GOP looks to new California Assembly leader

By E.J. SCHULTZ
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cut deal after deal with the Democrats this year, Republicans in the California state Assembly watched with frustration. The tension grew when the governor's chief of staff compared their leader, George Plescia, to a startled deer.

"It upset a lot of people," said Assemblyman Michael Villines, R-Clovis. Susan Kennedy's comments were made in private last spring but later leaked to the press. The administration, Villines said, "basically viewed us as being irrelevant."

The fallout continued last week when Assembly Republicans ousted Plescia, of La Jolla, as their leader, replacing him with Villines. His charge now is to reclaim some relevancy for the GOP in the Democrat-dominated Legislature.

Villines, 39, is an unabashed fiscal and social conservative who represents a heavily Republican district in the central San Joaquin Valley. But his ascension to leader has more to do with his style than his politics, supporters say.

"I don't think it's so much a move to the right as a move to be heard," said Assemblyman John Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes.

A former public relations executive, Villines is seen by colleagues as someone willing to stand up to the governor and Democrats on GOP demands such as keeping spending in check and taxes and borrowing low.

"He's a strong guy in terms of expressing his opinion, and he's articulate," said Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks.

The son of a Dust Bowl migrant from Oklahoma, Villines was born and raised in San Jose and graduated from California State University, Fresno. He got his start in politics as an "advance man" for former Gov. Pete Wilson, a job that gave him the responsibility of coordinating public appearances.

He later served as chief of staff for former Assemblyman Chuck Poochigian, a Fresno Republican later elected to the state Senate. Villines returned to Fresno in the late 1990s to work for a public relations firm before he was elected to the Assembly in 2004.

His legislative tenure has been low key so far, as he hasn't gotten many of his bills passed. But Republican strategist Dan Schnur, who worked with Villines in the Wilson administration, said Villines has the political skills to be a leader.

"He'll make sure that the caucus' voice is heard," he said. "George Plescia is a very good guy and a very smart guy, but Mike's worked in the Governor's Office, (and) he's worked in the Legislature, and he knows the way politics works in the Capitol very, very well."

Most colleagues agree Plescia was put in a tough spot this year. He took over as leader in April and was thrown into negotiations over a public works bond package that was being aggressively pursued by the governor and Democratic leaders.

But some GOP members were clearly frustrated with how things went. Rank-and-file Re- publicans complained, for in- stance, that they had little say on the $37.3 billion bond package, which was approved by the Legislature and passed by voters earlier this month. The state budget, meanwhile, passed the Assembly with only eight of a possible 31 Republican votes as most in the GOP argued that more money should have gone to pay down debt.

In a recent article published on flashreport.org, a conservative Web site, Assemblyman Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, said the governor "repeatedly sidestepped the Republicans" in the bond talks. "No more sidestepping or steamrolling can be tolerated," he wrote.

The deer comment added insult to injury.

During a private conversation in the midst of the bond negotiations, Kennedy compared Plescia to the "the deer that keeps getting caught in my yard when I leave the gate open." The Phil Angelides gubernatorial campaign obtained a recording of the conversation and released it to the Los Angeles Times.

The governor quickly apologized for Kennedy's remark when it became public, and Plescia accepted the apology. But the damage was done.

"We felt that the administration's perspective on our leader was not a good perspective if our caucus was going to be taken seriously," said Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Adam Mendelsohn declined to comment on the "inner workings of Republican leadership."

The Republican governor, he said, is "focused on working with Democrats and Republicans on all issues. No one party is right, and no one party is wrong."