GOP Assemblywomen Attack New Speaker : Politics: They say Doris Allen betrayed her party and gender to win post. Criticism comes in uninvited appearance at protest of sexism in Capitol.

In a bitter attack on one of their own, a trio of Republican assemblywomen lashed out at GOP Speaker Doris Allen of Cypress on Monday, saying she betrayed her party and her gender by relying on Democrats to win her new leadership position.

“Women are loyal,” said Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills). “They don’t go over to the other side. . . . They don’t eat their young. . . . Doris Allen’s conduct is an insult to the women of this state.”

The attack came, ironically, during a news conference called by women legislators and interest groups to denounce a series of sexist remarks involving Allen’s election as California’s first woman Speaker.

In the past week, some of Allen’s male colleagues have called her “emotional,” “disturbed” and “Willie Brown in drag.” One suggested that her first priority should be to fix her hair, and a GOP consultant was quoted as saying that Allen “doesn’t have the brains to organize a Tupperware party.”

On Monday, state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) joined several other Democratic lawmakers in condemning the remarks and demanding formal apologies from the men who made them.

Watson called the comments “disrespectful,” “demeaning” and “an insult to our kind.” She said the Legislative Women’s Caucus would monitor such language, reporting it to the press and working to unseat lawmakers who use it.

Joining Watson were representatives of several interest groups, including the American Assn. of University Women. Sue Bordner, the group’s California president, said the sexist sniping at Allen had damaged the Speaker’s value as a role model for California girls.

In the midst of Monday’s presentation, the three Republican assemblywomen--Boland, Marilyn C. Brewer (R-Irvine) and Barbara Alby (R-Fair Oaks)--marched uninvited into the conference room and gathered near the podium, where they fumed and glared at Watson and her Democratic colleagues.

When given an opportunity to address the press, the trio--the only three Republican women in the Assembly, save for Allen--called the sexist remarks “trivial.” They also accused those offended by them of behaving like “word police.”

“These remarks have been uttered around here for years,” Alby said. “Doris Allen is in the kitchen and there’s a lot of heat in the kitchen. If you can’t stand the heat. . . .”

“Last time I checked, this was a free country,” Boland added later. “If you don’t like someone’s hair, I think it’s OK to say it.”

While dismissing the remarks about Allen, the GOP assemblywomen appeared livid over a remark made by former Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) last week. Summing up Allen’s victory over the Republicans’ official Speaker candidate, Assemblyman Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga), Brown said, “the white boys got taken.”

“That is racist and is beyond the pale,” Alby said. On that point, the Democratic women agreed, saying that such language should also be condemned.

Monday’s outbursts marked a continuation of criticism that has rained on Allen since her stunning rise to power June 5. This attack, however, was particularly stinging, focusing on her landmark status as the state’s first woman Speaker.

Boland said that far from being a role model for California women, Allen was a “sellout” and a disgrace to her gender. During a weekend visit to her district, Boland said, she was stopped on the street by three women who complained about the new Speaker’s conduct.

“One woman said to me, ‘You go back to Sacramento and you tell Doris Allen she has set women back 30 years,’ ” Boland said. “She sold out her family . . . and she’s a wimp.”

Brewer, who was kicked off the powerful Rules Committee by Allen after she refused to join a ceremonial escort of Allen to the Speaker’s rostrum when she took the gavel last week, said Allen’s ascent “denigrates women.”

She suggested that Democrats are hailing Allen’s status as the first woman Speaker to mask the “blatant” deal-making that led to her election, which Allen accomplished with unanimous Democratic support but only one GOP vote--her own.

“The Democrats have nothing to hide behind except a woman, Doris Allen,” Brewer said. “That’s the only way they’re going to be able to sell this to the people of the state. . . . They are using her.”

Monday’s dispute revealed a widening chasm in the ranks of women lawmakers in Sacramento. United by aggravating episodes of sexism, female legislators formed the bipartisan Women’s Legislative Caucus in 1985. The caucus became a model for statehouses nationwide, pushing an impressive slate of bills through the male-dominated Legislature.

In 1993, the GOP women bolted after Democrats refused to back then-Sen. Marian Bergeson, a Newport Beach Republican, in her move to become California’s first woman superintendent of public instruction.