O.C.’s Bergeson Has Proved a Capitol Asset

She has become, by way of 16 years of dogged effort and persistent success, an Orange County institution in the state Capitol.

Whether it’s moving a balky bill or bringing home the bacon, state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) has long been counted as Orange County’s most effective lawmaker at representing the region’s interests in Sacramento.

But now the longtime legislator is expected to vacate her Senate seat and move back to Orange County--if she can capture a job this year on the Board of Supervisors.

For the lobbyists and locals who consistently count on Bergeson for help in the Legislature, that’s bad news. They face the grim prospect of life without Marian, and many suggest the county’s clout in the Capitol will be badly eroded.

“Some of the other legislators have certainly helped over the years, but not to the extent Marian has,” said Christie McDaniel, chief of staff for Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley. “There is a concern about who will step forward and take her place.”

School board members, city officials, university leaders, transportation experts and others around Orange County express similar worries.

“It would be a big loss,” said John F. Dean, Orange County superintendent of schools. “We would miss her voice in Sacramento. For education, there’s nobody on the scene who can be nearly as strong, and we need that desperately.”

Even Bergeson’s Democratic opponents in the Capitol suggest that her anticipated departure will hurt the county.

“Sen. Bergeson is as responsible a legislator as we have in our state,” said state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys), longtime Senate Democratic leader before he stepped down last month. “Orange County’s gain of a supervisor will be Orange County’s loss in the Capitol.”

For her part, Bergeson doesn’t see a possible departure in dire terms.

“I don’t think anyone is indispensable,” she said. “But whatever happens with me, I do think it’s important in Orange County to make a conscious effort to recruit people for the Legislature who have public service as their bottom line.”

The loss of Bergeson would prove to be a double whammy for Orange County. While her departure remains contingent on her winning the supervisor’s seat being vacated by the retiring Riley, Orange County is certain to lose Assemblyman Tom Umberg, a Garden Grove Democrat who is making a run for state attorney general.

So far, Bergeson has one opponent in the 5th District race, Laguna Hills businesswoman Madalene Arakelian, who has pledged to raise at least $200,000.

Although a relative newcomer in Sacramento, Umberg has enjoyed strong legislative support in the Democrat-controlled Assembly from peers eager to ensure his success--and keep a toehold in the Republican bastion of Orange County.

Amid the Angst over the looming legislative void, some see hope. They suggest that Bergeson the county supervisor would act as a bridge between Orange County and the state Capitol, making regular phone calls and forays to Sacramento to push local interests.

“The positive things she has going for her aren’t going to be entirely lost up here,” said Dennis Carpenter, a powerful Sacramento lobbyist whose clients include the County of Orange and the Orange County Transportation Authority. “As a member of the board, she’ll be able to use all the relationships she’s developed when she comes back to plead the county’s case.”

But such influence can only go so far.

“When you’re no longer a voting member in the Legislature, you lose some ability to be a player at the statewide level,” said Christopher Kahn, Bergeson’s chief of staff. “If she is elected as a supervisor, it would be difficult for her to have as major an influence on the legislative and budget process as she has enjoyed in the past.”

Some remain optimistic that Orange County’s other state lawmakers--an ideologically conservative bunch who can be more adept at blocking legislation championed by the Democratic majority than shepherding laws of their own--will step forward.

“I don’t view this as a huge loss for the region,” said Larry Thomas, spokesman for the Irvine Co., the giant Orange County property development firm. “Marian will remain very well connected in Sacramento, and I think the power will eventually move over to those still in the delegation.”

Lobbyists and state lawmakers note that Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-Fullerton) has been able to use his cachet as a former Assembly Republican leader to push through some important bills. Since moving over from the Assembly three years ago, Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange) has more aggressively championed new laws. Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange), an avuncular sort popular among members of both parties, has also proven effective at moving bills.

New state Sen. Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove) has quickly moved into a position of GOP leadership. Though he seems more focused on politics than policy, Hurtt gets credit from county officials for helping open a special Orange County office to speed the issuance of state regulatory permits for businesses.

Meanwhile, Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) has assumed the No. 2 spot in the Assembly Republican hierarchy, and is becoming an increasingly savvy Capitol player.

“If you’re looking for someone who can compete in the same league as Marian in terms of effectiveness, it’s Curt Pringle,” said Kevin Sloat, Gov. Pete Wilson’s deputy chief of staff and a former top aide for Bergeson. “As Curt moves up in the leadership, it will only help.”

But some are not so generous with their praise of delegation members other than Bergeson.

“With Bergeson gone, I’d say Orange County will be in pretty desperate shape in Sacramento--basically absolutely devastated,” said one longtime lobbyist who asked not to be named. “Ross Johnson and Gil Ferguson and those types are strong leaders in their segment of the Republican Party, but they have a hard time transferring it to effective legislative production, and they’re not much interested in it. Their job is to stop things from happening.”

In an effort to show its plight to the Orange County delegation, the Board of Supervisors held a pair of informal “round tables” with state lawmakers last year. The sessions “opened eyes” on the plethora of issues affecting county government, McDaniel said. “We’re hoping those meetings will help us segue into this new era for the county.”

Even so, some say Bergeson will be impossible to replace--in no small part because of the state’s new term-limit law. Under that rule, Assembly members can serve three two-year terms, and state senators are restricted to two four-year terms. With the clock ticking, lawmakers now lack the longevity to develop the close working relationships that Bergeson was able to cultivate with her peers during 16 years in the Legislature.

