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Posted on 06/16/2003 7:45:08 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO -- Assemblywoman Nicole Parra's record of refusing to vote yes or no on controversial bills is irking some of her strongest campaign supporters.
One of them is the man who managed her campaign last year, the influential political consultant and lobbyist, Richie Ross. Parra bucked Ross and one of his lobbying clients, the United Farm Workers union, by refusing last week to vote for the UFW's top-priority bill. That is a measure to put sales taxes back on farm fuel and equipment and use the money to subsidize health insurance for farmworkers.
Ross himself has come under fire for publicly threatening political retaliation against two Democrats who said they were not going to vote for the bill, and Parra implied he threatened her privately. She declined to be specific, however.
But the sharpest critic of Parra's voting record is her local political rival, Sen. Dean Florez of Shafter, a fellow Latino Democrat.
"Our constituents deserve to know how we stand on issues," Florez said.
Parra said people should just chill. She has an open mind on most of the bills; they are still being written, and she will take a stand when she sees them in their final form, she said.
She also acknowledged that one reason she is being careful is that she was elected with the narrowest of margins, less than 300 votes in her race against Republican Dean Gardner. She wants to make sure she isn't giving free ammunition to potential opponents in her re-election campaign next year.
Indeed, Republicans are keeping a careful eye on her voting record.
"We are very much aware that Ms. Parra is passing on critical issues relative to her district," said Assembly GOP leader Dave Cox of Sacramento.
He noted that an abstention has the same practical effect as a "no" vote, but it does not put the lawmaker on record one way or another.
In five and half months in the Legislature, Parra has cast hundreds of votes.
But she has abstained on about a dozen of the most controversial bills. These include measures on gay rights, gun control and a ban on the use of Indian mascots by schools, in addition to the UFW bill.
Parra noted that the bills have only recently been voted on by the Assembly, and most of them are awaiting consideration by the Senate. They will continue to undergo negotiations and changes, which Parra said she hopes to influence. Then they will return to the Assembly for final approval.
"My position at that time will be yes or no," she said.
That's not soon enough for her critics, especially Florez, who has feuded openly with Parra and her father, Kern County Supervisor Pete Parra.
"We're sent up here to vote for our districts," Florez said. "When we don't vote, our constituents are not being represented."
Florez has followed a different strategy than Parra.
A moderate Democrat, he has repeatedly angered party leaders, mostly liberal Democrats, by consistently voting against bills on gay rights, gun control and the environment.
Most lawmakers abstain from time to time, for a variety of reasons.
Parra, who also usually describes herself as a moderate, has left some of her more liberal supporters gritting their teeth, but none of them have said publicly they're ready to turn their backs on her politically.
However, Parra would not discuss details of what was said in a meeting she had with Ross before the Assembly vote on the UFW bill.
It raises questions because Ross touched off a furor when he angrily berated staff members of two other Democratic assemblywomen who had announced in advance they would not support the measure in the June 5 vote on the Assembly floor. He also threatened political retaliation against their bosses.
The incident, witnessed by a number of people and widely reported, sparked complaints from many Democratic legislators about similar encounters with Ross and other lobbyists. The incident has been discussed in closed-door Assembly Democratic caucus meetings. Speaker Herb Wesson, long a Ross ally, agreed to appoint a committee to study whether new rules are needed to govern the conduct of lobbyists who are also political consultants.
Newspapers later reported Ross downplayed the incident, saying he lost his temper in talking to staffers he had known for years.
Parra said she met with Ross in her office prior to the vote and explained she could not vote for the bill because she believed it did not provide enough financial incentive for farmers who do not already provide health insurance to their workers to do so.
She declined to reveal details of the conversation when asked if he threatened retaliation against her in the future, but she implied it did not end pleasantly.
"I'm no newcomer to this game," said Parra, a former aide to Congressman Cal Dooley, D-Hanford. "When supporters come in and they are talking about bills that are identified as their No. 1 priority, and you tell them you can't support it, you have to understand that there may be consequences when you push that red or green (voting) button."
