State Senate’s GOP Leader Girds for 1998

Rob Hurtt looks invincible. His wealth, and willingness to spend it on politics, is legendary. His job--as Republican leader of the state Senate--is one of the Capitol’s most powerful. And he hardly lacks political allies.

But as he heads into his sixth year in Sacramento, all of that may not be enough. The Orange County conservative faces a severe test with the elections of 1998, when he commands GOP efforts to erode Democratic control of the upper house.

The results could make or break the Capitol career of this businessman turned political brigadier.

It’s simple math.

If Hurtt and the Republicans gain seats, narrowing the current 23-to-16 Democrat lock in the Senate, he’ll be a hero and cement his hold on leadership.

If the GOP loses ground, Hurtt would be a goat, and the drums of discontent might begin beating within Republican circles. A coup d’etat, or at least an attempt at it, would seem inevitable.

And if irked colleagues couldn’t take him out, Hurtt just might do it himself.

“I’ve got to see some major progress in 1998,” Hurtt said one recent day while reviewing his plans for the coming election year. “If not, I’ll have to reevaluate and figure out how involved I’m going to be and where I’d be most effective.”

Even now, as he girds for election battles, Hurtt readily admits frustration with his Sacramento experience. The folkways of the place, with its marathon meetings and hamster-wheel progress, haven’t been a good fit with a businessman who prides himself on decisive deals and managing every minute.

Hurtt refuses to conform, critics be damned. He’d rather tear down the institution and rebuild it anew, streamlined and more efficient.

“Rob Hurtt thinks of himself as a businessman, not a politician,” said state Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine). “He shares the impatience of his constituents and the business community with the pace of action in the Legislature. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Hurtt thinks the seven-month legislative year should be slashed to just three months to force lawmakers to be more decisive. He despises the Machiavellian aspects of the place, how he can negotiate a cut in some government program in a budget subcommittee only to see the money restored later by the Democrats. Meanwhile, he squirms over the public relations requirements of his job, refusing to go out of his way to curry favor with the press.

“The difficult thing is there’s this huge current--it isn’t even an undercurrent--telling everyone to conform and do business the way it’s always been done,” Hurtt said. “If you don’t, or you criticize it, they say, ‘Jeez, you’re not one of us, therefore we don’t like you.’ ”

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With such studied iconoclasm, Hurtt has stumbled as a lawmaker. He has successfully pushed through few of his own bills and rarely takes the lead in the high-powered negotiations that yield the handful of big-ticket measures that escape the Legislature each year. Of 25 bills he introduced this past session, only one was signed into law--a measure allowing the state to save money by using e-mail instead of the post office for some correspondence.

His allies say Democrats have bottled up Hurtt’s bills and marginalized him in key leadership negotiations, such as the billion-dollar tax cut hammered out in the final hours of this year’s session.

Democrats say that’s nonsense, that Hurtt is his own worst enemy.

“From what I’ve seen, he doesn’t author too many bills, and those he does [author] seem unrealistic,” said Senate Leader Bill Lockyer, a Hayward Democrat and longtime Hurtt critic. “He’s more [aligned with] the Newt Gingrich philosophy than the Republican Party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. He has a kind of cartoon view of the world.”

Hurtt’s ambition, however, has never been to become a policy wonk. He came to Sacramento in 1993, spending $300,000 of his own money and winning 75% of the vote in his first try at public office. He vowed to help Republicans seize control of the Senate and open the floodgates for a conservative tide of tax cuts, slashing the size of government and killing social programs enshrined by the Democrats.

It hasn’t been so easy.

In last year’s elections, the Democrats increased their Senate edge by an additional seat, laying waste to Republican dreams of getting close in 1996 and taking command in 1998.

If the GOP fails again next year, it would be next to impossible for them to take away the Senate any time soon. Faced with another dreary term in the minority, Hurtt might decide to pass the leadership baton.

“If we lose seats, which I don’t think will happen, I doubt Rob would want to remain Republican leader,” said state Sen. John Lewis (R-Orange), one of Hurtt’s political lieutenants. “I just think it would be too frustrating for him at that point.”

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Right now, with election day a year away, the chessboard looks promising for Senate Republicans. They have only half a dozen seats up for grabs, compared with 11 for the Democrats. Hurtt sees three to five seats where the Democrats could be vulnerable. Republicans hope to gain from one to three seats, putting them in striking distance for the 2000 election.

But obstacles loom. The state’s term-limits law has been tossed out by the courts. If it isn’t soon restored by a higher court, several Democrat incumbents--among them Lockyer--could run for reelection, dimming Republican prospects considerably.

Another problem is money. Though he has given more than $4 million to conservative candidates and causes in the past five years, Hurtt’s checkbook has been locked up by Proposition 208, the campaign-finance reform initiative approved by California voters last year. Like term limits, the campaign-finance initiative is under judicial review, and Hurtt remains hopeful all or parts of it will be tossed out by the courts.

If not, Hurtt becomes just another politician with a promise and not much more. “I think that neutralizes me somewhat,” Hurtt admitted. “But it also creates some advantages.”

Among them, he said, will be the ability of Republicans to find wealthy candidates around the state who can finance their own races.

Proposition 208 did nothing to limit how much of their own funds candidates can spend.

Hurtt figures he has “a little bit more to draw on” in Republican ranks. In one Northern California district, Hurtt is hopeful a wine industry executive will run. In the San Diego area, a wealthy professional athlete is among those he’s eyeing.

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As Hurtt lays out his battle plans, his two most likely heirs to the Senate GOP throne sit at either hand. Johnson, his Orange County colleague and a 20-year legislative veteran, has vowed he won’t campaign for the job until Hurtt decides to step down. Sen. Jim Brulte, a talented political strategist from Rancho Cucamonga, also is regarded as a potential GOP leader.

Some colleagues have criticized Hurtt for delegating too much responsibility, particularly to Brulte, who is quickly establishing a reputation as among the most adroit Republican players in the Senate--and a potential challenger for GOP leader.

“I look at Jim Brulte as a plus, not a threat,” Hurtt said. “It’s like I’m chairman of the board and he’s the CEO. Brulte is a hard-working guy who the busier he is, the better he is.”

Should next year’s election results turn grim for the GOP, Hurtt expects a challenge from someone. “I think,” he said, “that’s sort of traditional.”

“If things don’t go well, I’d want to sit back and say: ‘Is there something I want to do different?’ ” Hurtt said. “I’ve got a lot of things going on in my personal life. My business, my family. My parents are getting to the age where they’re going to take more attention. My kids are trying to get involved in various business endeavors. I’d like to be more a part of that.

“But that’s down the road. I’ve got to fight the war, this one big battle next year, and see how it all stacks up.”