Thomas Rees, 78; Democrat Was Outspoken Congressman

Thomas M. Rees, a six-term Democratic congressman from Los Angeles during the 1960s and ‘70s who began his public life in the state Assembly and state Senate, has died. He was 78.

Rees died Tuesday of esophageal cancer at his home in the mountains near Santa Cruz, where he retired in the late 1980s after practicing law.

A Los Angeles native who was a Republican before switching to the Democratic Party, Rees was elected to the state Assembly in 1954 from Beverly Hills and surrounding communities, a district that was then regarded as solidly Republican.

In fact, Rees’ election was something of a fluke.

The district had been represented for many years by GOP Assemblyman Charles Lyons. But two weeks before the election, Lyons was indicted on charges related to alleged bribery, and some Republicans sponsored a write-in candidate. That split the GOP vote, which gave Rees, a 29-year-old Democrat, his first victory.

Elected to the state Senate in 1962, Rees was the last person to represent Los Angeles County -- with its then 6 million residents -- in its entirety. The Legislature was dominated at that time by senators from so-called “cow counties” -- the rural areas of the state.

In 1966, the one-man, one-vote decision of the U.S. Supreme Court was enforced in California, which required a broad redistricting on the basis of population. That resulted in Los Angeles County’s getting many more seats in the state Senate.

In Sacramento in the 1950s, Rees became known for his willingness to express his strong liberal views on civil rights, the loyalty oath and other issues. He was also a strong advocate for the environment.

“To me, Tom Rees was one of the new breed of legislators, the ones we expect to be in office now,” Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel), who has known Rees for many years, told The Times on Thursday.

Farr said that, when Rees was elected to the Legislature, it was “pretty much all white males and people who were part of the establishment.”

“Tom was somebody who stood out,” Farr said. “He was the voice of the future: young, outspoken, critical, energetic.” He said Rees “took on the establishment” and was “always for the underdog.”

After being elected to Congress from the 26th District in a special election in December 1965, Rees remained equally outspoken in Washington, particularly in his opposition to the Vietnam War, which put him at odds with President Lyndon B. Johnson.

During his years in Washington, Rees became an authority on international trade, banking and housing issues.

“He was a common sense liberal,” Wall Street Journal political columnist Al Hunt, who covered Congress and politics in the 1970s, told The Times on Thursday. “He was a hard worker, but he had a great sense of humor. He knew that business mattered, meaning government and politics, but he could laugh at some of its foibles and some of its silliness as well as anyone I have ever known.”

By early 1976, Rees saw little humor in politics. Distressed that “the Watergate mess has put a pall over public service,” Rees announced that he would not seek reelection to a seventh term in Congress.

Rees followed at least 10 fellow Congress members who announced plans to leave Washington when their terms ended.

“Watergate has changed politics completely,” Rees told The Times in 1976, “and it’s almost as if groups like Common Cause and Ralph Nader assume all politicians are guilty until proven innocent.

“I find that my mail gets nastier, not so much because I’m Rees but because I’m a politician. The whole life is just getting more difficult, more restricted, and it’s kind of like being in the trenches.”

Born in Los Angeles, Rees served in the infantry with Gen. George Patton’s Third Army during World War II.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Occidental College in 1950 and studied law at UC Berkeley. After his first year of law school, he spent the summer in Mexico and, deciding to start a heavy farm equipment import business, never returned to school.

In 1973 -- at age 48 and 22 years after he had finished his last formal law school training -- Rees spent months studying for the bar exam by listening to a review course on cassette tapes in his spare time. He passed the exam on his first try and was sworn in as a member of the State Bar of California.

After leaving Congress, he practiced law in Washington, D.C., and in Los Gatos, Calif., until retiring to his home in Santa Cruz County, where he planted a small vineyard.

Rees, who was active in community organizations and served on the UC Santa Cruz Foundation, also held fundraisers at his home for Farr, state Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) and others.

On Thursday, the state Assembly adjourned in Rees’ honor.

“He was very committed to progressive Democratic values, and he always pushed them with good humor,” Laird told The Times.

Rees is survived by his wife of eight years, Dixie; sons Evan and James; stepchildren Cynthia and Christopher Rogers; a brother, John; and a grandson.

A memorial is service is pending.

*

Times staff writer Kenneth Reich contributed to this story.