The State Budget Chasm Personified

John Burton and Jim Brulte might seem an unlikely solution to California’s $38.2-billion budget dilemma -- a progressive San Francisco Democrat and a fiscally conservative Republican from Rancho Cucamonga, two political leaders of different generations and different worlds, divided by geography and ideology.

But now, at a time when Democratic Gov. Gray Davis has one eye on a Republican-led recall campaign and Assembly leaders are hardly talking, many lawmakers say Senate President Pro Tem Burton and Republican Senate Leader Brulte are the best hope of breaking California’s budget impasse.

In a town where the summertime rite of budget-making traditionally falls to the “Big Five” -- the governor and four top legislative leaders -- the arithmetic has changed this year. It’s now down to the “Big Two,” many lawmakers say.

“If we have a budget, it will be because those two guys put it together,” said Sen. Don Perata (D-Alameda). “The governor is besieged by the recall. The Assembly just doesn’t have the experienced leadership. So it’s really going to be John and Jim.”

The perception of Burton and Brulte as pivotal players in the budget drama begs a fundamental question: Can a pair of unapologetic ideologues with oversized egos steer California away from the shoals of fiscal ruin?

The Legislature faces a constitutional deadline of Sunday to pass a budget -- a largely symbolic date that is seldom met, but one that carries added significance this year. Without a new budget, California will run out of cash in August.

Burton has a pet expression for the spending plan the Legislature approved last summer: It was a “get-out-alive” budget that papered over philosophical differences by avoiding the kind of program cuts Democrats oppose and the tax increases Republicans loathe. While Burton hoped to never see such a budget again, he knows that this time around there are fewer options and deeper divisions between lawmakers than a year ago.

Even during the best of times, Burton and Brulte differ on most matters of policy, though usually with a civility that still allows them to address each other as “Johnny” and “Jimmy.” But when it comes to the budget, the Senate leaders personify the chasm that divides Democrats and Republicans.

Burton, 70, says the budget won’t get done without a tax increase.

Republicans “want to go after the elderly, blind and disabled,” he grouses. “They want to go after poor people on Medi-Cal. That’s not shared pain.”

Brulte, 47, says a budget won’t get done with a tax increase.

“From my point of view, what it takes to get an agreement is recognizing that the root of our problem is overspending,” he said.

Their rhetoric suggests there is no room for compromise, but the reality is, Burton and Brulte are still talking about ways to find common ground. Both say they are close to agreement on transportation and local government portions of the budget.

“We’re sitting down to try to isolate areas of agreement, as far as the Senate is concerned, so that there is a bipartisan approach on at least these issues,” Burton said.

The discussions could chip away at what lawmakers and others describe as another stumbling block to an agreement: lingering anger among Republicans, who hold a minority of seats in both legislative houses, over being excluded from past budget decisions.

“His team has gotten what they’ve wanted the last three years and we’re broke,” Brulte said. “I think it’s time for a new approach.”

Brulte may never bring Burton around to his point of view, but the two say they have the sort of relationship that allows them to do business.

Burton, whose temper and salty language are the stuff of Capitol legend, describes Brulte as a good fellow and a principled politician.

“I like Jimmy,” said Burton. “We get along fine.” He dismissed with an expletive some of Brulte’s ideas, then added that Brulte probably thinks the same thing about some of his.

Brulte, in turn, professes admiration for all that Burton “has overcome” -- a reference to the alcohol and cocaine addictions that derailed Burton’s earlier congressional career. As state Senate leader, Burton is “one of the best” in California history, Brulte said.

“When you’re in the minority, there are two things you want in a president of the Senate or a speaker [of the Assembly]: You want someone who is honest and keeps their word, and John Burton is both of those,” he said.

No fan of Gov. Davis, something else he shares in common with Burton, Brulte can’t resist contrasting the liberal senator with the centrist governor.

“If we’ve reached agreements, John Burton has never reneged on those agreements,” Brulte said. “Conversely, the governor of this state has reneged on just about every deal he’s ever made with Senate Republicans.”

