Palace Intrigue in Sacramento in the Wake of Prop 93 Defeat

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

• The good news for Fabian Nunez is that there are at least 8 who would like to succeed him
• Calderon trying to put a deal together with Assembly Republicans
• Steinberg has inside track in Senate

By Frank D. Russo

It started before the votes were counted on Proposition 93, whose defeat means both Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez and Senate President pro Tem Don Perata, have 9 months remaining on their terms in office.

Scuttlebutt had it that Don Perata might be stepping down anyway, even if Prop 93 had passed. One capitol denizen asked me before the election, "What makes you think he'll be Pro Tem even if Prop 93 passes?" Senator Darrell Steinberg, who has had his eye on Perata’s leadership position has the whip hand on getting the job—sometime this year. By all accounts, he strengthened his chances here by not making an all-out effort to campaign for the job until after Tuesday’s election. Those under the dome tell me that it is his to lose.

Fabian Nunez, the Speaker of the Assembly, has given no indications that he intends to vacate his position before the end of the session in August, and reports are that he intends to stay. But Steve Maviglio, his spokesperson, is quoted in the Contra Costa Times as saying that it was his sense that the Assembly was likely to act sooner than the Senate.

The good news for Nunez, if he wants to stay in his position for a while and during some of the difficult days and months dealing with the state budget deficit, is that there are at least 8 of his fellow Democratic Assemblymembers interested in the job. With that many contenders dividing up any votes, the process, if it takes place this session, may take some time. The Sacramento Bee has an article with short profiles of each in this morning’s paper. I will add an 9thth to this list—Assemblymember Joe Coto, Chair of the body’s insurance committee, who seems to be a number of member’s second favorite. Coto is an unassuming, relatively quiet, “regular Joe,” who has been a Democrat all of his life, was recently elected to the Latino Caucus of the Assembly that has 26 members out of the 48 Democrats in the Assembly, and hails from the San Jose area.