Hertzberg’s Clout Shows Big Dividends at Home

The $100-billion state budget passed by the Legislature features a wide array of projects reflecting the San Fernando Valley’s growing clout under Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), officials said.

Hertzberg, the Valley’s first speaker since 1974, championed local items ranging from a $20,000 health program for Pacoima schools to a $100-million rapid-bus corridor linking the northern edge of the city to Ventura Boulevard.

By Hertzberg’s count, the budget earmarks more than $398 million “to improve the quality of life” in the Valley.

“The most important thing was to get the money for the San Fernando Valley,” he said.

Gov. Gray Davis could veto some of the Valley spending but is unlikely to kill many pet projects of a fellow Democratic heavyweight.

“You cannot underestimate the power of a speaker,” former Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Richard Katz said. “Everyone is equal, and some are more so.”

The biggest Valley project that Hertzberg wedged into the budget is the busway, which would run along Van Nuys or Sepulveda boulevards. The $100 million would pay for buses and roadway lane adjustments, but more federal and local money would be needed to complete the project, Hertzberg said.

Democrats praised Hertzberg for adding the project to a $145-million east-west busway across the Valley proposed by Davis, but a leader of the Republican Assembly minority was reluctant to give the speaker credit.

“That, to me, is not a member’s project,” said Assembly Budget Committee Vice Chairman George Runner (R-Lancaster). “That is a policy issue that goes beyond any single member.”

Democrats, however, were eager to thank Hertzberg for the busway and much, much more.

“The speaker has an ability to marshal the resources in the budget in a way that no individual member can compare to,” former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) said.

Villaraigosa, now an assemblyman running for mayor of Los Angeles, called the budget “a clear demonstration that having a speaker from the Valley is a benefit to the neighborhoods and communities of the Valley.”

At the budget negotiating table, Hertzberg was backed by another Valley lawmaker, Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), who will chair the Assembly Budget Committee starting next month.

Hertzberg cast Cardenas as a key force behind Valley projects, including $2 million for the Los Angeles Children’s Museum at Hansen Dam and $5 million to landscape the banks of the Los Angeles River between Vanowen and Victory boulevards.

Some Valley advocates said such projects reflect the end of an era in which Los Angeles was shortchanged by Northern Californians who controlled the Legislature.

“We’ve had leadership from San Francisco or other parts of the state in the past, and our region, specifically the Valley, has often gotten ignored,” said Scott Schmidt, the government liaison director for the Valley Industry & Commerce Assn.

But now, he added, “we’re certainly getting our fair share.”

Hertzberg is getting his fair share too: a new roof and elevator repairs for the state office building where he works in Van Nuys.

“I got $2 million to fix the building,” he said.

Anne Blue, chief statehouse lobbyist for the city of Los Angeles, said Hertzberg “really worked hard for the city,” taking calls from Mayor Richard Riordan, Police Chief Bernard Parks and other officials. “Any time we wanted to get input, Hertzberg made himself available to talk to people from the city,” Blue said. “His door was very open. We couldn’t have asked for more accessibility.”

“If we’d had a Northern Californian as state Assembly speaker right now, I don’t think there’s any question we wouldn’t have fared as well,” county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. “We’ve never had this kind of focus on the Valley by the legislative leadership.”