Gov. Wilson Blasts Allen, Backs Recall : Politics: Ex-Speaker calls letter a bald attempt to curry favor with conservatives who have not endorsed state chief’s presidential campaign.

Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday endorsed the recall of Assemblywoman Doris Allen, saying the Orange County lawmaker betrayed Republican colleagues and her party’s principles when she struck a deal with Democrats earlier this year to become Speaker of the Assembly.

Wilson said Allen brought “disgrace and dishonor” to the speakership by working to subvert the interests of fellow Republicans.

“Though nominally a Republican, as Speaker she routinely jeopardized both Republican colleagues and the agenda for change which California voters demanded last November,” Wilson said in a letter to the Allen recall campaign. “. . . Her actions only verified that the purpose of her election as Speaker by the Democrats was to seek out and punish Republicans. Shamefully, Ms. Allen willingly loaned herself and her new office to this purpose.”

The governor also said “the magnitude of her betrayal of her party and its policies and principles” exceeded that of turncoat Republican Assemblyman Paul Horcher, who bolted the GOP in December and cast the pivotal vote that kept Democrat Willie Brown in charge of the lower house for several more months.

Horcher was recalled earlier this year and Allen faces a recall election Nov. 28. On the same ballot, six candidates will compete for the right to replace her, if voters in her northwestern Orange County district decide to end her tenure in the Legislature.

Allen said she was not surprised by Wilson’s support of the recall, saying it was a bald attempt to curry favor with conservatives who have not endorsed the governor’s presidential campaign.

“I think it is hypocritical of him . . . considering the Orange County political machine is staunchly behind one of his major presidential opponents,” Allen said. “It is well known that his presidential campaign is in deep financial trouble. This political maneuver can only be an effort to go after the machine’s money. Knowing them, I’m certain they’ve made him some promises.”

Allen, a Republican from Cypress who stepped down from the speakership earlier this month, has had a frosty relationship with the governor for months.

Wilson criticized Allen soon after she vaulted to the Assembly’s top post June 5 with 38 Democratic votes plus her own, telling reporters he did not consider Allen the true leader of Republicans in the lower house.

The two politicians feuded bitterly during summer budget negotiations. Allen blamed the governor for the lengthy impasse. Wilson counterattacked after the budget was settled by dismissing Allen as “irrelevant” to the process.

Allen later earned the governor’s ire by derailing one of his favorite bills, which would have eased environmental restrictions on a variety of businesses.

Wilson’s announcement appears timed to correspond with this weekend’s state Republican Party convention in Palm Springs, which is expected to include a vote of the GOP faithful on the Allen recall. With his presidential campaign stumbling, Wilson has been eager to mend fences with conservatives who have seized control of the state Republican Party.

Recall proponents said the endorsement by Wilson, a moderate Republican whose presidential campaign has failed to win the backing of most Orange County conservatives, will help seal Allen’s fate.

“We think it does send a very positive message,” said Jeff Flint, a consultant for the recall campaign. “Wilson had a good public agenda he was trying to push this year. Because of Paul Horcher and Doris Allen, a lot of that fell by the wayside. We think he has a lot to say about why Doris Allen should be recalled.”

Allen stepped down from the Speaker’s post Sept. 14 after little more than three months in office. But even then she angered Assembly Republicans by voting with the Democrats to turn the job over to Assemblyman Brian Setencich, a freshman Republican from Fresno and the second-in-command during Allen’s stormy tenure.

Aside from Setencich and Allen, every other Republican in the Assembly voted for GOP Leader Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), one of Allen’s harshest critics and a leader of the recall effort.

In his letter, Wilson said Allen “demonstrated her loyalty to the Democrats” by refusing to give Assembly Republicans, who won a 41-to-39 member edge in the November election, a majority on the powerful Assembly Rules Committee, and by giving the minority Democrats an equal say on how the house is run and in determining the fate of legislation.

He added that Allen’s attempts “to derail” a bankruptcy recovery plan for Orange County and push herself into the debate during the closing days of the legislative session “was proof of her disregard for the legislative process.”