Bob Hertzberg

When the members of the state Assembly gather next month in Sacramento to select their next speaker, chances are better than good that the person they choose will be Bob Hertzberg, an energetic and engaging Democrat from the San Fernando Valley.

After all, Hertzberg has been handpicked by his longtime friend and colleague Antonio Villaraigosa, who is leaving the speaker’s post and running for mayor of Los Angeles. And with that support, bolstered by his own active campaigning, Hertzberg appears to have locked up the backing of most of the Assembly’s 47 Democrats, even though fellow Valley lawmaker, Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), says he remains an active candidate.

The speaker’s post is the Legislature’s most powerful job. In addition to all of its trappings--a historic wood-paneled office, a car and driver--the speaker holds power over 79 other lawmakers’ lives. He has a seat on the UC Board of Regents, gets to make dozens of spoils appointments, has potential influence over nearly all state policy decisions and, at this time in history, is a major voice in reapportionment, the redrawing of district lines.

Although term limits diminishes the ability of the speaker to amass vast personal power, as Jess Unruh and Willie Brown did, he leads a body that influences the lives of most Californians.

The Times recently talked to Hertzberg about the coming legislative year and his role in it:

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Question: What can we expect in the way of legislation in the upcoming session?

Answer: We’re in the process now of developing that agenda. And right now, I’m thinking about the speaker’s job. That vote will take place on Jan. 24th, and I’m comfortable that it will happen. At the same time, I’m trying to develop an agenda with the governor’s office and with the president of the Senate.

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Q: Yet there are issues that are already under discussion, such as efforts to rebuild the state’s infrastructure.

A: The infrastructure is a big issue. We have on the ballot now a water bond, parks bond, crime lab bond that we’re sponsoring and others that deal with the infrastructure issue. Last year we had the school bond. There is a very significant effort afoot, both in the Legislature and in the executive branch in Sacramento, to look very hard not just at the short-term infrastructure needs, but longer-term needs and the changes that are occurring in California because of the economy and the growth patterns. The San Fernando Valley is a good example of those changing patterns. The Valley was a place that grew tremendously after the war and all these big freeways were built. In the morning, I remember as a kid, one side of the freeway was full and the other side was empty, and exactly the opposite at the end of the day. Now 60% of the people who work in the Valley live in the Valley. And 30% of the people do some kind of work at home. That’s how the economy is causing those old patterns to change. The infrastructure needs to change accordingly.

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Q: The 800-pound gorilla in California politics is reapportionment. Just this past week, the state Supreme Court removed a ballot measure that could have put reapportionment into the hands of the courts. Now that responsibility will largely fall to the Democrats as the majority party. How do you see it playing out?

A: There are very significant differences in the reapportionment that we now have as opposed to what we have had historically. Access, for example. Everybody can now download on their computers redistricting programs that will allow them to draw different plans. So before, where it was in the hands of a very few people who could really understand the hundreds of thousands of census tracks that make up California, now anybody with a laptop will have the ability to look at the issues. Second, the courts in the last 10 years have really developed more stringent standards in dealing with redistricting, which require us to be even more diligent in terms of the manner in which the work is done. And thirdly, term limits have certainly impacted redistricting. Before, you had a person like former Valley Assemblyman Tom Bane who wanted to make sure that his district was protected over the years. Now you have different members all over the state looking for jobs.

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Q: What can we anticipate seeing?

A: I had a bill that was passed and signed by the governor dealing with “communities of interest.” It’s very important to me that communities and neighborhoods are respected. I think it’s horrible when politicians cut apart neighborhoods and have different elected officials serve those neighborhoods. It’s a disservice to the people who live there.

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Q: Will a great deal of the responsibility for redrawing the lines fall to you?

A: If I am, as anticipated, elected as speaker, yes, I will have a great deal of responsibility.

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Q: Regarding the speakership, are you promoting a two-year term of office?

A: Yes. The big variable we have here is reapportionment. You can’t leave in the middle of redistricting. It’s just too complex. But I certainly understand the new dynamics caused by term limits. And I’ve been very supportive of what the speaker’s done now in announcing early to make for a smooth transition. I will do the same thing. Absolutely.

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Q: Is this two-year plan going to be viewed as a heavy-handed political move?

