Sophomore Rogan’s Already on Varsity in Game of Hardball
ROGAN’S RUN: The political star of sophomore Assemblyman James Rogan is on the rise.
Although he has served in the state Legislature for less than a year, the Glendale Republican was named Thursday as the GOP caucus choice for speaker pro tem.
The post is largely ministerial but indicates that Rogan, a former judge, enjoys the respect of his peers and, more importantly, GOP elders, including Assembly Republican leader Jim Brulte. As Republican speaker pro tem, Rogan would alternate with his Democratic counterpart in presiding over the Assembly whenever Speaker Willie Brown is unavailable.
Rogan put off speculation that he might one day succeed Brown, saying he was surprised enough to be appointed speaker pro tem.
“I didn’t have an idea” that it would happen, he said. “I was getting ready to go to lunch and Brulte came in to see me.”
As for the ultimate prize of the speakership, Rogan said diplomatically: “There are a lot of qualified people in my caucus who can and will serve as speaker. I am acutely aware of my own limitations in that regard.”
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DREAM TEAM: It was six of one, a half-dozen of the other.
That was the breakdown of party representation on the special, 12-member negotiating team empowered last week to resolve the speakership crisis in the state Assembly. And San Fernando Valley-based legislators, both old and new, were well-represented, accounting for one-third of the charmed circle.
The Democratic contingent was led by longtime Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) and included newcomer Sheila James Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), who won election last November. On the other side, veteran Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills) and Rogan helped speak for the GOP caucus.
For Kuehl, assignment to the team signified the respect she enjoys despite being new to the house.
However, the talks broke off this week, prompting an extraordinary session of the lower house that saw Brown reinstalled as speaker for a record 15th year.
Boland accused the Democrats of failing to negotiate in good faith. She characterized the final few rounds of talks as little more than a ruse that the Democrats used to prepare to oust Republican Richard Mountjoy of Arcadia, who had been elected to the Assembly and the state Senate at the same time. His disqualification gave Brown a 40-39 vote of approval in the lower chamber.
Kuehl said negotiations seemed to be on track until Monday, when a member of the GOP group put down a proposal and announced, “This is endgame.”
That proposal would have granted Republicans control of more than half the Assembly committees, which their opponents deemed unfair given the virtual numerical stalemate between the parties.
“We could not see how anything but an equal split was proportional, and they are still deeply convinced that since they won 41 seats in November, they should have a numerical advantage,” Kuehl said.
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HOLDING THE BAG: On Wednesday, Richard Katz just wasn’t fast enough.
Right before lunch, a copy of a letter written by Speaker Willie Brown and co-signed by Katz made the rounds of Assembly offices, advising anxious lawmakers which committee chairmanships would be assigned to which party under a new power-sharing plan. Democrats, who have long controlled all committees, were finally relinquishing power.
Naturally, some representatives weren’t happy campers over word that the committees they had previously led were crossing over to the other side. Brown wasn’t available, so the irate calls and visits started cascading into Katz’s office before he could scoot off for a noon appointment.
It was nearly 1 p.m. when Katz finally escaped the Capitol and the calls that were still coming in.
“Willie was smart. He went to lunch,” Katz said.
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ENDLESS CAMPAIGNS: There was a time when election campaigns ended on Election Day. The voters spoke and the vanquished went home.
Not anymore.
Take Rich Sybert, a first-time candidate for the 24th Congressional District, who was edged by veteran incumbent Rep. Anthony Beilenson in November after a hard-fought contest that went down to the wire. In the end, Beilenson had 95,342 votes, compared with 91,806 for Sybert.
Initially crushed by his loss, Sybert is now touting the results as evidence that Beilenson, a Woodland Hills Democrat, is vulnerable. “Close usually only counts in hand grenades and horseshoes but sometimes it counts in politics, and I think this is one of those cases,” Sybert said.
So with the election still not even three months past, Sybert has resumed issuing statements criticizing Beilenson and has officially announced that he is a candidate for Beilenson’s seat in 1996.
