Katz Likely to Keep Key Panel Chairmanship

Veteran Democratic lawmaker Richard Katz, whose political fortunes appeared doomed after last November’s Republican gains in the state Assembly, will likely hang onto his post as chairman of the chamber’s Transportation Committee.

On the other side of the aisle, longtime San Fernando Valley representative and anti-crime activist Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills) has been picked by the GOP caucus to head the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, a plum political assignment that now belongs to the Republican Party under details of a power-sharing plan released Wednesday.

That plan evenly splits the work of running the Assembly’s 26 committees between the two major political parties, which for weeks stood handcuffed from conducting any business in the absence of a Speaker. The deadlock ended Tuesday when San Francisco Democrat Willie Brown, in an extraordinary session of the lower house, kept his seat as Speaker and promised to dole out half the Assembly’s spoils to the GOP caucus.

Wednesday, Brown announced which committee chairmanships would go to either party.

The Public Safety Committee chairmanship belongs to the Republicans.

Boland, who has emerged as a champion of victims’ rights during her years as second-in-command of the committee, said she was pleased with her selection by her peers as chair, a long-held ambition. The appointment is subject to approval by the bipartisan Rules Committee today.

“I’m thrilled,” said Boland, adding that she plans to “reject old liberal policies” that she believes favor criminals rather than victims.

“California can’t have a renaissance unless its streets are safe. So I welcome the challenge.”

Boland said she hopes the bitter partisanship of the past two months, culminating in the speakership debate Tuesday, will not hamper the work of the committee.

“I’ve had disagreements with the other (Democratic) members in the last four years and yet was able to work with them,” she said.

The Transportation Committee remained in Democratic hands, almost assuring that Katz will continue to head the panel that he has chaired since 1985.

“I’ve got stuff I want to finish,” the Sylmar Democrat said, outlining as priorities the ongoing effort to retrofit freeway bridges and to implement a toughened smog-check program.

Some Democratic legislators grumbled privately Wednesday that Katz’s committee survived intact while their panels were traded to the Republicans. They noted that Katz, a close ally of Brown, was the Democratic caucus representative who with Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) hammered out the division of committees with Brown Wednesday morning and co-signed the Speaker’s letter.

Asked if she was surprised to learn that the transportation panel stayed with the Democrats while the Insurance Committee she headed crossed over to the GOP, Assemblywoman Juanita M. McDonald (D-Carson) said: “I’m not surprised about anything. But that’s the way it goes.”

Katz acknowledged the unhappiness among some of his colleagues, who peppered him with angry phone calls and visits throughout Wednesday.

“None of us can get everything we want,” he said. “My name’s on the letter because I can take the heat.”

He insisted that the power-sharing agreement, which allows for an equal number of Democratic and Republican members on each committee, dilutes the power of panel chairs and elevates the importance of Democratic vice-chairs on GOP-led committees. Previously, Democrats controlled the chairmanships and dominated the composition of all committees.

“There just isn’t the kind of power in those positions that we were accustomed to,” said Assemblywoman Debra Bowen (D-Marina Del Rey), past vice chairwoman of the consumer protection committee. “Moderates who can find middle ground will do well.”