Allen Stands Firm in Heat of GOP’s Ire

New Assembly Speaker Doris Allen survived her first serious challenge Monday as angry Republicans pressed her without success to change the Assembly’s operating rules to give them more power.

Allen responded by delaying votes to alter the rules, lashing out at several fellow GOP Assembly members and insisting she is a loyal Republican.

She pledged to push for floor votes on GOP bills to trim government regulations, cut taxes, limit lawsuits, preserve gun owners’ rights and protect the “health and public safety of every Californian, including the most innocent, the unborn.”

“I do hope you have an agenda,” Allen told her fellow Republicans. “I truly hope you have an agenda, because we haven’t [had one] all year.”

After the session, Allen characterized the GOP strategy on Monday as: “Let’s embarrass the Speaker [by] playing little boy and little girl games.”

“You can understand watching them why we haven’t gotten our [Republican] majority here,” Allen said. “That kind of behavior and treatment justifies all the further why I ran for the speakership.”

Allen, who won the speakership last week with her own vote and those of all 39 Democrats, staved off the attacks on her shaky leadership by again lining up the votes of all the Democrats at Monday’s session, plus--and most important--three Republicans on most issues.

Although they voted with Allen, Democrats remained silent for almost the entire two-hour floor session, content to let Republicans tear into one another in one of the most rancorous sessions in memory.

“We have schoolchildren in the balcony today who have come to see democracy in action,” said Assemblyman James Rogan (R-Glendale), among the architects of the challenges. “I shudder at the lesson they will take home.”

Rogan introduced two proposals aimed at changing the rules adopted last week by Allen and the 39 Assembly Democrats. Those rules give Democrats parity on committees and protect their staff and budgets for the rest of the session, which ends in 1996, even though Republicans hold a 40-39 majority in the 80-seat house. There is one vacancy.

Allen’s Republican detractors expressed pleasure at the outcome, saying it showed that Allen is failing to get significant numbers of GOP allies. The Republican assemblymen who consistently sided with her on Monday were Bernie Richter of Chico, Jan Goldsmith of Poway and Brian Setencich of Fresno.

“Are we going to engage in protracted intramural strife . . . or are we going to take the opportunity that is upon us? . . . That is really the choice that we have,” Richter said at the start of the session. After it ended, Richter summed up the day: “Not good.”

Initially, newly elected Assemblyman Bob Margett (R-Arcadia) voted with Allen to block a proposed rule altering the powerful Rules Committee in favor of the Republicans. This prompted state Sen. Richard Mountjoy (R-Arcadia) to come to the Assembly chambers to help his replacement.

One Republican Assembly member loudly cursed Mountjoy, while another said she was “ashamed” of Margett. By the end of the session, after Mountjoy and other Republicans had spoken privately with Margett, Margett switched positions and was voting with the majority of the Republicans, against Allen.

“What you witnessed today was the purging of the Republican Caucus and the flushing out of the whores,” said Assemblyman Tom J. Bordonaro Jr. (R-Paso Robles).

With Goldsmith, as Assembly president pro tem, trying to run the session, Republican lawmakers pressed for changes that would give them numerical dominance in policy committees and reverse Allen’s announcement of last Friday that she intends to review the employment of 90 Republican Caucus staffers, and may fire some of them.

The GOP also pushed for a rule seemingly aimed at ensuring that Democratic Assemblyman Willie Brown would have to resign within 10 days if he is elected mayor of San Francisco later this year. Also, Republicans wrangled over minutia such as the Cypress assemblywoman’s seat assignment of Republicans on the Assembly floor.

After all the measures failed, or were referred to the Speaker-dominated Rules Committee, Democrats moved to adjourn the session, making sure that the dominant image emanating from the lower-house on Monday would be that of Republican infighting. In fact, no legislative work was done.

“We had the [state] budget [waiting to be debated], but we ended up talking about the arrangement of chairs,” Assemblyman Kevin Murray (D-Los Angeles) said.

Among the other low points:

* Assemblyman Jim Battin (R-Palm Desert) and others accused Allen of posting guards outside a Republican committee chairman’s office.

Allen indignantly denied the charge, blasting her seatmate and fellow Orange County Republican, Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove)--even though he was not among those who had raised that particular issue.

“That’s what Curt Pringle did to the Hispanics in his district,” Allen said, a reference to Pringle’s 1988 election in which he used poll guards who carried signs in Spanish saying non-citizens could not vote. “I don’t put guards at polls or at Republicans’ doors. That’s you’re job, Mr. Pringle.”

“Congratulations,” Pringle responded, “you are able to lower the debate.”

* Assemblyman Jim Morrissey (R-Santa Ana) asked Allen to name him to the committee reviewing the status of the 90 Republican Caucus staffers.

“I wouldn’t have you,” Allen shot back.

* At one point, as Allen spoke, she noticed Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) laughing privately with another lawmaker, and she demanded: “Is that funny, Ms. Boland?”

“I was not laughing at Ms. Allen,” Boland said. “If she’s paranoid about [people] laughing at her, I’m not one of them.”

Boland proceeded to attack Allen’s use of political operative Alice Huffman to help with her transition. Boland called Huffman, an ally of Brown’s and a former top official of the California Teachers Assn., the “most pro-Democrat lobbyist in California.”

“She is here as a volunteer,” Allen said later. “She is helping me with my transition, as a friend, as a volunteer. She’s not here in an official capacity, she is not receiving a salary.”

The Assembly meets again on Thursday--the legal deadline for the Legislature to approve the state’s $56-billion annual budget.