Brulte Woos Democrats With Plan to Share Power : Assembly: GOP leader offers proposal that weakens the Speaker’s post. He and ex-Speaker Willie Brown are deadlocked at 40 votes each.

Republican Assemblyman Jim Brulte said Wednesday that he is prepared to make another bid for election as Speaker of the California Assembly when it reconvenes Jan. 4, appealing for Democratic support on the basis of his pledge to democratize operation of the lower house of the Legislature.

A major feature of his plan is a significant weakening of the Speaker’s position, from which veteran Democrat Willie Brown of San Francisco had ruled virtually unchallenged for the past 14 years.

Power should be shifted to a stronger Rules Committee, and resources should be allocated based on proportional representation by Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature, Brulte said, although Republicans still would hold a slim majority on every committee if his plan succeeds.

As of Wednesday, Brulte said he was not certain that he would have the required majority of votes to succeed Brown in what has been considered the state’s second most powerful office after the governorship.

But Brulte told Times editors and reporters that he is encouraged on the basis of preliminary talks with some Democrats who were solidly united behind Brown when the Assembly met in Sacramento Dec. 5 for its biennial post-election organizational session. All 80 Assembly seats are filled for two-year terms every general election.

In the Nov. 8 election, Republicans won an unexpected majority of 41 to 39 and joyously looked forward to the routine election of Brulte as the new Speaker--the first Republican in that position in a quarter of a century. But Paul Horcher of Diamond Bar switched party designation from Republican to independent and supported Brown, sending the body into a 40-40 deadlock in the speakership battle.

Brulte said Wednesday, “Just because something was 40-40 on Dec. 5 doesn’t mean it’s 40-40 on Jan. 4.”

Brulte added: “I’m encouraged by Democrats who are willing to say, ‘We know that ultimately you are going to be elected Speaker.’ ”

“That’s great movement from where they were two weeks ago,” Brulte said.

Brulte also said he believes that Brown has softened his position of two weeks ago that he would settle for nothing less than being reelected Speaker.

The 38-year-old Brulte, who was the Republican minority leader at the close of the 1993-94 session, said he believes that the Assembly, operating under his system, can accomplish major legislation during the next two years. He listed his legislative policy priorities as:

* Legal reforms, including an overhaul of the auto insurance system and penalties against people who file frivolous lawsuits.

* Additional reform of the state workers’ compensation system to eliminate any payment for stress claims and allow payment only in cases where it was demonstrated that the predominant cause of injury actually occurred in the workplace.

* Additional criminal justice reform, including extension of the death penalty to fatal drive-by shootings.

* Welfare reform to give counties greater incentives to create programs that would move recipients off the welfare rolls.

* A top-to-bottom reform of the state Education Code and an overhaul of the state’s system of public education from kindergarten through community college. Brulte acknowledged that he did not know what the elements of education reform might be.

Brulte offered only conditional support at this point for the 15% state income tax cut that has been proposed to Republican Gov. Pete Wilson by his economic advisers.

Brulte said he first wanted to make sure that the state was going to have the sort of economic growth that the advisers were forecasting and would have enough tax income to provide for full funding of state education and other legitimate programs. If those conditions were met, he said, he would support the cut.

But little or nothing can happen in Sacramento as long as the Assembly speakership question remains unresolved.

When it last met, the Assembly was at an impasse because the chief clerk, who was presiding in the absence of an elected Speaker, became ill and was hospitalized. Brown, a recognized master parliamentarian, took command of the Speaker’s dais on the basis of being the senior member of the Assembly. Republicans refused to participate in any further deliberations because they did not trust Brown to conduct any further business fairly.

Traditionally, the Speaker has wielded enormous power in the Assembly, even if he enjoyed a bare majority--the sort Brulte seemed to have won Nov. 8. The Speaker has appointed all committee members, including chairs and vice chairs, and members of the Rules Committee. He also has decided which committees will hear which bills.

Further, the Speaker has had total control over Assembly spending and hiring, including the size of the staff allotted to minority party members.

Brulte’s power-sharing proposal, based on a state ballot initiative approved by voters in 1984 but voided on a legal flaw, would strip the speakership of much of that power and give it to the party caucuses and the Rules Committee. In that respect, it would more closely resemble the power structure of the 40-member Senate.

Brulte’s plan would allow the minority party, not the Speaker, to pick its own members of the Rules Committee and other committees. The Rules Committee would be empowered to assign bills to committee, appoint committee chairs and vice chairs and allocate resources such as offices and desks on the Assembly floor.

Exceptions to the rules, which Brulte would like to see written into the state Constitution, would require a two-thirds vote of each house, making it virtually impossible for one party to completely dominate the Legislature, Brulte said. At present, rules routinely are waived by voice vote.

Republicans believe that they will win control of the Assembly by this spring in any event because Republicans are trying to force a recall election against Horcher as early as March or April. Brulte and others are confident that Horcher will be dumped in retaliation for his post-election defection and replaced in the same balloting by another, loyal, Republican. GOP partisans are particularly angry at Horcher because they claim that he promised during the fall campaign not to vote for Brown as Speaker.

Brulte said he will propose the power-sharing plan in any event, but is using it now as a lure for Democrats to justify breaking ranks with Brown to join a coalition leadership with Brulte.

The plan was hand-delivered to the district offices of all Democratic Assembly members, including Brown, on Monday, Brulte said.

“I’m encouraged by Democrats who said, ‘You know, we like Willie, but really we should make sure that some of the abuses of his speakership never again are allowed,’ ” Brulte said.

A spokesman for Brown said late Wednesday that the Democratic leader was responding to Brulte in a letter that restated his earlier proposal that groups of Democrats and Republicans meet to fashion a bipartisan power-sharing arrangement.

The aide said Brown was not necessarily rejecting Brulte’s proposal, but was offering to “sit down and talk and come up with the best solution.”

Brulte said he thought that public anger over the Assembly deadlock would hurt the Democrats in the long run.

“The voters of California voted for change, and I think we have two candidates for Speaker--one (Brown) who is the candidate of the status quo and the other (Brulte) who is the candidate who wants to bring about the kind of change Californians voted for,” Brulte said.

“And I will predict that voters will be frustrated and angry if in fact they don’t get what they bought at the polling place on Nov. 8,” he added.