GOP’s Allen Elected Speaker by Democrats : Assembly: First woman in post is shunned by her own party. She appoints Brown as Speaker emeritus.

With Assemblyman Willie Brown’s blessing, Democrats on Monday elected Orange County Republican Assemblywoman Doris Allen as Speaker, making her the first woman to ever hold the post and the first Republican chosen in nearly 25 years.

“California really does begin a new era,” Allen proclaimed as she accepted the speakership. The new Speaker promised to work with both Democrats and Republicans to “change the debate from politics to policy.” But her selection immediately incurred the wrath of all other GOP lawmakers and Republican leaders statewide.

Allen won the speakership with no Republican votes--except her own. She agreed to give Brown the newly created post of Speaker emeritus. Under the arrangement, Brown will lead Democrats in state budget negotiations this summer, and he said he will move into Assembly Republican Leader Jim Brulte’s elegant turn-of-the-century office.

Ironically, state workers Monday night were moving Brulte into the vacant office of his political nemesis Paul Horcher, the Republican-turned-Independent who denied Brulte the crucial vote necessary to unseat Brown last December. Horcher, of Diamond Bar, was recalled last month.

Allen also has agreed that most, if not all, Democrats will keep their current committee assignments as part of what they call a “power-sharing” arrangement, in which they lead equal numbers of committees and have parity with Republicans on those committees.

“I am a Republican. My vote reflects that,” said Allen, who becomes the 59th Speaker of the California Assembly. “I still vote Republican.”

After the dramatic vote, Brown made clear that he remains the single most powerful member of the lower house. He said he expects to be elected leader of the Democrats today.

Brown, who was in the 15th year of his speakership, longer than anyone in state history, also took much credit for the election of Allen.

“I was the first African American Speaker ever, and now I get a chance to do what I always wanted to do, and that is see that women get empowered in this place,” Brown said, pointing out that he cast the last vote, giving Allen her measure of victory.

Answering a question about his feelings on passing the gavel to a woman, Brown said: “Isn’t that incredible, isn’t that incredible, isn’t that incredible? That is absolutely incredible--and it’s not affirmative action, not affirmative action at all, no special assistance, no preference. Those white boys got taken, fair and square.”

The lower house has 39 Democrats and 39 Republicans, including Allen, with two vacancies. Allen was elected on a 40-38 vote. Brulte, who engineered the Republicans’ electoral gains last year that saw them gain a majority for the first time since 1969, received 38 votes--all the Republicans but Allen.

Allen’s effort to secure the speakership began in recent weeks, when the previously obscure lawmaker from Cypress began seeking support from other Republicans. When none was forthcoming, Allen turned to the Democrats.

Seeing that Brown’s tenure was ending, and realizing that no other acceptable Republican was emerging, Democrats agreed to deal with the moderate Allen, after she promised to protect their committee assignments and staff through the 1996 election.

A native of Missouri, Allen, 59, has been a relatively obscure lawmaker since she vaulted from an Orange County school board seat to the Assembly in 1982, unseating Democrat Chet Wray.

Like many other Republicans from the conservative enclave, Allen had a tough time pushing through legislation. But she has shown a willingness to occasionally mold compromises with the Democratic majority.

She also has tangled with Republicans in the past, challenging them over leadership choices and issues such as what she saw as mismanagement of the state Department of Fish and Game. She sponsored a successful statewide initiative in 1990 banning the use of gill nets in coastal waters, over fishermen’s objections, as a marine mammal protection measure.

Her most bruising intra-party fight came earlier this year when she and then-Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-Placentia) battled for a vacant state Senate seat. She lost and blamed Brulte for helping Johnson and not her. Ever since, she has been angry and announced that she would challenge Brulte for control of the Assembly.

Allen, a solid vote for public school funding, is one of the few Assembly Republicans to receive large donations from the California Teachers Assn., one of the most powerful lobbies in Sacramento and one of the most closely aligned with Democrats. She received about $100,000 for the Senate race against Johnson from various public school groups.

“I hope I can bring them to a comfort zone,” she said of her angry fellow Republicans.

For the most part, however, Republicans slighted her on Monday. After the vote was cast, and Allen had sufficient numbers to become Speaker, Brown made a parliamentary move that would have allowed Republicans to switch their votes and endorse her. None did.

When Brown invited assemblywomen, including Republican Marilyn Brewer of Irvine, to escort Allen to the Speaker’s dais, only Democrats walked with her. After she was sworn in, Democrats stood and applauded loudly. Only a smattering of Republicans clapped. Only one, Peter Frusetta of Tres Pinos, made a floor speech welcoming her election, calling her the Republicans’ “second choice.”

“They should have stepped to the plate instantly. Their goal was to have a Republican Speaker,” Brown said. “The Republican numbers will never be sufficient to run the Republican agenda as long as they eat their own. . . . She votes like a Republican, acts like a Republican, thinks like a Republican.”

Democrats believe that despite Monday’s rancor, Allen can consolidate her position.