Needless to say, he is the first candidate to throw his hat into the ring.
“I don’t want to be in the position of being boring,” Sybert said. “I lost. Beilenson won. I wish him well and I hope he does a good job. This is not a case where I’m trying to tear him down but I don’t think he’s done a good job or that he’s doing a good job representing the district.”
Sybert may be continuing his push for public office but the campaign is over as far as Beilenson is concerned.
“Congressman Beilenson and Mr. Sybert just finished a long, hard-fought campaign, which Congressman Beilenson won,” said Beilenson spokeswoman Kay Davis. “Congressman Beilenson is going to continue to do what he was elected to do and that means represent his constituents and not respond to Mr. Sybert’s many press releases.”
Sybert is not the only one keeping his irons in the fire--years in advance.
Paul Stepanek, who was soundly defeated by incumbent Democratic Rep. Henry A. Waxman in the 29th Congressional District, has met with House Speaker Newt Gingrich, House Majority Leader Dick Armey and other Republican toppers in recent weeks.
A first-time candidate, Stepanek received 53,801 votes, less than half of Waxman’s 129,413. Acknowledging that Waxman, a 10-termer from Los Angeles, is a formidable opponent in the overwhelmingly Democratic district, Stepanek has begun “an active speaking tour throughout the district” in an effort to spread his message and raise money for his 1996 campaign.
“I have not stopped at all,” said Stepanek, who owns a public relations company. “I’m 34 so I have a lot of energy. I work out and stay in great shape. I plan to keep it up until 1996.”
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THAT WATER BILL: Tuesday’s meeting of the Los Angeles City Council is expected to be a real barn-burner as lawmakers take up a proposal to change the formula for calculating water rates that would give breaks to residents who have large families and live on large lots, in hot climates.
Those breaks would benefit many residents in the San Fernando Valley, particularly in the northeast end, where many lots tend to be larger than 7,500 square feet.
But it’s a zero-sum game: Some water users are going to have to pay for the breaks that others receive.
Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents residents in south Los Angeles, wants to make sure his constituents don’t get stuck. He has already issued a three-page statement explaining his opposition to the new formula.
But he is stepping up his challenge. Last week, at a meeting in his district to discuss a community-improvement program, his office distributed about 100 flyers urging his constituents to attend Tuesday’s meeting and fight the proposed changes.
The flyers, decorated with drawings of two dripping faucets, are emblazoned with the headline: “Your attendance is needed! Water rates for residents in the Central City and South Central may be increased.”
The hotter the water issue gets, the more it may shake the tenuous relationships between Valley and south Los Angeles residents and their lawmakers.
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THE FOX FACTOR: Thus far the race for the 5th City Council seat has been fairly tame despite being billed by political consultants and others as the hottest local race this year.
But a mini-scandal is brewing that could boil over.
The key players in this brouhaha are Fox Studios and council candidates Lea Purwin D’Agostino, Roberta Weintraub and Barbara Yaroslavsky, the wife of Zev Yaroslavsky, the former councilman who left the post in December to join the County Board of Supervisors.
Fox and its support group, the Friends of Fox, are hosting a candidate forum on Wednesday, only the second major forum of the race.
But D’Agostino and Weintraub are leery of attending the event because Zev Yaroslavsky was a key Fox supporter when it won approval for a $200-million expansion of its Century City facilities in 1993. In addition, George Vradenburg III, a Fox executive VP, has already endorsed Barbara Yaroslavsky.
D’Agostino, a deputy district attorney, says she smells a setup.
In a letter to Vradenburg, she said she suspects that the event may be staged with pre-scripted questions to make Barbara Yaroslavsky look good and everyone else look bad.
In an interview, Vradenburg rejected such allegations, saying the forum will “be conducted in a fair manner.”
Despite such concerns, D’Agostino and Weintraub plan to attend. So will Barbara Yaroslavsky.
Stay tuned.
Henry Chu reported from Sacramento, Marc Lacey from Washington, D.C., and Hugo Martin from Los Angeles.
