With Term Limits, Rookies Forced to Play Right Away

With term limits, there’s no back bench in the Assembly. New members do not sit meekly and keep quiet while they learn.

There’s little discipline either. Assembly speakers are short-timers. Even rookies will rebel.

And there’s almost no institutional memory. “It’s like kids waking up and thinking, ‘The world was created today,’ ” said new Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles).

There is one notable exception to the memory loss. Seared into every legislator’s mind is the calamity of five years ago when both houses unanimously passed the infamous electricity deregulation bill. Members had trusted their leaders. These days, on any major energy proposal, they aren’t nearly as willing to go along to get along.

And while that can be admirable, it also can cause gutless inertia.

“My mom used to say, ‘Honey, you want a guarantee, buy a toaster,’ ” rookie Assemblyman Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) told colleagues Thursday. “Put aside political timidity. Don’t let our regret of the past or fear of the future rob us of the courage to take action now.”

Simitian was adding his new voice to the Assembly debate over arguably the most controversial bill of the year: the $2.9-billion rescue sought by Gov. Gray Davis for Southern California Edison.

Several newcomers spoke up. One even presided--Assistant Speaker Pro Tem Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego). Three rookies joined six other Democrats in refusing to support the measure, a rebuff of the Assembly speaker that never would have been tolerated before term limits.

But after private browbeating by the governor, the bill was sent to the Senate with one vote to spare. Most members followed the party line--Democrats for, Republicans against.

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I asked several rookies about their first year in the Legislature, now wrapping up. Several said they’d been surprised by the fast pace of the game and to learn that opponents throw at your head.

“If I’d had my druthers, I’d have stayed on the [L.A.] City Council,” said Goldberg, who was forced off the council by local term limits. “There’s more deliberation there. Here, it’s hurry up. Boom. Your bill moves or dies.”

Commented Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine): “When I was only one of 15 million voters, I might spend 30 minutes reading about an initiative in the ballot pamphlet. Now that I’m just one of 80 voters, I may get only two minutes to make a decision.”

And the decision likely will be dictated by politics.

Many ascendants from local government--which under term limits has become the Legislature’s farm system--say they were not prepared for the intense party partisanship.

“It’s not about the quality of an idea, it’s about who’s [proposing] it and what it means politically,” lamented Assemblyman Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto), a former city councilman.

You’d expect gripes like that from members of the minority party, but many Democrats agree.

Assemblywoman Carol Liu (D-La Canada Flintridge) called partisanship her biggest disappointment in Sacramento. When she was on the city council, Liu said, political parties “were not even talked about. We were able to problem-solve.”

Partisan jockeying, however, will always be played in a two-party political arena--even more so with term limits constantly turning over legislative seats.

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This has been a unique first year for the frosh: Energy has consumed their time. Declining revenues have eaten their pork projects. Redistricting is shaping their futures.

They were sworn in and “got the electrical shock treatment,” recalled Assemblyman Juan Vargas (D-San Diego).

Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) thought she’d be able to pick up the phone and budge the bureaucracy, as she had at the Long Beach City Council. “I was accustomed to being a big fish in a smaller pond.” Here, she doesn’t make the same waves.

But nobody’s bored. “It’s exciting,” Assemblyman Russ Bogh (R-Cherry Valley) declared Thursday night. “You know what, I’m going to be on the Assembly floor when they debate the Edison [bill].”

Also there celebrating her 60th birthday was Assemblywoman Gloria McLeod (D-Chino). She’s a rookie legislator with 27 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. “If you ask me do I care about kid issues, yeah, I do.”

McLeod represents the good side of term limits. “They’ve allowed people like me to come here,” she said. “But I can see where we need more continuity. We learn the ropes and we’re out.”

That’s the rookie consensus. Three two-year terms short-changes the public and the Legislature. There should be more terms--maybe even longer terms.

It’s fine that there’s no back bench. Anybody can stand and speak. But it would be even better if there were more veterans who are steady on their feet.