Assembly ‘Cavemen’ Flex Their Collective Muscle

SACRAMENTO —  A cadre of staunch conservatives representing Orange County makes up one of the state Assembly’s most identifiable blocs, one that has the potential to be a significant force in the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

Collectively, Republican Assemblymen Dennis Brown, Nolan Frizzelle, Ross Johnson, John Lewis and freshman Gil Ferguson are demonstrating legislative muscle that none could muster as individuals, Capitol observers say.

Now, with Ferguson added to their hard-line, usually rock-solid coalition, the Orange County lawmakers say it is going to be hard for legislative vote-counters to ignore them.

Assembly Republican leader Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) says the Orange County delegation is his largest group of loyal supporters, and is “absolutely” packing “more clout” because of its numbers.

But Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), perhaps Sacramento’s most astute vote-counter, says, “I haven’t observed it.” Then, smiling, he insists: “That’s true. I haven’t. “

There are skeptics as well among Orange County business and political leaders. They say it is too early to tell whether the group can be anything more than a small but loud bloc of “no” votes in an Assembly made up of 47 Democrats and 33 Republicans.

The group is generally perceived as the most conservative delegation in the Legislature, which is in keeping with a reputation the county has long possessed here.

While the current class wears its conservative label proudly, its members say they would rather not be identified with the antics or the fanaticism of some Orange County legislators of the past.

“We certainly don’t want to be regarded as five reincarnations of John Schmitz,” said Lewis (R-Orange), referring to the veteran lawmaker, now a Washington-based lobbyist and student, who for 13 years represented Orange County in both Sacramento and Washington.

The five lawmakers--who are among a group of a dozen or so Assembly Republicans who have come to be referred to as “the cavemen” because of their hard-line ideological views--vociferously denounce big government and high taxes, while espousing the virtues of property rights and free enterprise.

Even their fans and allies--and the lawmakers themselves--acknowledge that no one in the group is as effective or as highly regarded a legislator as Democratic Assemblyman Richard Robinson of Garden Grove or Marian Bergeson, the Newport Beach Republican who was elected to the state Senate last year after three terms in the Assembly.

But they say their strength is in their numbers, in their close alliance with new Assembly Republican leader Nolan and in Gov. George Deukmejian’s tendency to veto bills he doesn’t like.

Lewis’ and Dennis Brown’s friendship with Nolan, in fact, goes back to the late 1960s, when all three were students at USC.

Now, in an era when Nolan and Democratic Speaker Brown are supposedly cooperating to avoid petty partisan bickering, the ties have translated into some choice committee assignments and key offices in the Republican caucus for the Orange County group.

Three of the Orange County group --Brown (who lives in Signal Hill but whose district lies mostly in Orange County), Johnson and Lewis--were appointed to the powerful, budget-writing Ways and Means Committee. Frizzelle and Ferguson were appointed to the Transportation Committee, along with Democrat Robinson.

Dennis Brown, Frizzelle and Ferguson all got vice chairmanships of various standing committees, while Frizzelle was named chairman of a subcommittee on health personnel and Brown was named chairman of the Ways and Means subcommittee on transportation.

Top Choices Granted

Though a freshman, Ferguson got his first two choices for committee assignments--Housing and Community Development, and Transportation--and Ferguson and others believe he did so because of his importance to Nolan in the party leadership battle.

Nolan also gave his Orange County friends offices in the Assembly Republican Caucus, naming Ferguson its secretary, Johnson its political action committee chairman and Lewis its elections committee chairman.

Lewis, says Nolan, has the shrewdest political mind in the Assembly.

“When we become the majority party in this state, it is going to be because of John Lewis,” the minority leader said.

With such high visibility and leadership roles, the Orange County coalition say even liberal Democrats will have to start taking them seriously as a group.

“We have come to realize,” said Dennis Brown, who is serving his fourth term, “that we can get more done in unison than we could going off on our independent ways.”

