Relief -- but No Cheering

Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (D-Culver City) got to work a bit late Thursday, but nobody blamed him. After all, the Democrat had been up until 2 a.m., meeting with the Republican governor, hoping to prove that political compromise is indeed possible in Sacramento.

Wesson looked weary, but he had a bounce in his step. Agreement on a borrowing and spending limit plan had been reached. Now all he needed were the votes to get it passed.

So the speaker and his top lieutenants spent the day meeting with other Democrats, using their best sales tricks to win support for the deal. One floor down, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was in his office, making his own pitch for the plan.

It was all a prelude, of course, to the main public event -- the fateful evening session in the ornate Assembly chambers, where legislators would cast their ayes or nays.

Success would deliver proof of bipartisan spirit, and send the plan on to likely passage in the state Senate. Failure meant ... well, nobody was quite sure or wanted to know.

As it turned out, the plan passed easily -- with one piece, the spending limit, receiving unanimous support. That tally prompted one of its key backers, Assemblyman Keith Richman (R-Northridge), to brag: “80 to nothing, baby; 80 to nothing.”

“Tonight is about hope,” Wesson declared grandly before the vote that may go down as one of the triumphs of his soon-to-end speakership. “Tonight is about sending a message that together we can get through not just this crisis, but any crisis. Tonight is about sending a message that at least during this round, partisanship was defeated.”

While relieved, most legislators were not outwardly exuberant over the vote. There were no high-fives, no cheers. Perhaps, some mused, their joy was diluted by the knowledge that this task may prove a simple one compared with what lies ahead in January, when Schwarzenegger will unveil his state budget -- one certain to include painful cuts.

“We had to do something, to start acting like grown-ups, and this takes some of the political pressure off of us,” said Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach). “But it’s only the first part of the puzzle, and that causes me great angst.”

Still, many legislators took heart in the fact that the governor had given ground to Democrats in order to get a deal done. And there was palpable hope that the agreement would create a new paradigm for relations in Sacramento, a place long plagued by dysfunction.

“The major breakthrough is that the two sides were able to come to the center and get something done,” said Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla (D-Pittsburg), a moderate who helped inspire the final plan.

Getting to the finish line, of course, wasn’t easy.

Last Friday, the Assembly worked nearly until midnight before failing to pass either Schwarzenegger’s plan or a Democratic alternative.

“I was terribly depressed,” Lowenthal said. “It seemed like there was all this energy, all these key people working toward a solution, and then it collapsed.”

But proving yet again that nothing is ever really dead in Sacramento, talks sputtered back to life as Secretary of State Kevin Shelley agreed to extend the deadline for placing the bond and spending-limit plan on the March ballot.

By Wednesday night, Schwarzenegger was holed up with Wesson and several other Democrats, engaged in a spirited search for common ground. There was food, drink -- even cigars from Hawaii, Wesson said.

“By 1:30 in the morning, we had an agreement,” said Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), a participant in the talks. “We all shook hands, and took a group picture. Then I went home and went to bed.”

Summoned back to Sacramento for a noon vote on the deal, legislators straggled into town throughout the day. Some were grumpy: They had canceled events the previous week to rush back to town, and watched things fall apart. Would this try end in futility as well?

“I told the speaker, I have a ticket to Mexico and if I don’t make that flight, there will be a vacancy in the 27th District,” said Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz). “The only question is whether it’s a suicide or a homicide.”

“The pace has been hectic,” said Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara). “I’m not seeing too many people running around singing ‘Jingle Bells.’ ”

Adding to the anxious mood, Thursday’s vote on the plan -- initially scheduled for noon -- was bumped back, first to 6 p.m., then to 7 p.m. At that point, Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) took the podium as those in the chambers waited expectantly.

But alas, her remarks were brief, and merely announced that each party would hold a caucus meeting. The periodic delays, one aide explained, were not just about rounding up votes. Also required were a series of what he called “dweeb meetings,” in which analysts and number-crunchers pored over the complex agreement, making sure the language actually accomplished what was sought.

At 8:14 p.m., the public drama finally unfolded, as lawmakers took their seats -- or, as many habitually do, milled about.

After the usual speechmaking, the vote went up, and what many had thought so improbable was done.

In a statement, the governor declared himself delighted and commended legislators for putting aside “politics as usual.” And his spokesman, Rob Stutzman, declared the moment near-historic.

“This,” he said, “is a breaking of gridlock that has crippled this building for years.”

