It would appear that as early as next week, there will be a vote on electing a new Assembly Speaker (though it is unclear precisely when the transition will take place).
There is a tradition in the Assembly (that seems to find its origin the election of Bob Hertzberg as Speaker, nearest as I can tell) where whichever candidate the Democrats put forward for Speaker is unanimously elected to the Assembly’s top spot in a voice vote. I suppose this is some sort of "congeniality of the house" maneuver since the outcome of a potential election between a Democrat and a Republican candidate for Speaker is preordained due to the large majority of liberals in the Assembly.
This practice is just wrong, and it shouldn’t be taking place.
**There is more – click the link**
December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Agreed !
The last time the GOP won a majority of statewide votes for Assembly (1994)
I don’t remember Willie Brown asking that Jim Brulte’s election as Speaker be
made Unanimous !
Another bad tradition: some GOP Assembly members are appointed every
2 years to accompany the new Democrat speaker from the back of the
Chamber to the podium to take the Oath… as if our side has something
to celebrate. Some very “conservative” GOPers from southern California
have inexplicably taken on this cheer-leader role.
The US House nominates the GOP and Democrat leaders for US House
Speaker and takes a recorded vote. Sometimes Ceremonies serve a real
purpose, and this is a good example.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Jon,
You beat me to the punch on this column… I was writing something similar this morning.
This is yet another example of the anti-democratic rules that govern the State Assembly, rules which give the Speaker almost unlimited authority and which give no (using your word) ‘respect’ to the minority.
But it’s worse, because we’ve become the enforcers of our own minority status. I came under some fire last cycle for using a Republican member’s vote for the Democrat Speaker against that member during a political campaign… that somehow this use wasn’t ‘fair play’ or some such drivel. That critique is simply the bunk.
First, I consider Republican Primaries a family fight with perhaps greater rules of ‘fair play’. I try to reflect a great deal on whether a critique is fair if it is going to be distributed to a person’s neighbors.
Second, one principle that is often forgotten in our long in the wilderness gop caucus is that it is the job of the minority to actively fight to be the majority. Voting for our own Speaker, and not the Democrat Speaker, or not voting at all, is part of this. Wandering in the wilderness of the minority for most of the past several decades certainly isn’t fun. It wasn’t any easier for Moses folks, and he didn’t have air conditioning, hot showers, and two in steaks.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am
This column is Exhibit A for why Republicans will continue to be a minority in California.
Californians respect that the two parties have philosophical differences, but they want them to work together to get things done. They expect them to disagree without being disagreeable.
To turn the vote of a Speaker of the institution into a food fight helps no one. It sets the wrong tone, immediately pits one party vs. another, and accomplishes nothing.
Speaker Nunez and Speaker Bass have both gone out of their way to encourage civility in the Assembly. Fortunately, for the large part, the multiple Republican Assembly leaders during those Speakerships got that. Hopefully the next one will to. Otherwise, Assembly Republicans will earn their reputation as the “Party of No” even more.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Don’t you love the good old boy political process….more worried about “moving the chairs around” trivia than a 131 billion dollar debt and a 21 billion dollar deficit….
As long as the penny loafers are shined,the wine flows freely and the lobbyist donations come in….the process gives a tinglee feeling running up one’s leg!
December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Steven…..WE ARE OUT OF MONEY for RED UTOPIA!
Commissars Bass and Steinberg are quite civil picking our pockets through taxes, fees, regulations, bonds, set-a-sides, deferrals, generic and sundry machinations of balance sheet accounting.
California faces BK….plain fact….that is HOPE AND CHANGE you will experience!
December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Steven,
I assume this means, to set the right tone and avoid pitting one party against another, that you support having the kind of process your national leadership has established in Washington in re Rules and minority rights?
DDD
December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Steven:
You are WRONG! The California Democrats are now officially the “Party of No”.
Read my July 25, 2009 article over at RedCounty:
http://www.redcounty.com/california-democrats-are-now-officially-party-no
December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Steven–
I hope you aren’t saying the way the U.S. House of Representatives has traditionally elected its Speaker (whether Republican or Democrat) is a “food fight”. It’s a very respectful democratic process that includes the first and most important vote of the congressional term. I applaud Jon for wanting the California Assembly to emulate it.
December 5th, 2009 at 12:00 am
There are many things we do better in California than in Washington. This is one of them.
December 5th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Steven….it will be time to get a day job once the California legislature is PART TIME!
Seasons Greetings!