Democrats See a Chance to Trash GOP Adversary

As Republicans took control of the Assembly last month, Larry Bowler audaciously led a charge to seize a municipal trash truck that he alleged contained evidence that Democrats were improperly using state resources for political purposes.

But now the outspoken GOP assemblyman who loves to needle Democrats appears to have run afoul of the same restriction--and is getting a little of his own treatment in return.

State documents show that during the past two years, Bowler’s staff has been reimbursed a total of about $85 in public funds for traveling to at least five Republican Party gatherings.

“I’m under the impression there is no violation of law or propriety,” said the silver-haired, 56-year-old Sacramento-area lawmaker. “This is an extension of my representation of Republicans and Democrats.”

In an interview, Bowler said the issue of his office travel pales next to the stack of allegedly incriminating evidence he found in the trash truck. That, he boasts, is a scandal brewing into a Sacramento-style Watergate.

“I’ve given you [the press] homicides and you’re looking at jaywalking and it ain’t even a violation of law. That just blows my head away,” Bowler says. “That garbage-gate thing is homicide.”

Bowler’s hyperbole aside, the discovery of taxpayer-paid travel to Republican Party meetings delights Democrats, who have found the former sheriff’s lieutenant such a thorn in their side that former Speaker Willie Brown once exiled him to a Capitol office not much bigger than a broom closet.

Democrats say that, even though the cost involved in the staff travel is minimal, it suggests that Bowler is acting hypocritically. “It appears that people have been reimbursed state dollars for doing political work,” said Assembly Democratic Leader Richard Katz. “And if that’s the case, that’s obviously improper.”

The Sylmar Democrat said the travel funds raise questions about Bowler’s judgment. He said that elected officials like Bowler “ought to live by the standard they hold other people to.”

The partisan sniping is a sign, too, of the antagonism in the bitterly divided Assembly, where Republicans last month elected their own speaker for the first time in 25 years.

Buoyed by the GOP victory, Bowler and other Republican lawmakers persuaded the state attorney general to inspect a Sacramento trash truck containing refuse supposedly dumped out of a state legislative office by their Democratic rivals.

“That trash contains incriminating evidence,” Bowler thundered at the time, as he and several GOP colleagues stood next to the garbage truck. Democrats denied the allegation, which is still under review by the attorney general.

Bowler’s critics see the travel records as a way to turn the tables.

The mileage claims--approved by Bowler--show his staff attending Republican County Central Committee meetings in Stockton and Sacramento on five occasions in 1994 and 1995.

The claims were reviewed by Assembly Rules Committee officials when Democrats controlled the lower house. State auditors typically don’t question expenses under $100 and signed by a lawmaker, said a spokesman for the state controller’s office.

It is unlawful for lawmakers or their staffs to use state resources for political purposes.

Bowler said the law is intended to prohibit campaign-oriented activities on state time, not restrict attendance at Republican meetings he is obligated to attend as a member of two county central committees.

Staff members attended on their own time and were engaged in legitimate public business, Bowler said.

He is no stranger to controversy.

After his election, Bowler lost no time in accusing then-Speaker Brown of being a dictator. Brown moved Bowler into a tiny office where he could smell bacon and eggs frying next door in a state cafeteria.

Last year, Bowler cut several microphone wires in the Assembly Rules Committee room because he was afraid GOP meetings were bugged by Democrats.

And after Brown complained that Bowler was a jerk, Bowler said he bought a copy of the movie “The Jerk” and gave it to Brown for his birthday. Cracked a smiling Bowler: “It was a little jab.”