Term Limits Roil Waters of Longtime Friendship : Politics: Willie Brown and faithful ally John Burton must leave the Assembly in ’96. Now, both may have their eyes on the same state Senate seat.

SACRAMENTO —  Even on a clear day the politics in the state Capitol are murky. When Sacramento politics mix with San Francisco’s strange politics, things really get weird.

So it happened last week.

Consider: Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and Assembly Rules Committee Chairman John Burton are both old-time San Francisco liberals. Brown is known for his sophistication and fine tastes, while Burton is known for his bombast. But both are master politicians.

They are two of the most dominant politicians in either city. They are one another’s oldest friends, and they are each other’s closest political allies, or so it seems.

Brown and Burton also are looking at their political mortality, and neither one likes it. Come 1996, both must leave the Assembly because of term limits, raising the question--what to do? Their ambitions may be on a collision course.

While national pundits await Gov. Pete Wilson’s announcement on whether he is running for President, political circles in Sacramento and San Francisco are abuzz with speculation over Brown’s future.

Will Brown run for the state Senate seat being left vacant by Sen. Milton Marks, who at 74 also is facing term limits next year? Will Brown enter the race for San Francisco mayor against incumbent Frank Jordan? Will Brown leave politics and become a full-time lawyer?

Columnists up and down the state have written about it. Brown’s political allies and enemies have been spinning their theories about it. Brown has kept the speculation alive, meeting with pollsters and talking to political leaders and strategists. Although Brown may be flattered by the attention, some friends say he might have a tough time winning the mayor’s race given San Francisco’s fractious, highly personal politics.

Besides, as Brown has noted, if he became mayor of San Francisco, a post that pays $137,000 a year, he would have to give up his lucrative law practice, thus taking a pay cut.

In his private practice, Brown represented several San Francisco high-rise office developers in the 1980s. That might be a mayoral campaign issue, given the controversy generated by the “Manhattanization” of downtown San Francisco.

“It will be very interesting if (Brown) runs,” said Staci Walters, Jordan’s spokeswoman. “A lot of issues could be brought up.”

Through most of the speculation, Burton has been quiet. He considered, then scratched, the idea of running for mayor this November.

Most people around Brown assumed that Burton would step aside if Brown decided to run for Marks’ Senate seat. But last week, Burton asserted himself, announcing that he was running for Marks’ seat, which represents a district that extends to Marin and Sonoma counties. Burton was the area’s congressman before he retired from politics and then returned to the Assembly in 1988.

“I think Willie Brown would make an excellent mayor,” Burton told an Associated Press reporter. Speaking to The Times, Burton said: “I don’t see (Brown) running for the (state) Senate. Why would a guy who has been Speaker for 14 years, the second most powerful position in the state, go over and be one of 40 senators?”

What was Brown’s reaction?

“Ka-pow! That’s the sound of the Speaker hitting the ceiling,” San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, another longtime friend of Brown, wrote in his Friday column.

Caen quoted Brown as saying: “I TOLD Burton he could run for Milton’s seat if I decide to run for mayor. Well, I’m not running for mayor. . . . What’s the matter with that guy?”

Burton and Brown have been friends since their college days in the 1950s at San Francisco State. They have been political allies from the start, more than 35 years ago, back when Burton’s older brother, Phil, the late congressman and assemblyman, was fighting to become San Francisco’s dominant political force.

They have shared many victories, and they have lived through many downs, most tragically when their close friend, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was assassinated in 1979. To this day, Burton is Brown’s closest lieutenant in the Assembly.

On Friday, Brown was still fuming.

“My position continues to be the same,” he said. “If I had to make the choice today, I would run for the Senate.”

When asked if he would run against Burton in a Democratic primary for the seat, Brown shot back, “Absolutely.”

Burton, told of Brown’s reaction, chuckled.

“I’ll be happy to debate the issue with him in Rohnert Park,” Burton said, referring to the Sonoma County town that is part of Marks’ Senate district and where Brown might not fare well.