At times, their number increases to seven when Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) and Assemblyman Robert C. Frazee (R-Carlsbad), whose district includes Orange County’s southern tip, side with them on issues. But neither Allen nor Frazee see themselves as part of the “caveman” coalition that helped Nolan oust Assemblyman Robert Naylor (R-Menlo Park) late last year as minority leader.

‘Optimistic’

Bergeson, who also kept her distance from the hard-liners when she was in the Assembly, says their coalition is a “very optimistic turn of events” that could translate into better legislative fortunes for Orange County.

Nolan agrees. “They will be actively working to see that Orange County is treated fairly,” he said, “which certainly wasn’t true during the eight years of the (Edmund G.) Brown (gubernatorial) Administration.”

In the months ahead, there may also be times when the group’s hard-line stances put them at odds with the legislative goals of the county. This could happen later this year if transportation funding measures already introduced in the state Senate make their way to the Assembly.

The group appears poised to support a measure, introduced earlier this month by Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim), that would allow an estimated $8.5 million in annual interest earned by the Orange County Transit District’s mass-transit funds to be used for local street improvements.

But all are regarded as likely to vote against a proposal by Sen. John Foran (D-San Francisco) for a nickel-a-gallon gasoline-tax hike that would raise $590 million a year for the state’s deteriorating transportation network.

Officials of the county Transportation Commission, Transit District and local governments generally support the idea.

“To me,” said Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande, “a gas-tax hike is an investment in the economic health of the state.”

‘Time Will Tell’

“I think we have a very good delegation,” added Nestande, himself a former assemblyman, “but time will tell how effective they are.”

The lawmakers say they have made peace with Dennis Carpenter, the county government’s Sacramento-based lobbyist whose son, Ken Carpenter, lost a bitter Republican primary battle to Ferguson last year.

They also add that they are ready to bury the hatchet with the Irvine Co. and other corporate giants of Orange County that have supported opponents of Ferguson, Frizzelle and Lewis.

Ferguson says the climate is changing of necessity.

Now that he has won election to the district that includes much of the Irvine Co.’s vast land holdings, he says, company officials have told him “they will stop fighting us.”

But, he pointed out, “they gave money to Dick Robinson right up until the last minute, and they have given huge bucks to Willie Brown . . . . They tend to support those people who can deliver the goods.”

According to Legi-Tech, an independent political data-gathering service, the Irvine Co. has, since 1981, donated more than $50,000 to Willie Brown, $34,000 to Robinson and $16,000 to Bergeson, who represented the district before Ferguson.

Basis for Contributions

Mike Stockstill, the Irvine Co.’s director of political affairs, said that in making decisions on political contributions, the company considers a legislator’s effectiveness “and the potential they have, through leadership or committee assignment, to deal with legislation of interest to us.”

But Stockstill noted that the company has also contributed $1,500 to Ferguson since the election.

“After the race, we met with Gil Ferguson, specifically to discuss our goals. We aired our differences, and we came out of that meeting with an understanding of how he wants to do business,” Stockstill said.

“Based on our conversations, we expect to work with him as we do with all the other members of the delegation,” Stockstill said, adding: “Above all, we are pragmatists. We saw how the votes were counted.”

But one Republican strategist, who asked not to be identified, said if the company were serious about making peace with Ferguson, it could make a large contribution to help Ferguson retire a lingering campaign debt, listed at $55,000 on the latest campaign finance report made to Orange County Registrar of Voters Al Olson.

“Well, they (Irvine Co.) did make me spend an awful lot of money,” chuckled Ferguson, when told of the strategist’s comment.

Despite differences in past elections, Brown said the members of the delegation harbor no bitterness toward corporate Orange County.

“We want to work with them for the betterment of Orange County,” said the Signal Hill Republican. “They just need to realize that when they come up and ask us to jump, we’re just not going to ask, ‘How high?’ ”