Is there another Willie Brown in the house, a Democratic assembly member who can play political chess as adeptly as the legendary former Assembly Speaker? The ghost of Willie Brown-Past and his political maneuvering hovers over the current Assembly speakership fight.
Competing for the Speaker’s post are two Los Angeles Democrats—John Perez and Kevin DeLeon. Current Speaker Karen Bass believes Perez has the votes in the Democratic caucus to take the position but those votes have not been counted yet. DeLeon’s supporters think he can still prevail.
Another Democratic assembly member might seize the opportunity caused by the caucus split to sneak into the speaker’s chair with the help of unusual allies: Republicans. Nearly thirty years ago, Willie Brown rounded up Republicans to pull the speakership from under the noses of fellow Democrats Leo McCarthy and Howard Berman who were tussling over the post. Brown began his record setting fifteen-year run as speaker by persuading 28 Republicans to join 23 Democrats and put him in the speaker’s chair.
DeLeon and Perez believe they can capture the speakership by securing a majority of Democratic assembly members and then assume the other Democratic members will fall in line. But Willie Brown-Present reminded Perez that it takes 41 votes to take the speakership. In his Sunday column in the San Francisco Chronicle, Brown wrote:
(Pérez) … announced he had 28 members on his side. Then he called me and asked, "What do you think?"
I said that the last time I looked it took 41 votes to be speaker, so you’re still 13 short. Actually, I said, you’re 15 votes short.
Why’s that? he asked.
Answer: You need to add one for the cross and one for the double cross that are bound to happen once the voting starts.
Sounds like the wily Brown was suggesting a deal could be made with Republicans to capture a sure 41 votes.
Jon Fleischman, in his weekend FlashReport column, advised Republicans not to cut a deal with any Democrat. He is concerned the Republican brand will be tarnished by the winning Democrat’s policies.
At the same time, Republicans constantly complain that Democrats don’t treat the minority members with respect. A clever Democrat may be able to follow in Brown’s footsteps and craft a coalition that promises to give Republicans a clearer and more acceptable role in the legislative process. By doing so a third Democrat might take the speakership away from the two rivals for the job, just as Brown did so long ago.
Republicans will consider whether they can trust the new speaker to keep his or her end of the bargain once the race is won and the vote has been counted. They might remember that, as time went by, earlier Republicans came to regret their vote for the ever more powerful Speaker Willie Brown.