Allen Gives Post Back to Outspoken GOP Foe

Stripped of a prestigious committee chairmanship last week, Assemblywoman Paula Boland was back in the job again Tuesday in a surprise twist in the soap opera surrounding Speaker Doris Allen.

Allen consented to reinstall Boland as chairwoman of the Public Safety Committee after the two Republican women had a 45-minute, heart-to-heart talk.

The discussion followed last week’s crescendo of bitterness between Boland, of Granada Hills, and Allen, of Cypress.

By last weekend, Boland was leading a stampede of angry GOP attacks on Allen, who had struck a deal favorable to Democrats to be elected Speaker. On and off the Assembly floor, Boland called Allen a hypocrite and unfit as a leader.

“Women are loyal. . . . They don’t eat their young,” Boland said about Allen at one point, prompting Allen to later retort that “women who attack other women are out of order.”

Allen responded by yanking Boland from the committee chairmanship that she had used to political advantage in her conservative San Fernando Valley district.

But by Tuesday, it was evident that Allen was having a hard time shopping around a post seized from another Republican as punishment for her outspokenness.

Both camps cautioned that Boland’s reprieve may be temporary, depending on how the two continue to get along.

In a move that could prove strategic, Allen also appointed her one strong Assembly Republican ally, Assemblyman Brian Setencich of Fresno, to a seat on the committee.

“As I understand it, it is a one-day appointment, and the Speaker is going to continue her talks with Assemblywoman Boland,” Allen’s spokesman Mike MeCey said.

“We’re looking for an optimistic solution. The purpose is to evaluate the members and to make sure they are going to be team players.”

Boland revealed little of what was said, but reported that the tete-a-tete was not exactly a meeting of the minds.

“I’m graceful about letting her put me back and that’s without selling out any of my principles,” Boland said. “We’re doing this a week at a time. She and I had a conversation. . . . It went fine, but we have to continue the conversation.”