“She can make appointments, she can assign office space,” Assemblyman Dan Hauser (D-Arcata) said.

But angry Republicans said Allen would be controlled by Brown. As has been the rule this year, frustrated Republicans condemned the Democrats’ actions Monday, with Assemblyman David Knowles (R-Placerville) likening Democratic maneuvering to “the law of the jungle” and saying they were like “thugs who rape and kill women.”

Democrats, Knowles charged, were “forcing [Allen on them] against our will.”

“We’re going to go to war now,” said Assemblyman Larry Bowler (R-Elk Grove). “Brulte’s been holding us back. I’ve been trying to lead a war for about three weeks, but Brulte kept saying, ‘Now’s not the time. Wait.’ Well, now’s the time. It’s going to get bad.”

As Allen assumed the podium and the Speaker’s gavel, Assemblyman Bill Hoge (R-Pasadena) threw his pen on his desk and mumbled, “The first thing she ought to do is her hair.”

Allen proceeded to vote with Democrats to adopt new operating rules which can be changed only with a super-majority of 54 votes in the 80-seat Assembly. The new rules return to the Speaker powers that had been shared under rules adopted earlier this year between Brown and Brulte.

Now, Allen and the Democratic leader--presumably Brown--will select committee chairs, members of the powerful Rules Committee, and Assembly membership on any conference committees set up to strike compromises on Senate and Assembly measures--such as the $56-billion state budget.

One of the rules created the position of Speaker emeritus, a title for Brown as long as the Assembly rule remains on the books. Allen said she was happy to give it to Brown.

“Whether you agree with Willie Brown, or don’t agree with Willie Brown,” Allen said, “you have to say this man was certainly a man you could all talk to all the time, and know that he was able to handle the power, handle the people of his caucus, and he has been able to do it with style and with flair. This man is deserving of an honorable title for the rest of his life.”

Allen is first Republican Speaker since Robert Monagan of Stockton was chosen in 1970.

As Allen spoke to a crush of reporters after the contentious session, half a dozen Democratic assemblywomen--and no Republicans--stood behind, and one, Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk) gently stroked her back.

Now that she is Speaker, Allen’s salary will jump from the $72,000 that rank-and-file members receive to $86,400. By law, Brown’s salary will drop to $79,200 if, as expected, he is elected Democratic leader.

Both Republicans and Democrats had met in private caucuses for more than 2 1/2 hours before Monday’s session. Once on the floor, Napolitano nominated Allen, calling it “a very historic day, a day that our action will reverberate throughout not only our state, but through the nation and the world.”

“Women have come of age, ladies and gentlemen, and I urge you to consider your vote for Ms. Allen,” Napolitano said.

Assemblywoman Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) also lauded her, saying Allen recognizes the importance of improving public education and has shown a desire to protect the environment.

Republicans left the floor immediately after the session for a closed-door meeting. Brulte, of Rancho Cucamonga, emerged more than an hour later, saying they had been celebrating with champagne the end of Brown’s speakership.

“We were drinking to his departure,” Brulte said. “I had a couple of sips, I’ll be honest with you, and I don’t drink. So I feel a little buzz. I’m just really happy that we no longer have Willie Brown as Speaker of the California state Assembly. That is a huge victory for Republicans.”

Brulte sounded somewhat conciliatory, noting that the “Democrats got to pick the Speaker rather than Republicans. That’s disappointing, but that’s still all right.”

Brulte said the real damage was done to Republicans--with Doris Allen’s help--when the new operating rules were adopted. Under the rules, he said, Republicans “will never get to control the Appropriations, the Rules or the Budget committees, which effectively means that the Republican victory was negotiated away.

“That’s why not one single Republican, other than Mrs. Allen, voted for those rules,” Brulte said. “To sell out the Republican victory of last November is totally unacceptable to the Assembly Republicans.”

Asked if Brown still wields considerable power, Brulte demurred: “Well, I thought it was very, very interesting that even though he wasn’t the Speaker [Monday], he presided. That’s not the way we Republicans envisioned it.”

Democrats needed to move quickly because another Republican is likely to be elected to the Assembly in a special election today to fill the seat previously held by state Sen. Richard Mountjoy (R-Arcadia).

Brown was reelected Speaker in January after he orchestrated a successful effort to strip Mountjoy of his Assembly seat. Mountjoy had been elected to the Assembly seat in November, and simultaneously to a Senate seat in a special election to fill a vacancy left when Frank Hill was sent to prison on corruption charges. Mountjoy wanted to move to the Senate, but also was trying to remain in the Assembly to oust Brown.

Mountjoy’s hand-picked candidate, Bob Margett, sent mailers during the campaign that said: “We have to remove Willie Brown from the speakership and give California back to its citizens.”

Brown had made provisions for the transfer of power, reappointing last week his longtime friend and onetime law partner, Phil Ryan, to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, a job that pays $97,088 a year. Ryan’s term lasts until 1999.

Times staff writers Eric Bailey, Jenifer Warren and Max Vanzi contributed to this story.