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Cavala: Parra Power-Play Falls Short

towashington 089.gif By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

In ancient Athens, when an elected official acted offensively in the opinion of his peers, his punishment was not to be defeated, but either death or “exile”. Some would say Assemblywoman Parra is lucky.

The punishment of recalcitrant Members is not a new thing in the legislature. Freshman Republican Curt Pringle was given a refurbished restroom as an office by Speaker Willie Brown in the wake of the poll guard scandal that marked Pringle’s election. The “Gang of 5” were stripped of staff and status during their abortive revolt in 1988.

Brown was not known as a Speaker with a heavy hand. He had been present when Speaker Unruh had locked up Republican members in the chambers overnight for failing to support the budget bill (sound familiar?). The fallout damaged Unruh’s ability to lead and forever tagged him with the sobriquet, “Big Daddy”. Brown also witnessed the political carnage produced in the Speakership War of 1980 – brought on, in large part, because of what was perceived as arrogance on the part of then Speaker McCarthy’s staff.

These were not lessons lost on Speaker Brown. He used to say that he only asked two things of his caucus members: a vote for Speaker and a vote on the final budget package.

The budget had to be placed off limits to member demands for quid pro quos (my vote in return for this) both because it required a 2/3 vote – hence the implication of the Republicans – and because it couldn’t be made a Christmas tree (with a present for everyone) during bad times. In 1991, the GOP and Governor Wilson insisted that the votes needed for that terrible budget be provided by the delegation from San Diego in order to entrap the late Mike Gotch, who had narrowly defeated a Republican incumbent the year before. Playing my role as a protector of members in ‘harm’s way’, I had advised Gotch not to supply his vote.

Speaker Brown dispatched his caucus chair and majority leader to engage me in conversation about it at the back of chambers. With me distracted, he led Gotch to the podium to ‘add on’ his deciding vote. When I complained Brown said only that he had his job to do as I had my job to do – and that he’d done it better.

This vignette only to reinforce the point that no Speaker can allow any one member to hijack California’s budget for individual reasons.

The latest to try is, of course, King County Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, exiled for her action to the Legislative Office Building. Parra announced publicly that she would vote for the budget only if she got a water bond placed on the ballot – imprudently making her vote a “quid pro quo” in apparent violation of the Penal Code Section that makes such actions a felony. A small office across the street might be considered better punishment than the mandatory three years in state prison for conviction under the penal code. Especially since Ms Parra is termed out and will only have to sit in the LOB this week and the next.

Rather than demand that her wishes be met (“or else”!), Ms Parra might have taken a leaf out of former Senator Dede Alpert’s book. As a first-year Member, Ms. Alpert had to participate in the first “horrible budget” (1991). She went to the conference committee that year as it cut billions from our spending plan and begged for a $100,000 for a “midnight basketball” youth program. Republican Members were so nonplussed at her gall they supported her plea and the item became one of the tiny number of additional spending that year.

You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar…

Bill Cavala was Deputy Director of the Assembly Speaker’s Office of Member Services where he worked for over 30 years. He attended undergraduate and graduate school in the 1960’s and received a doctorate in political science at UC Berkeley. He taught political science at UC Berkeley during the 1970's while he worked part-time for the State Assembly.

Cavala left teaching at UC Berkeley and went to wohe returned to the podium, like a performer coming back for a curtain call demanded by the fans. He said he would not, in fact, be attending the Republican Convention if there is not a budget and that he had told John McCain about this earlier.rk for Assembly Speaker Willie Brown in 1981 until his tenure as Speaker ended in 1995, and he has worked for his five successors as Speaker. He now manages election campaigns for Democratic candidates.

Posted on August 21, 2008

Comments

Comrade Cavala,

As usual, you only spin out enough of the story to satisfy your propaganda purposes...

Recall in the not too distant past when Democrat Speaker Fabien Nunez exiled Assemblyman Juan Arambula, Democrat-Fresno, for HIS NOT SUPPORTING A DEMOCRATIC BUDGET PROPOSAL. Nunez moved his office to the Capitol building basement...

Why did Arambula not tote the party line then? It was over WATER (more later), just like Parra just did. (Funny, at that time Parra stood with Nunez and not Arambula, a fellow Central Valley legislator. My guess it was for support Nunez now and we will "take care of you next year". Of course, that "next year" has a $15 plus BILLION budget deficit...).

So when a Democrat elected official stands up for THEIR CONSTITUENTS, the Democratic party bosses (Speaker's Nunez and now Bass) can PUNISH THEM for it!

Funny Comrade, you don't say REPUBLICANS should be charged with a felony and locked up for their budget negotiations, a "quid pro quo". (But I'm sure a socialist single party leaning type would enjoy that!). Isn't that inconsistant application of both logic and the "law" as you see it?

Comrade, water, WATER!... is a ever-worsening problem in CA. Look at the increasing population growth in conjunction with both agricultural and industrial (aka "jobs" too) demands on a relatively fixed supply of water with or without a drought even in the mix.

But even Democrats Arambuula and Parra get punished by their own party, the majority one in the Legislature, the one responsible for the leadership positions it holds in all those committees (specifically agriculture, commerce, infrastructure, etc) when they point out a failure to plan or mitigate problems, like a lack of water... THEY GET PUNISHED FOR IT.

Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein along with Governor Arnold Rino are floating (pun intended) a MASSIVE WATER BOND to fix a major problem...Something the DEMOCCRATIC MAJORITY LEGISLATURE BLEW OFF AGAIN and AGAIN IN DEALING WITH. Some leadership there, eh?

(Of course a bond issue isn't real money is it? It should be in the BUDGET supported by existing taxes taken to fix INFRASTRUCTURE, a basic governmental responsibility...)

Is it just the big cities of LA and San Fran blowing off the Central Valley's concerns again to keep more of the $$ pie for themselves?

Or is it sheer stupidity for Democratic Valley Legislators illustrating an ever larger major probelm and being PUNISHED for it...

While another Democrat (Feinstein) takes on an issue that is SUPPOSED TO BE ADDRESSED AND FIXED BY SAID STATE-DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY LEAD LEGISLATURE.

You didn't even need Republicans to hamburger this one up.

The Audacity of Dopes on display should you care to see it. With the taxpayers and constituents suffering for it.

Posted by: Jay Gould at August 21, 2008 11:58 AM

Remember that the Republicans will use retribution against their members just as harshly if not more so if any of their members breaks ranks and votes for a tax increase. The Republican's mandating compliance of their members has been the focus of constant attacks from the left. Just another instance of both parties using the same tactics to achieve different goals, causing me to once again laugh at any who claim either party has a moral superiority over the other.

Posted by: sean at August 21, 2008 02:00 PM

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