Bustamante Seen as a Man of Moderation

Cruz Bustamante, outwardly one of the most unassuming Assembly members, arrived four years ago with one major goal--becoming speaker.

Now, the 43-year-old son of a barber from the tiny San Joaquin Valley farm town of Dinuba is virtually assured of assuming that powerful post. He would be the first Latino to lead the California Assembly.

On Thursday, Bustamante won the blessing of fellow Democrats to be their leader. As such, he will be formally elected speaker when the Assembly convenes Dec. 2 for a one-day organizing session.

“It’s history in the making,” said Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles). “Who would think someone from Dinuba would emerge as one of the most influential leaders?”

Asked to describe Bustamante, Polanco says: “Moderation. It’s not about extremes.”

The oldest of six children, Bustamante is married and the father of three daughters. He got his first glimpse of politics by watching his parents volunteer for community service organizations.

After high school, Bustamante attended Fresno City College and Cal State Fresno, where he studied public administration. He did not graduate. As a college intern, he worked in Washington for former Rep. B.F. Sisk (D-Fresno).

In the late 1970s, Bustamante worked as director of a youth employment training program that puts thousands of Central Valley teenagers to work each summer.

His path then took him back to politics, first as an aide to former Rep. Richard Lehman (D-Fresno) and later as district administrator for former Assemblyman Bruce Bronzan, also a Fresno Democrat.

Bustamante succeeded Bronzan in a special election in 1993, becoming the first Latino elected to the state Legislature from the San Joaquin Valley.

He shows almost none of the outward flamboyance of former Democratic Speaker Willie Brown. But his friends call him a warm man who enjoys delivering one-liners and is skilled at making others feel comfortable.

He is engaging, affable, and, perhaps most importantly in Sacramento, a politician who keeps his word.

“Cruz is a no-nonsense guy,” said Dirk Brazil, a former aide to Lt. Gov. Gray Davis and a friend for 10 years who met Bustamante when both of them were legislative staffers. “There is nothing fancy about him, no bells and whistles. But he is bright, determined and very loyal.”

Brazil and others described Bustamante as totally focused on politics and policy, with little time for other pursuits. One of his few hobbies is wines, said Brazil, who took frequent tasting trips to the Napa Valley with Bustamante.

State Sen. Ken Maddy (R-Fresno) said Bustamante has a good sense of humor, once sending out a fund-raising invitation with a picture of himself dressed in a toga.

“I’ve known him since he was about 12 or 13 years old,” said Maddy, who served with Bustamante’s father on an anti-poverty commission in the late 1960s. “His father was an activist in the Mexican American community at that time, and Cruz was always hanging around. He grew up in the political scene.”

John Navarrette, a childhood friend and Bustamante’s college roommate, recalled Bustamante as always being passionate about issues such as education, health care and housing. Navarrette recalled that as a high school student, Bustamante helped organize a demonstration to protest a rule that closed the campus at lunch.

“He always managed to wind up in the principal’s office,” Navarrette said. “We, his cohorts, would tell him, ‘We’re with you all the way,’ until it got to be time to report to the principal’s office.”

If Bustamante is driven by ideology now, he hasn’t shown it since he arrived in Sacramento. Lobbyists who represent business interests praised Bustamante. They say he is closer to their position on questions of taxes than many Democrats. Some lobbyists for more liberal groups are the most disparaging.

Unlike his predecessor, Assembly Democratic Leader Richard Katz of Sylmar, Bustamante takes money from the tobacco industry. He has accepted $15,000 from Philip Morris and at least $8,500 from the Tobacco Institute this year.

Bustamante voted against landmark legislation to ban smoking in indoor workplaces, and abstained from a vote last year that would have forced state pension funds to sell off holdings in tobacco stocks.

He also voted for a bill that would weaken criminal liability for water polluters, a measure pushed by oil companies and opposed by environmentalists, as well as county prosecutors.

But in an indication of his desire to compromise, Bustamante sent a letter to the prosecutors telling them that it was a difficult vote and promising to work with them on any follow-up legislation.

“He was trying to reach out,” said Ed Lowry, lobbyist for the California Dist. Attys. Assn., calling it rare for a lawmaker to write such a letter.

Times staff writer Carl Ingram contributed to this story.

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Profile: Cruz Bustamante

Speaker-designate of the California Assembly.

* Born: Jan. 4, 1953

* Residence: Fresno

* Education: Tranquillity High School, Fresno; attended Fresno City College and Fresno State.

* Career highlights: Farm worker; congressional and Assembly field office staffer; Assembly member since 1993.

* Interests: Wine connoisseur

* Family: Wife, three children, one grandson.

* Quote: “It is clear to Republicans or any other group trying to split the [Assembly Democrats] that we are united.”