Fiona Ma Makes an Interesting Case for Why She Should be Speaker of the California Assembly

She continued: “There are 24 new freshmen who don’t have a relationship or a strong relationship with a lot of the members. Although I am going member to member and talking about my qualifications and what I bring to this role, they are also going to look to outside people. And I found that in my toxic toy bill, for example. It wasn’t only the fact that I was bringing out, but it was the interest groups that were lobbying them.”

On this point, she concluded: “Member to member is the way that it is going to be done and the relationships—some of the members are resistant to outside pressures. They want to make the best decision for the caucus. But other members are going to go outside of the caucus to support groups, to others, to get some sort of thermometer.”

Ma agrees with the process announced by Speaker Nunez—that the decision will be made by the Democratic caucus—which is the way that it has been done almost exclusively in modern times—by the majority caucus. When I questioned her about whether she had been seeking Republican votes for the Speakership—before the current rules of warfare were agreed to—she didn’t deny the rumors that I had heard that she had been. She said “I have had very good relationships across the aisle… I did not intent to get Republican votes. I’m very happy that the Speaker made us agree that all the votes could come from the Democratic caucus. That’s the way it should be. So right now, whoever can get 25 votes is going to be Speaker and I’m working hard on that.”

So, she is running for Speaker while just having completed her first year in office—the juncture in time that Fabian Nunez was elected Speaker. As far as her qualifications for this position—probably the second most powerful one in the state of California (even with term limits) only eclipsed by the governor, she pointed to her years of service which started out with 7 ½ years as District Representative for John Burton, who was President pro Tem of the California State Senate—the leader of that body. After that, she served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which she described as “probably one of the toughest places to be, but it did provide a good training ground for me.”

She is unique in being a certified public accountant with an MBA and a Masters degree in taxation, and said that would help with the state budget and dealing with fiscal problems that will be an issue in the future as well as the present.

She made the case that with her experience with local government and with state legislative issues before she arrived in Sacramento that she is prepared and that rather than electing a colleague with more seniority who will serve only a few years in the position under term limits, it would be wise to have her in the position for 5 years—looking ahead to reapportionment in 2011. She said that she has no plans to run for any other office and would be a stabilizing force as Speaker, working with other members in a collegial fashion.

Ma spoke proudly of the fact that she was able to get 7 of 8 bills she introduced in her maiden year in the Assembly not only passed despite powerful opposition to some of them, but also signed by the Governor. These include her landmark toxic toy bill, AB 1108, the Name Equality Act, AB 102, legislation to improve the lives of foster children by allowing them to bequeath their property to them, AB 402, and getting horse racing jockeys their first raise in over 20 years, AB 649 .

She also touted her voting record, saying “I’m one of 15 out of 120 legislators to receive a 100% score on the California League of Conservation Voters’ Scorecard.” Not only did she get this 100% rating on the environment, but she also has a 100% rating from the Consumer Federation of California, NARAL, the National Organization for Women, and Equality California.

As to why she is running for Speaker, Ma said, “I think Democrats have core principle values. As a Democratic caucus, we need to come together to advance those principles and causes that are most important to us. Over the past year, it’s been an interesting time with our Republican Governor—who sometimes acted as a right leading Republican and sometimes acted as a moderate—like when signing my toxic toy bill.

Her priorities would be increasing the Democratic majority in the Assembly, saying “This year, we have a good chance of picking up 3 seats,” naming the 15th, 78th, and 80th Assembly Districts.

The budget clearly weighs on her mind. She said: “I also believe we need to work for real structural budget reform. Using my accounting and business background, I’ll play a very positive role in this. I have been working on a number of bills that would bring more revenue into the General Fund. Given the impossibility of increasing taxes, we realy have to do what we can to bring more revenue into the General Fund.”

She also pledged to continue California’s leadership on the environment. She singled out global warming and high speed rail. She said of California’s greenhouse gas reduction law, “AB 32 was historic, however, we’re not going to reach those goals unless we are very aggressive and progressive on some of the measures we are going to pursue.”

Ma is an unabashed supporter of high speed rail. She’s worked closely with the California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG) on this and you can see this from an interview conducted of her by them, “Transit Champion: Assemblywoman Fiona Ma.” Last night, she repeated emphatically that this “has to be part of the future. I have been pushing the Governor very hard to fund the high speed rail authority, to prevent him from delaying the bond again. He was trying to do that last year and I think he’s finally agreed that the voters are going to be voting on the initiative this November.”

One of the interesting proposals she is bringing forward as Speaker is to use technology to bring about greater transparency in the workings of the Assembly. Looking at the Assembly website, she said “many of the bills are not updated. Not all the committees are televised. The committee votes are not instantaneous. These are some of the things that enable you and the general public gets better access and information—if we put the information out on a timely or real time basis.” She wants to shine a bright light because she has leader that “lobbying interests are extremely strong up here. They hired about 7 or 8 lobbyists trying to kill my toxic toy bill. I really appreciate the media and all you [those on the call] who helped sway not only my colleagues in the Assembly, but also the Governor to ultimately sing the bill.”

Would Ma, or anyone else as Speaker, be able to bring about sweeping changes, in a land where campaign contributions, mostly from “special interests,” are the currency of the realm and the fulcrum of the bulk of the power in the legislature? I asked her about this and she unabashedly identified herself as “a big supporter of Loni’s Hancock’s Clean Money Campaign bill… I was a co-sponsor.” She also pointed out that she was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as “a product of public financing.” She reiterated that point, saying “I am not a candidate who has substantial resources to put into a campaign.” When she ran for the Assembly, her Democratic primary opponent was able to self fund, putting $600,000 of her own money into her campaign. Nevertheless, Ma was able to raise $1.5 million for the race without taking any lobbyist money.

But while backing campaign finance reform, and doing so passionately, she was realistic: “I clearly believe we need to have clean money campaigns—to take away the temptation of special interest money. But until we change the laws, you have to play by the laws. I believe that I will be able to continue to make sure that the Democratic Party is competitive in all of the races.”

What would she do differently? “I would help the members raise the money. I think the Speaker did a great job in raising money for the caucus, but it was basically him raising the money. And I think when we can help all the members help themselves, it also would take pressure off of the necessity for one person to just raise all the money and give it down to everybody else.” She pledged to show up with Assemblymembers in their districts to help them raise campaign funds locally and from their constituents.

She also spoke of keeping young people and the new voters, who are turning out in record numbers at the polls and in the campaign offices, involved: “These young people need to see politicians that they can identify with or align with as role models. I take every opportunity to go and meet with young people, whether it’s Emily’s List, Emerge, or Young Democrats. Just talking about what I do as a legislator—how it is very honorable—to effectuate changes. How e need to get them involved—to volunteer on a campaign, intern in my office, to shadow me.”

She continued in this vein: “Any time a student--whether it’s junior high, high school, or college—is doing a report for their class or they work for their local paper, I’m always available for those type of interviews. I would encourage my colleagues to also outreach to the younger generation as well. They’re excited about one race, but after, if no one brings them into the fold or gets them involved, then they become cynical like we al do about politics and politicians. So, how do we keep up that positive feeling that they have right now about thepresidential races? Invite them into the Capitol, hold hearings in the districts, something I have practiced.”

Just hearing Ma talk about her aspirations, what she likes about her job in the legislature, and how she wants to improve the process and get results for the state, was wonderful. What will come of it? We may know in the next three weeks, or it may go to extra ballots.