Karen Bass, to be Elected Speaker of the California Assembly Today, is a Solid Progressive Who Walks the Walk

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

First Black Woman to Lead Assembly at End of This Year’s Session

By Frank D. Russo

Assembly Democrats are scheduled to go into a private caucus meeting around 9:30 a.m., shortly after the Assembly convenes and elect Karen Bass, a two term legislator from Los Angeles to assume the Speakership at the end of this year’s legislative session in August. There will be a press conference announcing the action of the majority Democrats—as Bass has letters of support from at least 25 of its 48 members and beat out 10 other competitors for the job.

She won the support of her fellow lawmakers by talking to them one on one, sometimes spending hours with them. She did not wage a public campaign. I tried to draw her out and this is all she would say: “Selecting the next Speaker for the State Assembly is an internal process and should not be played out in the media. What’s important is to maintain the stability and harmony of the institution especially in the midst of the fiscal crisis.”

Methodically, in the same manner as she has handled legislation as Majority Leader, Bass thus becomes the second most powerful elected leader in California government—overshadowed only by the Governor of the state.

Shortly after the February 5 election defeat of Proposition 93, which would have reformed term limits, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez had announced the date for election of a new Speaker would be March 5. However, Bass, the Assembly Democratic Majority Leader, secured her votes early and will be named today.

She becomes only the second woman to hold the position. Doris Allen, a Republican, held the Speakership for a brief period in 1995 during the interregnum of Speaker Willie Brown’s longest ever stint in that position.

Bass has a solid record of supporting progressive causes and getting legislation signed into law by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has signed 17 of her bills into law. If any one issue of hers has to be singled out, it would be her commitment to the cause of foster children.