Posted on 12/30/2003 9:34:57 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Incoming Assembly leaders on Monday pledged bipartisan cooperation in the new year, saying they wanted to put the rancor of the past behind them as they tackle the state's budget problems.
Assembly Speaker-elect Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, and Republican Leader-elect Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, who take their new leadership posts in January, met briefly Monday and said they are working on procedural changes that could foster better relations between members of the two parties.
"I think that you will see a new decorum, not just in terms of how the Assembly is run on the floor, but also as it relates to issues that are of principal importance to the state of California," Nunez said.
Nunez and McCarthy are both freshmen who are not term-limited until 2008, meaning they could provide some stability that the Assembly leadership has been lacking in recent years because of the state's term-limits law.
Nunez will be the seventh speaker since Willie L. Brown Jr. ended his 15-year rule in 1995 at the onset of term limits. The law limits individuals to three two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year terms in the Senate.
Since then, Assembly members with enough friends and experience to win the speaker's job were lame ducks soon after taking the leadership role. Some political analysts said that has weakened the leadership of both houses, enabling bureaucrats and lobbyists to gain influence because of their institutional memory and experience.
McCarthy said he hopes that can change.
"The tough part with term limits is you keep shifting," McCarthy said. "People don't build up a relationship, people don't have the trust. This way, it will be more open. We will have debates out in the forefront."
On the Senate side, Senate President pro tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, and Republican Leader Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, are both termed out in 2004, but their successors have not been chosen. The two generally get along personally, though the partisanship in the Senate was just as evident as in the Assembly earlier this month during the fight over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's spending limit and bond plan.
The two parties will be tested in January, when Schwarzenegger releases his budget proposal. The state is still in a dire fiscal situation, with multibillion-dollar deficits in the current and coming years.
Schwarzenegger's rollback of the vehicle license fee and his proposal to cut $1.9 billion in current-year spending have already generated sharp Democratic criticism.
"The alternative to bipartisan cooperation would be entrenched warfare, and there are so many opportunities for that in January with the budget, and with the necessary cuts to restore the funding that the VLF took out," said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at California State University Sacramento.
"The only way we can get through this period is if people genuinely try to help each other."
I didn't know he worked for Jay Leno as a joke writer. :-\
Burton out? How do you follow an act like that?
Assembly leaders pledge to cooperate
McCarthy, Democratic counterpart look to heal partisan bitterness
By VIC POLLARD, Californian Sacramento Bureau
e-mail: vpollard@bakersfield.com
Posted: Monday December 29th, 2003, 10:20 PM
Last Updated: Monday December 29th, 2003, 10:23 PM
SACRAMENTO -- The incoming leaders of the state Assembly -- Republican Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield and Democrat Fabian Nunez of Los Angeles -- pledged Monday to foster a new era of bipartisanship and cooperation in the Capitol.
But they quickly revealed that they remain far apart on key issues like taxes and driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.
It was an unusual joint press conference, featuring the two men who have been elected to lead their respective parties in the Assembly next year.
Nunez has been picked by the majority Democrats for the powerful post of Assembly speaker, but he said his official election is scheduled for Jan. 8, and he will assume the job on Feb. 9. He will replace Herb Wesson, also of Los Angeles.
McCarthy has officially been elected by the minority Republicans to be their next leader. He will be installed to succeed Dave Cox of Sacramento on Jan. 5, he said Monday.
Nunez and McCarthy said they had met to discuss ways to cooperate and reduce the level of partisan bitterness.
Both were elected to the Assembly last year and are in a position to hold their jobs for as long as five years. That is an unusual situation in the era of term limits when members can serve no more than six years in the Assembly. Most leaders serve no more than two or three years in the posts.
Nunez and McCarthy told reporters that they are good friends on a personal level and they had met and discussed ways to debate policy issues and conduct election campaigns with a minimum of partisan bitterness.
"People expect us to work together," McCarthy said.
But questioning soon revealed that will be easier said than done.
Both ducked questions on whether they could resolve differences between their two parties over tax increases to balance the budget.
And when Nunez told a television reporter in Spanish that he hoped to revive a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, McCarthy refused to debate.
McCarthy has been a strong opponent of such legislation. When a reporter tried to pin him down on a position, McCarthy said "I wouldn't want to put words in my mouth."
But both said they believe an atmosphere of friendship and respect will produce better results.
"There will be disagreements," Nunez said, "But if you can reduce the number of those questions where there are disagreements, it's a positive step."
Now that's an interesting twist on "No Comment!"
My local CDF inspector got layed off right before Christmas...couldn't happen to a nicer bureau-nazi!!!
Pure BS. This "gentleman" has vowed on Spanish language radio and in Spanish language publications that he will "run Schwarzenegger out of Sacramento".
Just like his contemporary in the senate, Gil Cedillo, this assemblyman is a single issue ideologue. The issue: advance the rights of Mexican nationals in California.
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