George Danielson; Appeals Court Judge, Legislator

George E. Danielson, a presence on the state and local political scene for many years who gained national prominence as a member of the House Judiciary Committee considering impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon, has died. He was 83.

His wife, Gladys C. “Candy” Danielson, announced that her husband of 45 years had died Saturday in Monterey Park.

The ebullient, forthright Democrat represented the 30th Congressional District from 1970 to 1982 when he accepted an appointment to the California Court of Appeal, retiring in 1992.

Before that he had been a California assemblyman, state senator, FBI agent, World War II Navy veteran and assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.

In Congress, he was known for his pithy aphorisms, once calling the testimony of a recalcitrant witness “like trying to nail a drop of water to the wall.” When Gerald R. Ford assumed the presidency after Nixon’s resignation, Danielson wondered aloud if the country ought to have “a 40-watt bulb in a 100-watt socket.”

It was a partisan comment from a politico known generally for his bipartisan approach to legislative matters. He voted for Nixon’s impeachment in 1974 but fought with fellow Democrats who wanted to oppose additional aid to South Vietnam and Cambodia.

He kept in close touch with constituents in his largely blue-collar district, which encompassed Bell Gardens, Commerce, Maywood, Montebello and parts of East Los Angeles and El Monte.

Staffers were instructed to answer nearly all his mail and show him whatever reflected the local views on issues.

He maintained long hours at his Capitol Building office to spend whatever time was needed for visitors, particularly constituents, The Times reported in a 1975 interview.

Danielson grew up in Wausa, Neb., a grandson of Swedish immigrants who started him on a path that was sympathetic to those who had come to the United States from other lands.

He was a law school graduate of the University of Nebraska, joined the FBI, which stationed him throughout the United States and Latin America, and served in the Navy during World War II. He came to Los Angeles after the war and served as an assistant U.S. attorney before starting his own law firm.

He was elected to the state Assembly in 1962 and the Senate in 1966. While in Sacramento, he wrote a bill that established the first governing board for the Los Angeles Community College District and subsequently administered the oath of office to the first board members.

While on the appellate court, he was involved in cases ranging from Rodney G. King to Malibu cityhood to parental visitation.

But the sobering, burdensome months of Watergate weighed heaviest on him, he said in 1975.

“When I got into impeachment, I let all of the standard political considerations go. Whether I was going to be reelected or defeated (in November 1974) . . . I was just absolutely going to do the best job I could.”

Besides his wife, he is survived by a sister, Sarah Danielson, and several cousins and a niece.

Services are scheduled at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills on Friday at 10:30 a.m.