GOP Tightens Power Lock in Assembly

Republicans continued their takeover of key power positions in the Assembly Thursday, installing GOP chairmen and majorities on every permanent committee.

Stunned Democrats, who knew they were in for a drubbing, said the new assignments exceeded their expectations, calling them biased and spiteful. They accused the GOP of conservative extremism, which they said would be an issue in this year’s Assembly elections.

New GOP Speaker Curt Pringle of Garden Grove defended his moves, saying Democrats were being treated no worse than Republicans under decades of Democratic control of the lower house.

He called the new assignments “fair” and said they represent the desires of Republicans “to sit on committees they have not served on before.”

Several lawmakers from Orange County’s all-Republican statehouse delegation also fared well, capturing spots on powerful committees or securing chairmanships.

Assemblyman Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside) will chair the Judiciary Committee, and Pringle will continue to oversee the Rules Committee, which controls operations of the lower house. Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) will chair the Utilities and Commerce Committee, while Assemblyman Jim Morrissey (R-Santa Ana) will lead the Consumer Protection, Governmental Efficiency and Economic Development Committee.

Morrow, Morrissey, Assemblywoman Marilyn C. Brewer (R-Irvine) and Assemblyman Richard Ackerman (R-Fullerton) will hold spots on the Appropriations Committee, posts that position them well to reap campaign contributions. Brewer holds spots on the Governmental Organization and Rules committees too.

Pringle also shuffled Assembly members’ Capitol offices, assigning choice locations to about half the membership in leadership positions, including some Democrats; the remainder drew lots.

Several veteran Democrats were thrown off committees they had served on for years, and others were bunched onto panels that could hurt them in future elections.

For example, Assemblywoman Dede Alpert (D-Coronado), about to enter a tough state Senate race, said her appointment to the Public Safety Committee means “they want me to vote for the death penalty over and over again.”

Some Republicans were also disappointed with the changes.

Moving to defuse the explosive issue of abortion funding from this year’s state budget debate, Pringle bypassed one of the Assembly’s most avid abortion foes as Budget Committee chairman.

Assemblyman Bruce Thompson (R-Fallbrook), who had been vice chairman of the Budget Committee and lobbied hard for the chairmanship, wound up off the committee altogether, saving the governor possible embarrassment. Thompson had refused to vote for Gov. Pete Wilson’s budget last year because it contained about $40 million for abortions and $70 million for family planning programs.

Pringle’s choice as Budget Committee chairman was Gary G. Miller, who has been in the Assembly less than a year. Miller, a wealthy developer, won a special election in May. Before that, he was on the Diamond Bar City Council.

“I’m pro-life, but if you go into the budget . . . with one single focus, you would be remiss,” Miller said.

Installed as chairman of the Education Committee was Assemblyman Steve Baldwin (R-El Cajon), who has joined conservatives in urging Wilson to turn down $42 million in federal education funds, which is still under negotiation.

Baldwin has said he fears federal meddling that could lead, for example, to condom distribution by schools, and he blames state education officials for “micro-managing everything from Sacramento.”

Environmentalists were alarmed over the appointment of Assemblyman Keith Olberg (R-Victorville) as head of the Natural Resources Committee. Olberg has sought to amend species protection laws and loosen recycling requirements.

In the Assembly Judiciary Committee, long a bastion of Democratic strength headed by Phillip Isenberg (D-Sacramento), all three lawyer Democrats were dismissed. The new panel, expected to favor pro-business legislation, includes four Republican lawyers, including Morrow and one new Democratic lawyer, Debra Bowen of Marina del Rey.

Isenberg predicted that the Republican agenda--which includes tax breaks for business, expansion of pesticide use and welfare cuts, will eventually backfire. It “will take awhile for the message to sink in the California public’s consciousness,” Isenberg said, “but when it does, I don’t think the Republicans will be any happier with the result [in Sacramento] than they are in Washington.”

Times staff writer Eric Bailey contributed to this story.