From the First, Allen’s Days as Speaker Seemed Numbered

Right from the beginning, it seemed likely that Doris Allen’s tenure as Assembly Speaker might not last too long.

Winning the speakership June 5 without the help of even one of her 38 Republican colleagues would make her job tough enough. She was the state’s first woman Speaker and the first Republican Speaker in 25 years. But she was immediately the target of sexist remarks and bitter comments from some of her colleagues. Claiming she had betrayed them, those foes launched a recall just days after she ascended to the Assembly’s top post.

Her efforts to woo fellow Republicans and give them more clout on committees in the fractious Assembly were halting and met with little praise. Only recently, she sought to play a big role in Orange County bankruptcy legislation, but came in for harsh criticism there as well. Her biggest detractors: fellow Republicans from Orange County.

All the while, Assembly Democrats--amused by the Republican squabbling--stood by Allen, sometimes gritting their teeth but always supplying the necessary votes to preserve her tenuous reign.

Facing a relentless beating day after day from those inside and outside her delegation, Allen seemed to adopt a bunker mentality. Never a student of diplomacy, Allen’s temper sometimes got the best of her during her short stint as Speaker, particularly behind closed doors.

Finally, as the pressure escalated this week, Allen lashed out at her foes running the recall and lashed out at Republican Party leaders, calling them “a group of power-mongering men with short penises.”

With the remark, Allen’s staff knew she had gone too far, and with the recall election officially certified Thursday, they persuaded her to step aside.

Allen took the speakership three months ago, she told the Assembly on Thursday, “in the sincere belief I could bring peace to our house and guide the Assembly through difficult times. Unfortunately, there are members of the Assembly Republican Caucus who are more bent on revenge than on developing and implementing good public policy.”

In the end, with news that a recall election had become a reality, she said, “I had a choice to make--to represent the constituents who elected me . . . or give into the fringe element of my party and accept defeat,” she said. “I cannot do that. I am a fighter. . . .”

Afterward, Allen’s allies said she was never given a fair chance to prove what she could do, partially because she was a woman, but mostly because her Republican colleagues were so incensed at her alliance of convenience with the Democrats.

“They never got over the fact that someone who they did not pick accomplished what they couldn’t do: Put a Republican in the Speaker’s chair for the first time in 25 years,” said Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), one of Allen’s strongest supporters.

“Doris Allen will go down in history as the first woman to be the Speaker of the House,” said Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-Burlingame). “She had a lot of guts to do what others in their caucus were reluctant to do, but wanted very much to do.

“The glass ceiling has been shattered. There will be another woman, hopefully sooner than later, who will be Speaker of this body and will have the opportunity to really exemplify the leadership that women bring to this institution.”

While her supporters said she showed tremendous strength and independence, there were no tears Thursday from her Republican foes.

“Her speakership was singularly insignificant,” said Orange County GOP Chairman Tom Fuentes, who supports Allen’s recall.