Lame duck Nunez still king of the pond

Maintaining his tight grip on the California Assembly even as a lame duck, Speaker Fabian Nunez on Thursday abruptly stripped two Democratic assemblymen from the Los Angeles area of their powerful committee leadership posts.

Assemblymen Anthony Portantino of La Canada Flintridge and Hector De La Torre of South Gate were informed late Thursday that they would no longer chair the higher education and rules committees, respectively.

The men were among nine legislators vying last month to win enough votes from their fellow Democrats to replace Nunez. With Nunez’s assistance, Assemblywoman Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) won that race. On Feb. 28, she was elected to be the next speaker, though she and Nunez -- also a Los Angeles Democrat -- have yet to set a date for the transfer of power.

Nunez removed De La Torre as chair of the Rules Committee, which holds great sway over the movement of bills and Assembly housekeeping, and moved him out of his Capitol office into slightly smaller quarters.

Nunez spokesman Steve Maviglio said that the moves were an “internal caucus matter” and declined to elaborate.

De La Torre said he got a call late Thursday from Assembly Chief Executive Officer Jon Waldie telling him that Nunez had decided he would no longer chair the Rules Committee.

“There was no reason given,” De La Torre said.

He called his sacking “punishment” but said he didn’t know what it was for.

“In the absence of an explanation, the punishment is arbitrary and capricious,” De La Torre said.

Portantino said that Friday morning he found a two-sentence letter from Nunez on his Capitol fax machine. It informed the Assembly chief clerk that Portantino had been removed as chairman but would remain on the Higher Education Committee.

“And that’s all I know,” Portantino said. “No one has talked to me from the speaker’s office.”

“My goal and priorities have been to try to see all California students have access to affordable, quality higher education,” he said. “If they had other priorities, I wish they had let me know.”

Portantino said he “can’t imagine” he’s being punished for having declared himself a candidate for speaker. The jockeying to replace Nunez began Feb. 5, the day voters rejected an initiative that would have altered the state’s term limits to allow Nunez and other legislators in the last year of their terms to run for reelection.

Two days later, the Assembly Democratic Caucus voted to keep Nunez as leader until Nov. 30, and Nunez announced that the caucus would hold a vote March 11 to designate a replacement. Bass, with Nunez’s help, consolidated enough votes before that deadline.

“The speakership process was defined by the speaker,” Portantino said, “and I played by his rules.”

Both Portantino and De La Torre said they spoke to Bass, and she told them she knew nothing about their demotions.

Bass did not return a phone call seeking comment.

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nancy.vogel@latimes.com