“I don’t see anyone stepping in and accomplishing the things Marian has,” Pringle said. “Much of it is simply due to who she is. But also with term limits, we just won’t see people develop power like Marian has.”

Indeed, the years have seen Bergeson earn a solid measure of respect throughout the corridors of the Capitol. The woman dubbed “Marian the Librarian” when she first arrived in Sacramento was named in a 1992 Capitol Journal survey as the second most effective Republican in the Senate, right behind GOP leader Ken Maddy (R-Fresno), and fourth overall.

Carpenter, the county’s lobbyist who served as a state senator from Orange County for nearly a decade, said the loss of Bergeson would hurt the county in two areas where help is needed most--transportation and local government issues.

“We need to develop somebody else in the delegation who is interested in those things,” Carpenter said. “They’re not terribly sexy, but they’re important to the area.”

Bergeson and Umberg are the only Orange County representatives with spots on the Legislature’s transportation committees. As Orange County continues its most ambitious freeway building effort in 30 years, the departure of Bergeson would leave the county without a voice inside the Capitol on transportation for the first time in years.

“Not having Marian up there would be an extraordinary loss for us,” said Stan Oftelie, Orange County Transportation Authority chief executive. “It’s in the day-to-day work of government that she does such wonderful stuff for us.”

As chairwoman of the Senate Local Government Committee, Bergeson is in a unique position to attend to bills that have the interests of Orange County and its cities at heart.

Often those efforts are the legislative equivalent of slogging through the trenches--sweating the details on funding formulas for special districts, poring over records on financing programs.

“Sometimes it takes two or three years to accomplish a goal,” noted Bergeson. “And generally those tough types of issues usually aren’t the headline grabbers.”

Bergeson has shown an aptitude for taking on fights that seem like losers from the beginning, and then somehow scoring a victory. After Newport Beach was sued by a swimmer who broke his neck by diving into a sandbar, Bergeson fought an uphill battle for a law limiting government liability in beach accidents. In the end, she won.

“We were told in the beginning that we’d never get it,” she recalls. “But it was never a question of compromise. You’ve got to be willing to know enough about an issue to influence others.”

Bergeson also has proven to be a tiger in fighting for the county’s share of the legislative pork barrel. She was instrumental in getting money for the $5-million restoration and dredging of the ecologically sensitive Upper Newport Bay wetlands, as well as $1.5 million in state funds to rebuild the storm-battered Huntington Beach Pier.

The senator, whose term expires in 1996, often elbows in as a referee during intergovernmental disputes. In a recent example, Bergeson pressured the California Coastal Commission to sit down with Orange County cities to resolve a tussle over beach curfews.

“She’s been extremely successful at mediating those kinds of fights,” said Kenneth J. Emanuels, a Sacramento lobbyist who represents the cities of Santa Ana, Irvine, Laguna Beach and Tustin. “That just isn’t a role any of the other Orange County legislators have developed.”

On some fronts, however, there are signs of the torch being passed. For the past four years, Bergeson has tried to push through a bill that would allow Orange County to save money by contracting out services such as janitorial work and tree trimming. Although she was rebuffed by lawmakers sympathetic to organized labor, the fight will continue. Pringle is taking over the issue.

But many officials lament that such efforts will be the exception rather than the rule.

“It’ll be harder to accomplish our objectives in Sacramento without Marian there,” said Ernie Schneider, county chief administrative officer. “We’ll just have to work harder. That’s what it boils down to.”

Marian Bergeson’s Legacy

If elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, state Sen. Marian Bergeson would leave behind a 16-year legacy in Sacramento as one of the county’s more successful state lawmakers. She has earned high marks and pushed through several key bills during her tenure. Bergeson’s biggest failures have been getting rebuffed twice in attempts for statewide office.

POLITICAL BACKGROUND

* Former president California School Boards Assn., Orange County School Board, Newport Beach City and Newport Mesa Unified School District board

* Member of state Assembly, 1978-84

* Member of state Senate, 1984-present

* Senate committees: Local Government (chair); Appropriations; Health and Human Services; Industrial Relations; Transportation

SACRAMENTO HIGHLIGHTS

1982: Lead successful initiative fight to enact income tax indexing.

1982: Helped design comprehensive overhaul of education, including higher standards for teacher hiring.

1985: Authored first bill establishing roadside call boxes in Orange County.

1986: Helped secure funding for $5-million restoration project in Upper Newport Bay.

1987: Law approved reducing liability of county or city in beach accidents.

1988: Pushed through bill allowing Caltrans to contract out engineering work, providing cost savings for Orange County freeway work.

1989: Sponsored bill establishing Orange County Transportation Authority.

1990: Won Republican primary for lieutenant governor; lost in general election.

1991: Bucking powerful tobacco lobby, authored law limiting distribution of cigarette samples to youths.

1993: Nominated for state superintendent of public instruction; rejected by Assembly Democrats.

LEGISLATIVE RANKINGS

(On scale of 100% to 0% or grade of A to F unless otherwise noted)

* California Chamber of Commerce: 80%

* California Labor Federation: 31%

* California Teachers Assn.: B

* California League of Conservation Voters: 45%

* California NOW (National Organization for Women): B-

* Planned Parenthood: 50%

* California Pro Life Council: 80%

* California Abortion Rights Action League: Ranked “anti-choice”

* California Journal: Ranked fourth-best senator overall (second-best Republican)

Sources: California Senate and Times reports

Researched by ERIC BAILEY / Los Angeles Times