Mood Shift in Sacramento

Pssst. Want to know a “dirty little secret” of the California Legislature? Legislators like a strong leader as governor. That disclosure came from Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga) the other day in a talk with California newspaper publishers. One of former Gov. Gray Davis’ problems was that “he never learned to say no” to his own party members, Brulte added, leading to controversial legislation like the bill to let illegal immigrants qualify for driver’s licenses. It helped bring down Davis in the Oct. 7 recall, then was repealed almost instantly after Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger took office. Now the state has a strong leader, not to mention a popular public figure.

His arrival in power coincides with -- or causes, in part -- a big change of mood in the Legislature. Brulte and three other Senate and Assembly leaders, Democrats and Republicans, see the prospect for bipartisan cooperation and an end to years of gridlock.

This month also marks a turnover in the leadership of the Assembly, where partisan bickering has been worst. Two first-termers assume the top jobs: Democrat Fabian Nunez of Los Angeles and Republican Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield. “We’re both fresh,” McCarthy told the publishers. “There’s no old baggage.” Indeed, the first thing the two did was to meet to discuss how to get along. McCarthy told the publishers he wanted to reform the way legislators are elected and how their districts are drawn -- heresy among his colleagues, who like the current system because it’s what got them there.

Another optimistic note came from Don Perata of Oakland, the Democratic majority leader in the Senate. He talked of the need to reform the state tax system and to broaden the tax base without raising rates. Davis shunned such big ideas or long-term issues. But, Perata said, Schwarzenegger “may be the guy to do it.”

Long-timers -- Brulte and Democratic President Pro Tem John Burton of San Francisco -- still hold the top Senate jobs. And Burton already has condemned Schwarzenegger’s first budget, saying, “I don’t think people voted for him to take away money from the elderly, the blind and disabled.” Both Brulte and Burton will be succeeded a year from now, after term limits force out the last of the Legislature’s most senior members, some of whom date to Pat Brown days.

Two opinion polls released late last week showed that, unsurprisingly, Schwarzenegger enjoys strong public support and that people trust him to solve the state’s fiscal crisis. And Brulte revealed another Sacramento secret, one he attributed to Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer: “Governors tend to get what they want.” Not only that, Schwarzenegger can veto anything the Legislature sends him that he doesn’t want, including money items.

It’s easy to be optimistic and talk of cooperation in January. But for California to get back on course, that mood also must carry through the 100-degree days when a final budget must be adopted.