Milton Marks; Career S.F. Legislator

Former State Sen. Milton Marks, who represented San Francisco in the Legislature through 38 years, died Friday of heart failure at the age of 78.

Marks, who left the Senate in 1996 because of term limits, had been in poor health for several years and had been hospitalized at UC Medical Center in San Francisco when he died.

Marks was an old-style politician who believed in the personal touch: He sent a congratulatory letter to every high school graduate in his district, and condolence messages when there was a death in the family. He went to weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs, baptisms, anniversaries, store openings, and just about any other gathering where he could shake hands.

“They say if there are three people in one room, one of them will be Milton Marks,” Marks once joked. Referring to his campaigning stamina, he often boasted of attending 14 dinners in a single night, “and I didn’t even eat.”

He was first elected to the Assembly in 1958 as a Republican, but left in 1966 when he was appointed a Municipal Court judge by Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Sr. He left the court the next year and won a Senate seat in a special election over John Burton, the current president pro tem of the state Senate, who was then a Democratic assemblyman from San Francisco.

Marks consistently had the most liberal voting record for a Republican in the Legislature, so it came as no surprise when he changed his party affiliation in 1986. He explained his decision by saying that the Republican Party was no longer the progressive party it had been when he was first elected.

Republican leaders, who had thought of him as a headache over the years, were glad to be rid of him. Democrats greeted him with a 10-foot-long “Welcome Uncle Miltie” banner and elected him as caucus chairman, the third-ranking party post in the Senate.

“He started out as a moderate to conservative Republican, but gradually transformed into a liberal Democrat and became a leader on a whole host of important issues: gay rights, environmental protection, labor and civil liberties,” said Burton, who succeeded him in the state Senate.

Laws written by Marks include ones that require nonflammable material in children’s pajamas, created personalized license plates to raise money for environmental issues, restricted asbestos use, and created the Bay Conservation and Development Commission. He drafted a bill that prohibited uniformed guards near polling places after the Orange County Republican Party posted private guards at 20 largely Latino precincts during a close 1988 Assembly race in which then-newcomer Curt Pringle edged out his Democratic opponent by 867 votes.

Marks also created an independent state agency that provides investigative reports on public policy issues. It was originally called the Commission on Government Organization and Economy or the Little Hoover Commission, but its name was changed a few years ago to the Milton Marks Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy.

But despite all the legislation, Marks was not known for taking the lead on controversial issues. “He has the courage of your convictions,” a Republican National Committee official once said of him. “His constituent service is really amazing.”

Marks lost only two elections--one for San Francisco mayor in 1975 and in 1982, when he was still a Republican and challenged Phil Burton for Congress.

“Sen. Marks made extraordinary contributions to our state,” said San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, the former Assembly speaker.

Marks was born in San Francisco. His father, Milton Marks Sr., served one term in the state Senate beginning in 1917. The younger Marks received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and was stationed in the Philippines with the Army during World War II. After the war, he went to San Francisco Law School at night while working, earning his law degree in 1949.

He is survived by his wife, Carolene, and three children. Services are pending.