Leonard Wins GOP Assembly Leadership Post

Ending weeks of internal political wrestling, Assembly Republicans on Tuesday named veteran legislator Bill Leonard to be their new leader as they gear up for an attempt to retake the lower house in next year’s elections.

Lawmakers said the unanimous election of Leonard, who will replace current Republican Leader Curt Pringle after the state budget is hammered out this summer, should ease a rift that emerged when the GOP lost command of the Assembly in November.

“I would be stunned if there is sniping after this,” said Assemblyman Jim Battin (R-La Quinta). “Much to our delight and the dismay of others, our caucus is united.”

In lining up behind Leonard, Assembly Republicans have settled on a lawmaker who is equal parts political pragmatist and unbending loyalist to the conservative cause.

The San Bernardino Republican has shepherded some of the biggest pro-business bills to pass out of the statehouse in recent years and yet is known to put ideology aside if necessary to advance other important issues.

His courtly manners and willingness to occasionally compromise have won him fans in the opposing party.

“I think he’s a marvelous gentleman and one who will smooth the angry waters of the Legislature,” said Assemblyman Dick Floyd, a San Pedro Democrat.

Liberal state Sen. John Burton (D-San Francisco) said he expects that Leonard, who has nearly 20 years experience in the Legislature, will have a long reign: “It looks to me Republicans got themselves five years of stability by choosing Leonard as their leader.”

The process by which Leonard secured his election may provide a foretaste of the smooth sailing that Republicans are hoping for. Leonard’s path was cleared when his chief rival, Assemblyman Keith Olberg of Victorville, bowed out of the leadership contest Monday. Olberg was undercut when a third candidate, Tom Bordonaro of Paso Robles, threw his support to Leonard.

Leonard, 49, said his top priority would be to meet with the 36 other Assembly Republicans, put together a leadership team, and plot a policy agenda and political strategy heading into next year’s elections.

“We lost the majority, and now we have to move on to retake it,” Leonard said, though he predicts that recapturing the Assembly from the Democrats in 1998 “is a longshot.”

Pringle, who has long said that he would step down this year, characterized Tuesday’s vote as that rare day in politics when a political takeover occurred smoothly and without strife.

“We are focused on being united, we are focused on being a team,” said Pringle, who has led Assembly Republicans for the last two years. “And we are focused on regaining the majority.”

While Leonard works toward that goal, even his opponents say that he may lighten up the contentious atmosphere in the Assembly.

“He’s smart and diplomatic, has a New Right philosophy, but with a friendlier face,” said Senate Leader Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), who served for eight years in the Senate with Leonard.

Such praise aside, the Capitol veteran is an unabashedly devout conservative Christian. A Presbyterian, he helps lead the legislative Bible study group, typically votes with anti-abortion forces and staunchly protects gun-owner rights.

No grandstander, Leonard is known for immersing himself in the arcane details of highly complex issues, including efforts to reform workers’ compensation insurance and last year’s push to deregulate the electrical industry.

Although business policy is his bread and butter, Leonard is probably best known as the author of a 1989 law that lowered a driver’s legal blood-alcohol level from 0.10% to 0.08%.

“It’s true, he has strong philosophical beliefs, and always does his homework on the issues,” said state Sen. Jim Brulte, a fellow San Bernardino County Republican. “And if research and data show that his philosophical predisposition doesn’t fit, he is willing to take a pragmatic position.”

Sen. Ken Maddy of Fresno, who was ousted as GOP leader in 1995 by New Right Republicans including Leonard, said the “big question” facing Leonard is whether he can “accommodate” moderate members in an Assembly caucus dominated by conservatives.

It’s unlikely that Leonard’s mix of conservative philosophy and political compromise will cause a radical shift in course for Assembly Republicans.

But there will almost certainly be stylistic differences from the reign of Pringle, who demonstrated a deft touch on policy issues but was at times harshly partisan, costing him friends and allies.

“I think Bill Leonard brings an ability to get along with just about everyone in the caucus,” said Assemblyman Steve Kuykendall, a moderate Republican from Rancho Palos Verdes. “A lot of this business is interpersonal skills, and he has them.”

Born and raised in the San Bernardino County district he now represents, Leonard attended the same high school as his parents and grandparents. He gravitated to the family real estate business as a young adult, but saw his future either in politics or the Christian ministry.

Upon graduation from UC Irvine, he applied to a theological seminary at the same time he sought an Assembly fellowship. “As corny as it sounds, the approval of the Assembly fellowship came first,” he said. “So I took what I knew was there.”

But Leonard’s deep religious beliefs stuck, and are well-known in the Capitol.

A rumor that God told him to run for Assembly Republican leader “unfortunately” wasn’t true, he said with a laugh. “There were no lightning strikes. I can only hope I’m doing what God wants me to do.”

Married for the second time, Leonard and his wife, Sherry, have three children between them. Tragedy befell Leonard and his first wife 21 years ago when one of their twin boys was born with a malformed heart and lived only days.

Leonard began political life as a Democrat and switched parties in 1970 when he joined the staff of Republican Rep. Jerry Pettis of San Bernardino in his Washington office.

He applied to several law schools but was turned down. He said he suspects that the reason was that “I didn’t make the Caucasian cut” with affirmative action policies in effect, “and that always seemed wrong to me.”

He credits his 1978 Assembly election to beating an opponent who campaigned against tax-cutting Proposition 13.

“Yep,” he said, “I was a Proposition 13 baby.”

After 10 years in the Assembly, Leonard was elected to the state Senate. With term limits about to force him out, he made the unusual move last year to run once more for the Assembly. In California history, only a handful have preceded him in twice changing houses, he said, the last one sometime in the 1930s.

Leonard was one of the few Republicans in the Legislature who opposed enactment of the 1990 term limits initiative, arguing that restrictions on a lawmaker’s tenure are best enforced by voters at the ballot box.

Leonard also was motivated by a chance to become a member of the majority party after Republicans captured the Assembly in 1994. But, as luck would have it, Leonard arrived just as the Democrats recaptured the lower house.

Times staff writer Carl Ingram contributed to this story.

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Profile: Bill Leonard

Leonard is the next Assembly Republican leader. He will replace Curt Pringle of Garden Grove, probably next month. A conservative and a pragmatist, Leonard sees his role as leading the GOP to recapture the lower house majority in the 1998 elections.

* Born: Oct. 29, 1947

* Residence: San Bernardino

* Education: Bachelor’s degree in history from UC Irvine

* Career highlights: One of few in California history to have served in the Assembly and state Senate, then be reelected to the Assembly. Leonard held party leadership positions in the Senate and served on special committees dealing with workers’ compensation insurance and deregulation of the electrical industry.

* Interests: Computer technology

* Family: Wife, Sherry, and three children

* Quote: “I like to think of myself as a compassionate Republican.”