Sacramento Bee: Assembly Speaker Perez wields power of the purse

The power of one: Perez controls Assembly with money

By Jim Sanders
The Sacramento Bee

Published: Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

Copyright 2011 The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez single-handedly doles out millions in public funds each year to his 80 members: No vote, no committee, no debate.

Like speakers before him, the Assembly Democrat gives and can take away, handing out or withholding leadership posts that can boost office budgets by six-figure sums. Assembly rules give him sole authority to control purse strings, with no appeal.

The power of his position differs from operations in the smaller state Senate and can be necessary in wrangling votes from an unruly house.

Yet the public's inability to monitor the speaker's financial decisions came into sharper focus this year after a dispute between Pérez and one of his own caucus members. When The Bee and Los Angeles Times asked that records of Pérez's budgetary deals with individual lawmakers be made public, the Assembly said no.

Former and current members, some of whom will only speak privately, note that other speakers have used the powers of the office to impose party discipline. But Pérez, they say, mishandled the public records controversy and is an especially demanding leader.

Assemblyman Tony Mendoza concedes that he has felt the speaker's wrath.

The Artesia Democrat's office allocation was cut by about $80,000 last December when Pérez demoted him from Rules Committee member to alternate. Mendoza declined to discuss why, saying simply, "things happen for a reason, it's only obvious."

Mendoza, a five-year legislative veteran, said Pérez is aggressive with Democrats in imposing his will on key votes – sometimes demanding caucus unanimity when it isn't necessary.

"I've worked with a few other speakers, and I don't think they've taken it to this extreme," Mendoza said.
Robin Swanson, Pérez's spokeswoman, said he operates honorably within an Assembly system that has existed for decades. He was elected speaker by members from both parties and bases his decisions on public benefit, she said.

"The speaker makes decisions about who will serve in positions of leadership and chair committees in the Assembly based on what he thinks is best for the people of California," Swanson said.

"This year, he delivered an on-time, balanced budget for the first time in many years, with overwhelming support from 51 out of 52 of his Democratic colleagues – an outcome that is difficult to argue with."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg also wields a heavy political hammer in committee assignments, leadership positions and legislative priorities. What Steinberg wants in Senate spending, he tends to get, officials say.

But the Senate's system of allocating money among its members is more formula-driven than that of the Assembly. Each member, for example, is entitled to a monthly block grant of up to $2,500 and to a staff of up to 10 people. Additional aides are provided to lawmakers – almost always Democrats – who are named by Steinberg's Rules Committee to chair select committees.

Greg Schmidt, Senate secretary, said in an email that the Legislature's two houses operate differently but effectively. The Senate "tends to be older, more collegial, and historically operational as a feudal institution: It is run by the Rules Committee, not by one person."

Committee funds pay aides


Pérez decides the fate of tens of millions in funds that are not committed, however. He helps determine Capitol clout by appointing caucus lieutenants and committee chairs, deciding their budget augmentations, and assigning the largest office quarters to key colleagues.

A recent analysis by The Bee shed some light on what's happening. Salaries for more than 170 personal aides, for example, are paid with committee funds rather than listed as member expenditures, which can obscure how more than $8 million is spent. Leadership funds provide an additional $2.7 million to employ more than 70 aides, The Bee found.

Steve Maviglio, a Democratic strategist and former spokesman for Assembly Speakers Fabian Núñez and Karen Bass, said the leader needs a fiscal hammer to impose discipline. Eliminating it would create "absolute chaos" in a house already rocked by the state's six-year term limit.

"There's no such thing as too much power. It's a very difficult house to run, and you have to have the leverage that the speaker has," said Herb Wesson, a Los Angeles Democrat who served as Assembly leader from 2002 to 2004.

But he noted that how the money is used and the confidentiality of records are separate matters.

Wesson said he remembers imposing severe punishment only once on an Assembly member during his two-year stint as leader. There are legitimate arguments for withholding member budgets, but "transparency is a very important thing and (a member's) budget, it is what it is, so I would just release it."

Legendary Assembly Speaker Willie Brown – unlike Pérez – almost bragged about punishment he doled out but was quick to forgive offenders who figuratively "kissed his ring," said the Rev. James Richardson, a former Bee reporter and author of a book on the controversial Democrat who led the Assembly from 1980 to 1995.

As a freshman legislator in the mid-1960s, Brown himself was punished for angering then-Speaker Jesse M. Unruh with a vote. He returned to the Capitol to find himself persona non grata in cramped quarters near the cafeteria, Richardson said.

The state constitution prohibits the use of money to coerce a vote. Richardson said the attitude of Assembly speakers has been that "every member is free to vote their conscience, but the speaker is free to give them staff and take them away. Staff works for the speaker, that's always been their attitude."

Former Assemblyman Juan Arambula, a Fresno Democrat who re-registered as an independent before leaving office last year, said that even if the speaker's fiscal hammer is seldom used, its existence can keep members in line. But Arambula said he cannot fathom the "shell game" played with disclosure.

Papers sue for records


After Assemblyman Anthony Portantino accused Pérez of chopping his staff as punishment for casting the lone Democratic vote against this year's state budget, The Bee and Los Angeles Times asked that member budgets be disclosed.

The newspapers are now suing to obtain the records. The Assembly argues that they are exempt from public disclosure because they are draft documents subject to change.

Portantino, a Democrat from La Cañada-Flintridge, was ordered to furlough his office staff for six weeks, beginning Oct. 21 – a threat that later was rescinded. He said his office funds were slashed over his vote against the budget.

The relationship between Pérez and Portantino had been strained for many months. Portantino said Pérez warned him late last year that "I'm going to review your budget quarterly because I want to see how you behave."

Pérez, through Swanson, has said the lawmaker was overspending and had ignored warnings to stop.
Portantino contends that the Assembly's system invites intimidation by providing a multimillion-dollar "slush fund" and letting the speaker distribute it privately.

Nonsense, counters former Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont.

"There is a check and balance – the members themselves," Torrico said. "A speaker who gets too heavyhanded or dictatorial will no longer be speaker. Members will vote that person out."

When he was elected Assembly speaker last year, Pérez touted transparency and open government. He vowed to negotiate details of the state budget in public, not in private meetings of the governor and legislative leaders.

After the public-records lawsuit was filed in August, Pérez vowed to create an Assembly task force to study disclosure policies. Two months later, no members have been named.

Portantino, who is eyeing a run for Congress, proposed an Assembly rule recently to require that member budgets be set by the Rules Committee – not the speaker – and voted upon in public session.
The measure was shelved by the Rules Committee, whose members are Pérez appointees.

STATE ASSEMBLY Speaker John A. Pérez "this year … delivered an on-time, balanced budget … with overwhelming support from 51 out of 52 of his Democratic colleagues – an outcome that is difficult to argue with."Robin Swanson, Pérez's spokeswoman

Records of spending, not budgets, typically are released 12 months after the end of a legislative year and provide a murky view of sums spent by lawmakers for personal staff.About two-thirds of the Assembly's $146.7 million annual budget is swallowed by administration, security, record-keeping, maintenance, policy analysis, and a $263,000 base office budget for each of the 80 members.