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Times staff writers Evan Halper and Nancy Vogel contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

How members of the Assembly voted

The California Assembly endorsed two measures Thursday that would let voters decide whether to pay off this year’s budget deficit with a $15-billion bond and set a legislative spending limit to avoid future shortfalls. Here is how the 48 Democrats and 32 Republicans voted, first on the spending limit and then on the bond:

Aghazarian, Greg (R-Stockton)...Y/Y

Bates, Patricia (R-Laguna Niguel)...Y/N

Benoit, John (R-Palm Desert)...Y/Y

Berg, Patty (D-Eureka)...Y/Y

Bermudez, Rudy (D-Norwalk)...Y/Y

Bogh, Russ (R-Cherry Valley...Y/Y

Calderon, Ronald S. (D-Montebello)...Y/Y

Campbell, John (R-Irvine)...Y/N

Canciamilla, Joe (D-Pittsburg)...Y/Y

Chan, Wilma (D-Alameda)...Y/NV

Chavez, Edward “Ed” (D-La Puente)...Y/N

Chu, Judy (D-Monterey Park)...Y/Y

Cogdill, David (R-Modesto)...Y/Y

Cohn, Rebecca (D-Saratoga)...Y/Y

Corbett, Ellen (D-San Leandro)...Y/Y

Correa, Lou (D-Anaheim)...Y/Y

Cox, Dave (R-Fair Oaks)...Y/Y

Daucher, Lynn (R-Brea)...Y/Y

Diaz, Manny (D-San Jose)...Y/Y

Dutra, John (D-Fremont)...Y/Y

Dutton, Robert (R-Rancho Cucamonga)...Y/Y

Dymally, Mervyn (D-Compton)...Y/Y

Firebaugh, Marco (D-Los Angeles)...Y/Y

Frommer, Dario (D-Los Feliz)... Y/N

Garcia, Bonnie (R-Cathedral City)...Y/N

Goldberg, Jackie (D-Los Angeles)...Y/Y

Hancock, Loni (D-Berkeley)...Y/NV

Harman, Tom (R-Huntington Beach)...Y/Y

Haynes, Ray (R-Murrieta)...Y/N

Horton, Jerome (D-Inglewood)...Y/Y

Horton, Shirley (R-Chula Vista)...Y/Y

Houston, Guy (R-Livermore)...Y/Y

Jackson, Hannah-Beth (D-Santa Barbara)...Y/Y

Keene, Rick (R-Chico)...Y/Y

Kehoe, Christine (D-San Diego)...Y/Y

Koretz, Paul (D-West Hollywood)...Y/Y

Laird, John (D-Santa Cruz)...Y/Y

La Malfa, Doug (R-Richvale)...Y/Y

La Suer, Jay (R-La Mesa)...Y/Y

Leno, Mark (D-San Francisco)...Y/Y

Leslie, Tim (R-Tahoe City)...Y/Y

Levine, Lloyd (D-Van Nuys)...Y/Y

Lieber, Sally (D-Mountain View)...Y/Y

Liu, Carol (D-La Canada Flintridge)...Y/Y

Longville, John (D-Rialto)...Y/Y

Lowenthal, Alan (D-Long Beach)...Y/Y

Maddox, Ken (R-Garden Grove)...Y/N

Maldonado, Abel (R-Santa Maria)...Y/N

Matthews, Barbara (D-Tracy)...Y/Y

Maze, Bill (R-Visalia)...Y/N

McCarthy, Kevin (R-Bakersfield)...Y/Y

McLeod, Gloria (D-Chino)...Y/Y

Montanez, Cindy (D-San Fernando)...Y/Y

Mountjoy, Dennis (R-Monrovia...Y/N

Mullin, Gene (D-San Mateo)...Y/Y

Nakanishi, Alan (R-Lodi)...Y/Y

Nakano, George (D-Torrance)...Y/Y

Nation, Joe (D-San Rafael)...Y/Y

Nunez, Fabian (D-Los Angeles)...Y/Y

Oropeza, Jenny (D-Long Beach)...Y/Y

Pacheco, Robert (R-Walnut)...Y/Y

Parra, Nicole (D-Hanford)...Y/Y

Pavley, Fran (D-Agoura Hills)...Y/Y

Plescia, George (R-San Diego)...Y/Y

Reyes, Sarah (D-Fresno)...Y/Y

Richman, Keith (R-Northridge)...Y/Y

Ridley-Thomas, Mark (D-Los Angeles)...Y/Y

Runner, Sharon (R-Lancaster)...Y/Y

Salinas, Simon (D-Salinas)...Y/Y

Samuelian, Steve (R-Clovis)...Y/Y

Simitian, Joe (D-Palo Alto)...Y/N

Spitzer, Todd (R-Orange)...Y/Y

Steinberg, Darrell (D-Sacramento)...Y/Y

Strickland, Tony (R-Moorpark)...Y/N

Vargas, Juan (D-San Diego)...Y/Y

Wesson, Herb (D-Culver City)...Y/Y

Wiggins, Patricia (D-Santa Rosa)...Y/Y

Wolk, Lois (D-Davis)...Y/Y

Wyland, Mark (R-Escondido)...Y/N

Yee, Leland (D-San Francisco)...Y/Y

Note: NV -- Not Voting.

Source: California Assembly

Los Angeles Times