Ross did not respond to a request for comment, but a UFW spokesman said union officials were "very disappointed" by Parra's abstention.
"Most of her objections seemed to revolve around small farmers," said spokesman Marc Grossman. "We took an amendment that basically excludes 86 percent of California farmers from the legislation. In other words, 86 percent will continue to be able to get the sales tax exemption."
Asked if the union would withdraw its support of Parra politically, Grossman said he didn't know.
"That's a decision that (UFW President) Arturo Rodriguez and the leadership will make," he said.
Parra, who was endorsed by the UFW in last year's campaign, said she hired Ross to manage the day-to-day operations of her campaign in the largely Hispanic but conservative westside 30th Assembly District.
Ross also serves as Florez's campaign consultant and he, too, was endorsed by the union.
The bill passed the Assembly on a bare majority of 41 votes on the initial roll call, with Parra and several other Democrats from rural areas joining Republicans in either abstaining or voting against the bill.
But by the end of the day several Democrats had changed their votes, leaving the official tally at 46-33. Those adding their names to the "aye" column later included the two who had been threatened by Ross, Gloria Negrete-McCleod of Chino and Lois Wolk of Davis. Only one Democrat, moderate Joe Canciamilla of Pittsburg, voted no.
Parra was left as the only member abstaining.
She said later she could vote for the bill if it was amended to include benefits for both small farmers and farmworkers, the two biggest constituencies in her district.
"Disappointed" was also the reaction of Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, after Parra abstained on two of her most cherished bills. One would grant marriage-like civil rights and privileges to gay and lesbian couples; the other would have barred the schools from using American Indian names and symbols as mascots.
The gay rights measure narrowly passed and moved on to the Senate. The mascot bill died several votes short of the majority needed for passage. Parra wasn't the only Democratic holdout.
The political background: Goldberg and other gay and lesbian lawmakers and political groups contributed heavily to Parra's campaign last year. Goldberg alone gave her at least $5,000, according to disclosure reports.
Parra said she would never vote for the gay rights bill.
"Voters in the Central Valley are very strong regarding their position on gay marriage, which I do not support," she said. "I abstained as a person who doesn't consider that (gay rights) as a priority. It's not a vote that I feel, in my district, as a conservative Democrat, that I need to take here or there."
She said she asked Goldberg to amend the mascot bill so it would not apply to rural schools, where changing the mascot would be an expensive, emotional problem, but the author refused.
Goldberg, however, was willing to cut Parra some slack, attributing her caution partly to youth and inexperience.
"Freshmen tend to be more skittish," she said.
"We all have issues in our districts that are not going to be popular throughout our districts," she added. "But most of us believe we can stray from what the majority believes at least some of the time, if we're able to explain to people that it involves a principle or a deeply held belief."
And Goldberg said she isn't ready to abandon Parra politically.
"She's a bright, talented woman who has a real future in this state," Goldberg said. "I seriously doubt that anything will stop me from supporting her again."
Parra takes the criticism calmly, saying her abstentions on key bills at this point in the legislative process do not amount to cowardice, but prove that her opponents and critics in last year's elections were wrong when they said she was a liberal in disguise.
"I think it shows that I'm independent," she said.
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It's good to know that she is careful about voting. Incompetent Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe (D-part of San Diego) admited she didn't even bother to read bills or understand them fully before voting along party lines.
Florez has followed a different strategy than Parra. A moderate Democrat, he has repeatedly angered party leaders, mostly liberal Democrats, by consistently voting against bills on gay rights, gun control and the environment.
I thought I remember Florez lost his committee seat for pursuing the Oracle investigation, so it seems he has some principles. I didn't know there were any CA Assembly democrats against homosexual preferences, gun owner restrictions, or environmentally PC bills. Is he truly a "moderate," or just when compared to Parra or the ultraliberal faction?
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