A Terminal Case of Mad GOP Disease

For Tony Quinn, the election results have confirmed his diagnosis of what ails fellow California Republicans: “They’re infected with ‘mad cow disease.’ ”

Quinn is a veteran GOP strategist, Capitol historian and co-editor of The Target Book, which tracks legislative races.

There has been no recorded case of “mad cow disease” in the United States, but you wouldn’t know it, Quinn notes, by watching state and legislative GOP leaders stumble around in confusion.

They may not have been eating British beef, but for the last year they have been devouring their own. The latest incidence was the cannibalism of freshman Assemblyman Brian Setencich of Fresno, the only incumbent legislator to lose in Tuesday’s elections.

True, Setencich left himself vulnerable to predators by straying off from the GOP last year and taking up with Willie Brown. Straggler Setencich was the only GOP Assembly member to side with Republican Doris Allen of Cypress after Democrats elected her speaker. Then he allowed Democrats to install him as speaker over GOP protests when Allen was forced out.

One can appreciate the Republicans’ appetite, but continued cannibalism does tend to be collectively self-destructive.

Count the victims: Paul Horcher of Diamond Bar, who felt shunned by the GOP, voted to reelect Brown speaker and was recalled by Republicans. Allen, recalled. Setencich, ambushed in the primary by the religious right.

“Inexcusably stupid,” says Quinn.

*

This is why the Setencich slaughter has all the symptoms of MCD:

First, the GOP clings to only a one-vote majority in the Assembly. Setencich is the crucial 41st Republican. His party vote wasn’t very reliable before Tuesday. But now the GOP can forget it completely. And he’ll be an assemblyman for eight more months.

“His vote is gone,” acknowledges state GOP Chairman John Herrington, who signed a letter to voters accusing Setencich of “selling out” to Brown and waging “public attacks on Christians and those who want to restore moral values to society.”

Herrington contends Setencich rebuffed GOP efforts to bring him back into the fold.

Setencich’s so-called attacks on Christians amounted basically to some brief comments to Times reporters last November. He lamented an “intolerant faction of the party” that provides a “very small umbrella and if you don’t fit under it, you’re not considered a good member of the party--and that’s got to stop.”

The lawmaker, a Serbian Orthodox, opposes abortion rights. But that didn’t stop the Christian right from bankrolling his challenger, Robert Prenter Jr., a carpetbagger from Visalia whose uncle heads a religious broadcasting network.

The No. 2 reason why the sacrifice of Setencich smacks of MCD is that his San Joaquin Valley district is basically Democrat--53% to 35% in registration. It’s very tough for a conservative Republican to win there.

True, Democrats screwed up by not fielding a candidate in the primary. That means they won’t have a nominee on the November ballot. You’d have to be awfully naive to believe the Democrats’ contention that they just couldn’t recruit a good candidate. Myself, I agree with Herrington that the “fix was in” so Setencich could run unopposed.

But Democrats now can rectify this by recruiting an independent for the ballot. Setencich is legally barred, but he certainly could campaign for the independent. He still has a strong following in the district, regardless of his narrow loss Tuesday.

“By beating Setencich,” Quinn notes, “Republicans have denied themselves their 41st vote and endangered a seat they need to retain a majority in November.”

The GOP is adept at payback but rather inept at governing.

*

Actually, I believe the California GOP contracted “mad cow disease” on election night in November 1994. The party slowly has been deteriorating ever since.

First, they couldn’t seize control of the Assembly despite their majority.

Then Gov. Pete Wilson destroyed his new popularity by breaking a promise not to run for president.

Next, the Senate GOP ousted as its leader Ken Maddy of Fresno, the Legislature’s most effective, knowledgeable and respected Republican.

And there were all those brainless shenanigans in the Allen recall. So far, they have led to the indictment of her Assembly replacement, two indictments of GOP operatives and three guilty pleas by aides.

Maybe deep down inside, Republicans just don’t want to govern.