San Diego Assemblyman Has Heady 1st Day on Job

SACRAMENTO —  At 2:01 p.m. Thursday, Jeff Marston finally tore the wrapper off his lunch: a Kudo candy bar.

But San Diego’s newest assemblyman didn’t seem to mind. After all, it was his first day on the job for the 78th District, and he was careening from one meeting to the next like a dervish in a blue business suit.

Glad-handing with fellow Republicans. Taking the oath of office. Voting on dozens of proposals he had never seen. Posing for photos with gubernatorial hopeful Sen. Pete Wilson. Meeting Gov. George Deukmejian.

“For the first day, I would have to admit, it’s a little overwhelming,” said the 34-year-old Marston, stopping for a moment to catch his breath. “Things happen pretty fast.”

And, if the truth be told, Marston might be partly to blame for being unprepared.

Locked in a fierce special election dogfight against former San Diego City Councilman Mike Gotch, a superstitious Marston said he didn’t dare jinx himself by looking ahead and making plans for life as the state’s newest legislator.

“I wanted to wake up Wednesday morning without a clue as to what I should do,” he said. “I’d rather have that happen than be all dressed up and no place to go.

“I got my wish,” he said, smiling. “I don’t have a clue.”

With his mother and girlfriend in tow, Marston’s day began with an early flight out of San Diego. He arrived at 8:30 a.m. and was whisked to the Capitol for a meeting with Assembly Minority Leader Ross Johnson (R-La Habra).

Johnson was tied up, so Marston waited. Finally, he chatted with the party leader for 10 minutes before being marched to the ornate Assembly chamber for his swearing in as the lower chamber’s 33rd Republican. He was fawned over and congratulated by dozens of smiling colleagues, even Democrats.

“One of the members around here, he was very gracious, said, ‘I hope you won’t be around here very long, but welcome,’ ” said Marston, who through a quirk of election law must run against Gotch once again this fall.

Marston voted on 75 unfamiliar bills during a full session of the Legislature. One of his votes helped provide an important margin for a controversial water meter bill sponsored by Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Rancho San Diego), who had backed Gotch. He went against the wishes of his fellow Republicans by voting for another bill that would pay teen-age girls $1 a day not to get pregnant.

Once the session was over, he dashed across the street to the Hyatt Hotel--a reporter had to show him the way--to hear Wilson speak about his gubernatorial campaign.

On the way, he showed off 15 strings tied around his wrists and explained that they were good luck charms put on by his Laotian supporters in a ceremony at his campaign office the day before the election. He had to keep them on until 8 p.m. or else the good luck would vanish, he explained.

Inside the Hyatt, Marston himself was greeted like a good luck charm for hopeful Republicans, who constitute a minority in the Legislature.

“I take special pleasure in making the next introduction,” Wilson said as Marston edged into the room. “The newest of our members--Jeff Marston of San Diego.” The rookie legislator drew a large round of applause.

When Wilson’s speech was over, Marston swung by the gift shop for the candy bar before legging it back to the Capitol for a photograph with Wilson and a 3 p.m. appointment to shake hands with Deukmejian.

Between meetings, he paid his first visit to his fifth-floor office--a small two-room suite with cheap wood paneling and uneven ceiling tile. Marston said he had no idea how many staffers he would get, whether he would be allowed to introduce bills, or where he’ll stay in Sacramento. Perhaps he will rent a spare bedroom from one of his colleagues, Marston said.

Meanwhile, the former aide to San Diego City Councilwoman Gloria McColl and U.S. Sen. S. I. Hayakawa (R-Calif.) said he will concentrate on learning names and rules in the Assembly. Maybe then, he can begin to understand what his fellow lawmakers meant when they hailed him in the Capitol Thursday.

“ ‘You’ll have a blast,’ ” Marston said he was told. “I probably heard that from two or three people.”