Burton and Brulte -- both of whom will complete their Senate careers next year because of term limits -- share a penchant for political hardball as leaders of their respective caucuses. They are prolific fund-raisers and media-friendly, but their personal styles stand in sharp contrast.

“They’re definitely the odd couple,” said Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks).

“Brulte is sophisticated and thoughtful. Burton is rough and spontaneous. They’re both very likable. They get along well. They mean what they say. And both are highly regarded by their colleagues.”

For all his verbal fusillades, often directed at aides or anyone seen by Burton as wasting his time, members of both parties swear by the San Franciscan as a good man with a huge heart, an old-school liberal out to protect the poor, unions, women, the environment.

“If he’s with the shoeshine man or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company,” Perata said, “he is the same man.”

Others see him as a crude bully who punishes those who cross him. He can be roguishly charming, spicing up tedious meetings with caustic wisecracks and gallows humor. He negotiates by instinct rather than set plan.

While Burton is willing to take on the world at the drop of a hat, Brulte is known for picking his fights carefully -- and playing to win when he does choose to stand his ground.

“They are both ideological and they’re both pragmatists,” said a senior Davis administration official, who asked not to be identified. “They each have some principles that they won’t violate, but they’re not speech givers. They’re doers. They know the process and they know people.”

Burton, son of a San Francisco physician, followed his older brother, Phil, into politics, becoming part of a political machine that dominated the Bay Area for decades. He was elected to the Assembly in 1964, then Congress a decade later.

Burton’s addictions derailed his career in 1982. He quit Congress, sought treatment in Arizona, then returned to San Francisco to practice law. Persuaded by Willie Brown to run for office again, Burton returned to Sacramento as a member of the Assembly in 1988.

Ten years later, emerging as state Senate leader, Burton’s comeback was complete. He has silenced many skeptics with his effectiveness, earning praise from both parties. At the same time, his outbursts and obstinacy can make negotiations a maddening experience, according to some lawmakers and administration officials, speaking anonymously for fear of alienating the powerful Senate czar.

Brulte’s path to power has been more reflective of the staid suburbia of his roots. Draped in tailored suits and polished cowboy boots, he once tipped the scales at more than 350 pounds on a hulking 6-foot-4 frame. He has since dropped 100 pounds.

McClintock, a Republican who has never shied away from criticizing GOP leaders, calls Brulte the best he’s seen. “One of the savviest political minds I’ve ever encountered,” he said, adding that Brulte “lives and breathes politics and policy 24 hours a day.”

As a student at Cal Poly Pomona, he worked as an intern for California U.S. Sen. S.I. Hayakawa, then took a job after graduation in 1980 as a receptionist in the Republican senator’s Washington office. Brulte returned to California in 1985 as an aide to a Republican assemblyman, and succeeded his boss in 1990.

Brulte earned party plaudits by engineering the GOP’s razor-thin takeover of the Assembly in 1994. But by the time the GOP wrested control of the house from wily Willie Brown, then the Assembly speaker, Brulte’s party mates turned to Orange County’s Curt Pringle to be speaker.

Moving to the state Senate in 1996, Brulte rose to Republican leader four years later and has since proven alternately circumspect and charming.

He recently demonstrated his resolve to hold the Republican line on the budget. During a closed-door meeting with GOP legislators, he threatened to end the careers of Republicans who voted for a tax increase.

With choir-boy demeanor, he downplays the incident.

“I didn’t really see it as a threat,” he said. “All I said is, I’m going to use my ability to go into your district and try to persuade the voters of your district that the action you took was not correct.”

Many Democrats suspect that Republicans are making a political calculation that the best way to damage the governor -- and strengthen the Republican position in California -- is to prevent Davis from getting a budget.

Republicans deny any link between their no-new-taxes stand and political motivations.

So how does a deal get done?

“Burton either blinks or we go over the cliff,” said one veteran Republican staff member involved in the negotiations. “It’s that simple.”

Democrats, however, say Burton simply can’t sell a budget to his members unless it contains a tax increase.

“If they vote for the half-cent sales tax to finance the rollover, then we’ll go home,” said Burton.

Never, responds Brulte.

“Our job is to get a budget done,” said Brulte. “But you have to get the right budget done.”