments and the ability to determine which Republicans would sit on committees.

By 1988, Nolan had married. His wife is expecting their third child in mid-May.

Nolan has regularly dismissed rumors of a possible indictment. He has won election three times since the FBI investigation surfaced, representing a district that includes all of Burbank, most of Glendale and parts of Los Angeles, including Los Feliz, Griffith Park and part of Hollywood.

Last year, just before winning the election, Nolan described himself as “frustrated” that the probe was still ongoing. “It is not fair,” Nolan complained.