Term Limits Throw Away Decades of Expertise

History is being written in California’s Capitol this week -- in more ways than one.

First, Sen. Don Perata of Oakland -- a political animal who can be a pit bull -- was chosen by fellow Democrats to be the third Senate leader in 10 years.

By contrast, the more unstable Assembly has had eight speakers in nine years. That’s because term limits have had a more dramatic -- call it devastating -- impact on the Assembly.

And that segues into the second historical event, truly a landmark and lamentable.

Term limits are kicking in with full force and booting out the six senators who were here when the clock began ticking in 1991 and have remained legislators ever since. They’ve now served the maximum allowed six years in the Assembly and eight in the Senate.

These six are split equally into three distinct political generations -- two having arrived in the volatile mid-’60s, two as Proposition 13 launched the anti-tax rebellion and two when voters approved term limits.

Their departure means the loss of institutional memory and honed legislative skills. But much more than that, gone will be their specific talents and commitments to causes that are unlikely to soon be replaced.

Senate leader John Burton (D-San Francisco), 71, first was elected to the Assembly in 1964, spent time in Congress and returned to Sacramento in 1988. As a legislative leader, he knows what’s doable, how to do it and what he wants. These are attributes that benefit both sides.

But even more significant will be the loss of Burton to the poor -- the aged, blind, disabled and welfare moms. Nobody has fought for the poor like John Burton, except perhaps his late brother, Phil Burton.

Assemblyman Phil Burton greatly expanded California welfare in 1963. During Gov. Ronald Reagan’s tenure, John Burton carried the bill that created the state’s SSP subsidy program for the aged and disabled.

When he became Senate leader in 1998, Burton forced Gov. Pete Wilson to restore all the money taken from poor people during previous budget-cutting. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also made moves on these people, and Burton blocked him.

“He asked, ‘What’s important to you?’ ” Burton says of Schwarzenegger. “I said, ‘Poor people.’ ”

“They can’t hire high-priced lobbyists. [Welfare] kids get picked on. It isn’t their fault their fathers took off on them.”

Burton says SSP recipients now get $150 per month more than when he became Senate leader. “That’s what makes it worthwhile -- doing stuff for people who need help.”

Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara), 72, is the legislative dean based on continual service. He was elected the same year Reagan was, 1966.

A big, shaggy-haired liberal, Vasconcellos always has thought outside the box, with little regard for political repercussions. Maybe that’s why voters have elected him more often than anyone else.

He’s the type of freethinker who doesn’t fit easily inside a term-limited world where lawmakers are perpetually plotting to acquire their next office. Not all his ideas may be good -- like a recent proposal to let 14-year-olds vote -- but he broadens the discussion. The “Doonesbury” comic strip mocked his self-esteem crusade in the late ‘80s, but it eventually was widely acclaimed by the left and the right.

Vasconcellos’ No. 1 passion, however, has been education. “That’s where you can reach the most people. It’s the most gratifying.”

On the opposite end of the political spectrum is Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine), 64. Nobody fights harder against tax increases. Johnson was first elected in 1978, when voters were cutting their property taxes, and he became known in Sacramento as one of the “Proposition 13 babies.”

Johnson is so anti-tax that when he was Assembly minority leader in 1991, he refused to vote for the budget-balancing tax hike proposed by his own Republican governor, Wilson. It cost him his leadership post.

One legendary Johnson floor speech consisted of just this sentence: “I say this is a tax increase, and I say to hell with it!”

“Why should I vote to increases taxes,” he asserts, “unless I can look my constituents in the eye and tell them we’re using the money they’re already giving us wisely.”

Sen. Byron Sher (D-Stanford), 76, has been the Legislature’s foremost protector of the environment since his election in 1980. Credit him with curbside recycling, home insulation rebates, reduced auto emissions and stronger underground storage tanks that don’t leak.

Sen. Dede Alpert (D-San Diego), 58, elected in 1990, has been a reasoned voice on education, an energetic wonk who does her homework. She pushed through bills on pupil testing, state standards and public school “choice,” allowing students to move within a district.

Sen. Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga), 48, elected in 1990, has spent half his legislative career as a Republican leader. Brulte has been the GOP glue, the party’s principal strategist, inside and outside the Legislature. He plans to run for the state Board of Equalization in 2006.

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger and Republicans privately were rooting for Perata to be selected Senate leader, preferring him over two liberal opponents. But they may have winced at Perata’s remarks after his victory.

“The governor’s begun to learn how to do the job, and I hope to help him learn it even better.... If the attempt is to jam us [with bills as the legislative session ends] so we act according to what he wants, we’ll have to teach him a lesson otherwise.... I’ll be as combative as I need to be.”

A new chapter of history begins. An entire volume ends.

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George Skelton writes Monday and Thursday. Reach him at george.skelton@latimes.com.