Apparently, some sort of deal was reached, and Asm. Kevin De Leon will be backing down from his attempt at Assembly Speaker. That leaves freshman John A. Perez as the lone Democratic candidate.
Assemblyman John A. Perez’s final opponent has bowed out, setting the stage for the first-term Democrat to be selected Assembly speaker today — the first openly gay man to hold the post.
After behind-closed-door talks this week with Perez and other political leaders, Assemblyman Kevin de Leon agreed to bow out and is expected to nominate Perez in an Assembly Democratic Caucus today, Capitol sources said.(SacBee)
While this was a bit more heated and public than you would like to see, it is a good sign that the caucus was ultimately able to weather this storm without bringing the fight to the floor. A vote is expected very soon, with Bass serving some sort of transition period.
In May of this year my wife testified in front of one of Deleon’s subcommittees. She was supportive in asking that the bills (1411 and 1412) be approved so that they could get back to the pesky business of dealing with the state budget.
But Deleon’s response was out of line–he took umbrage at her comment and accused her of believing that state legislators don’t work hard.
Here’s what I wrote to that scumbag in her defense:
To ASSperson KEvein Deleon:
“I could give a sweet goddamn whether you are a democrat or Repuglican, your mistreatment of my wife on Thursday during the testimony on AB’s 1411 and 1412 was outrageous, defensive and sickening. Ms. Moira Brennan urged that your committee approve those two bills so that you could get back to the pesky business of dealing with the state budget, but your reaction was disgusting and more than out of line: you accused her of believing that you assembly people don’t work hard. Yikes. Out of all she said, instead of taking to heart her implied support, all you could do was take umbrage at a misperceived slight.
How disgusting. I suspect that’s another reason why the approval rating of the assembly and state senate is so low-’tis rare to find true statespeople, and clearly you’re not one of them. Ms. Brennan drove an hour and a half from San Rafael to Sacto to testify on two very worthy bills, and yet you treat her like shit. What an unmitigated cad you are.
That’s why Torrico had to apologize to her for your boorish behavior. Now, if you’re anything like that paragon of corruption, Joe Nation, I expect nothing but continued defensiveness from you, but I demand that you apologize to Ms. Brennan.”
He did not. He proffered no response. I did hear from Jared Huffman, who liked what I had to say.
Jonathan Frieman
170 Oak Drive
San Rafael, CA 94901
415-721-7397