Allen’s New Status Intensifies Recall Debate in Cypress : Politics: One activist says the Speaker’s deal with Willie Brown and resolution praising her will aid efforts to remove 3 council members.

The seething politics of Sacramento have spilled over into this community, already divided by a City Council recall and now in a furor over the election of Doris Allen as Speaker of the state Assembly.

When the council late Monday unanimously approved a resolution praising Allen, a Cypress resident, the move instantly started a protest.

Kathy Simcox, a leader in the campaign to oust three council members, rose from the audience and admonished the council: “Many citizens [in Cypress] would like to see Doris Allen recalled.”

She said the council’s support for Republican Allen, whose reliance on Democratic votes to become speaker on June 5 angered her party, would help the anti-council recall effort.

Harsher criticism came Tuesday, when Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), whose district includes part of Cypress--and who wants Allen ousted for making a pact with the Democrats--also fumed at the council’s action.

“Doris Allen has made a deal with the devil, and they [the council] can try to pour perfume over it, but the whole thing stinks,” Rohrabacher said. “I think the city of Cypress is conservative Republican, and the people there are just not going to put up with it. Doris Allen is going to be recalled. It won’t even be close.”

Allen, formerly a little-known assemblywoman, became a statewide political issue when she was elected to succeed Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) as Speaker of the 80-member Assembly.

She was picked with a vote of all Democrats in the lower house and only her own Republican vote. Many Republicans have accused her of being a party traitor and a puppet of the Democrats.

Despite the political storm, council members on Monday night praised their sudden hometown celebrity.

Councilwoman Gail H. Kerry, a Republican, made the motion to praise Allen.

“Doris Allen has represented us well for many years, and to say she’s a puppet of anyone is ridiculous,” Kerry said. “I am tickled she beat the boys at their own game, and that we now have a woman as Speaker.”

The council, without dissenting debate, unanimously approved Kerry’s motion.

In a separate motion, the council authorized Mayor Cecilia L. Age to make a trip to Sacramento on June 22 to meet with Allen, who has called a special meeting of city officials in her Assembly district.

“Rarely do we have such an opportunity to have the Speaker sit down with you,” Age said.

She said it would be a good opportunity for the city to seek Allen’s help with problems that involve state aid. Kerry suggested flood-control aid as one problem to be presented to Allen.

But Bob Pepper, a leader in the recall aimed at the three council members, on Tuesday charged that Allen has called the Sacramento meeting to butter up city officials within the assembly district.

He said rank-and-file Republicans in the district are upset about Allen’s election as Speaker.

“Last Sunday, when we were collecting signatures [for the council recall] on Valley View Street, about 20 people came up to us and asked if it was the recall against Doris Allen,” Pepper said. “People already want to sign a recall against her.”

Pepper said the council’s action praising Allen plays into the hands of recall leaders.

“The entire City Council made a mistake,” he said. “To have the audacity to say they represent the political feelings of the community is absolutely uncalled for.”

And Pepper asserted that the council is now an even bigger target for voter wrath for publicly praising Allen.

“I think they’ve nailed their coffin shut,” Pepper said.

The council members targeted for recall are Age, Kerry and Councilman Walter K. Bowman.

The recall was launched because they voted Sept. 26 for a large carpet warehouse to be built in the Valley View Street area.

Residents near the proposed warehouse maintain that the council’s action would ruin the appearance of their neighborhood.

Council members Mary Ann Jones and Tom Carroll were not on the panel when the vote on the warehouse was taken.

Completed petitions against Age and Kerry have already been submitted by recall forces. Each petition contained more than 6,300 voter signatures, the recall advocates said.

The voter signatures are being checked by the county registrar of voters. The recall petition against Bowman is still being circulated.

City Manager Darrell Essex said he expects final word from the registrar within the next two weeks on the Age and Kerry recall petitions. If the registrar certifies that a minimum of 4,680 voter signatures are valid on any of the petitions, state law requires a special recall election.