Law Firm, Union Issue Redivide the Assembly

SACRAMENTO — As interludes go, the Assembly’s attempt at bipartisan cooperation was brief indeed.

As they consolidate their power, Democrats announced Monday that they have fired the law firm Republicans hired last year when the GOP seized control of the lower house.

Taking over will be a Democratic-connected law firm that will handle political matters for all members, Democrats and Republicans alike.

And in another step to solidify their power, Democrats announced that the Assembly will no longer use nonunion contractors--a move aimed at requiring lawmakers to use United Parcel Service, represented by the Teamsters, rather than the nonunion Federal Express company.

Republicans pounced on both actions, particularly the decision to hire the Sacramento law firm of Olson, Hagel, as evidence that Democrats under Speaker Cruz Bustamante are as partisan as they were under former Democratic Speaker Willie Brown.

“This is not bipartisan. It’s very partisan,” Assemblyman Bruce Thompson (R-Fallbrook) said Monday of the hiring of Olson, Hagel.

At Monday’s Rules Committee meeting, Thompson and other Republicans pointed out that Olson, Hagel represented 14 Democratic Assembly members in last year’s election, including Bustamante, and that the firm is counsel to the state Democratic Party.

Republicans attempted to scuttle the deal, questioning, for example, the firm’s hourly rate of $175, and demanding to review the contract with the firm before the vote.

But while Republicans had their claws out, their Democratic quarry was prepared to bite back.

Rules Committee Chairman Don Perata (D-Alameda) described the contract as “standard boilerplate.” He also said that Olson, Hagel would offer advice on ethics and Assembly rules that the firm helped write, such as regulations governing mass mailings sent by legislators at taxpayers’ expense.

Then, during a lull in the meeting, Perata read aloud a short legal notice, revealing that the California Fair Political Practices Commission had filed a claim against the Assembly for possible mass mailing violations.

The target of the complaint is a Republican assemblyman who sent a mass mailing during last year’s campaign and has been accused of violating strict standards regarding such mailers, other sources said.

“We did let one [mailer] get by on someone else’s watch,” Bustamante said. “I would prefer that not happen again.”

Although he is a freshman, Perata is emerging as a major power in the Assembly. As chairman of the Rules Committee, he issued the resolution seeking to terminate “the use of nonunion vendors,” specifically Federal Express.

Greg Rossiter, a Federal Express spokesman, said in a phone interview that the company has a major hub in Oakland, in Perata’s district, that employs 2,000 people, and buys jets from McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach.

“Fed Ex is surprised and disappointed by Mr. Perata’s initiative, especially given our strong and growing commitment to the state,” Rossiter said.

Thompson and other Republicans accused Perata and the Democrats of allowing their philosophy to take precedence over tax money in the decision to favor UPS over Federal Express.

“We should go with the cheapest,” Thompson said.

However, Perata produced a rate schedule showing that UPS provides comparable service to the state for slightly less than Federal Express.

“UPS does door to door and it’s cheaper. They’re also a union company and that matters to me,” Perata said.

Also Monday, the Assembly approved two noncontroversial flood relief bills. And it took lawmakers only 4 1/2 hours of insults, nasty exchanges, closed-door caucuses and parliamentary bickering to do it.

The two bills, approved by votes of 77-0 and 75-3, would provide relief to counties and property owners who suffered losses in this month’s floods. The bills, which go to the Senate, are identical to ones approved in previous years for victims of floods, fires and earthquakes.