A: No. I think it’s the right thing, given term limits. The dynamic has changed. When you’re in your last year it’s hard. You need to transfer the post to the next person, run campaigns and run an agenda. It’s the right way to organize the Legislature.

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Q: When the speaker announced that he had chosen you as his successor, there were some reports that there had been some tensions between the two of you that had to be overcome. Is that true?

A: It’s just the nature of the process. We had number of discussions as to how to do this transition, just like when we put the speakership together and I was out there collecting signatures for him. We did have a number of discussions about the proper process and method to have a smooth and intelligent transition that’s to the best interest of California. And people interpreted it differently, but I never had a problem. I have a long-standing relationship with the speaker. I was the treasurer of his campaign.

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Q: Are you going to move the speaker’s office?

A: Historically, the speaker’s office, other than in the Capitol, has been in downtown Los Angeles in the state building. If I am successful in getting elected, I will move the office to the San Fernando Valley.

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Q: Can we assume then that the people of the San Fernando Valley could see some benefit from you being the speaker?

A: The people of the San Fernando Valley will receive benefit by me being speaker. Because I’m at the table for every important budget negotiation means that the Valley is at the table. It means the San Fernando Valley point of view is at the table. It means that budget requests and other issues that are important to the San Fernando Valley will now be at the table and will have the speaker’s signature on them.

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Q: Issues such as what?

A: Certainly transportation issues are quite important to the San Fernando Valley. I think the reason we were able to get a successful resolution of the Valley secession issue was because I was able to get the speaker’s attention and commitment to the Valley. The $1.8 million for the study was clearly a result of the speaker’s fingerprints on that issue. I’ve got some other bills that we’re going to be bringing up next year dealing with the San Fernando Valley, and the fact that they will be speaker’s bills will certainly make it easier for them to go through the system. I will be able to have discussions with the governor one-on-one, advocating for the San Fernando Valley.

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Q: Would you like to share with us what those bills might be?

A: Not yet.

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Q: If elected, what do you hope to bring to the speakership?

A: I’m very focused on making the institution work better, on being a problem solver and building confidence in government. We have two problems at this time: One is term limits. We have people who aren’t as well trained. And two, even if you had the best trained Legislature in the world, we have a challenge in that California is facing so many complex issues. Every day there are brand new issues, such as cloning or open access issues involving cable companies or taxing the Internet. These are issues that present very difficult intellectual challenges that lawyers and great thinkers are trying to understand, and yet we have to deal with them on a day-to-day basis. Given that plus term limits, I’m trying to make the institution work so we have better confidence in our government. Secondly, I want to be someone who’s pragmatic and who’s going to look at the bigger picture for California, like infrastructure and the bigger issues that often are overlooked because people are focused on the short-term.

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Q: Will term limits be overturned in the future?

A: I’m not convinced that term limits are here forever. There are mixed reviews on them. There are positives and negatives. But I think that there are some good things that have occurred as a result of term limits. One, we’re seeing a lot of people who are willing to go out and be citizen legislators and serve in government. We have a fella who’s the former president of Pasadena Community College, Jack Scott, who at 62 years of age decided to run. Dave Freeman at 74, head of the Department of Water and Power, has decided to run. There’s many examples like that around the state where people with very diverse backgrounds have brought judgment and wisdom to the process of making our laws. Secondly, a lot of them have served in local government and thus understand the dysfunctional relationship between the state and cities and counties and are really committed, on a bipartisan basis, to fix those things.

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Q: Has this complicated the speaker’s job?

A: Yes, it requires so many relationships, and there are so many issues facing us in California. California is such a gigantic and diverse state. California is viewed as its own nation-state. It is that big and that important on the world stage.

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Q: If you are elected speaker, is the transition to the Hertzberg regime going to be smooth one? Your fellow Valley Assemblyman Tony Cardenas has said he is still in the running for the job.

A: I have a very good relationship with Tony. Our relationship has been nothing but respectful and positive. I don’t have a problem with him advocating on behalf of his own interests or the interests of those he feels he needs to, and he’s really been an gentleman. I don’t anticipate a problem at all.

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Q: So you feel you can work with him?

A: Absolutely. He represents a very important part of the San Fernando Valley too. The beautiful part about it is that you have two people representing the San Fernando Valley who are being talked about for speaker. That’s a good thing for the Valley.