Hertzberg Embraces Life at the Capitol
SACRAMENTO — No matter where he’s going, Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg can’t wait to get there.
Take a recent morning at 8 o’clock at the nearly deserted Capitol. Hertzberg is on the way to the cafeteria for breakfast, yet he bounds through the eerily quiet halls as if he has a plane to catch and not a moment to spare.
In a booming voice, he greets a few other early-bird legislators, gives a hearty bearhug to a state worker and breaks into a chorus of “Maria†in honor of a blushing cafeteria cashier.
Anyone watching this whirling dervish might suppose Hertzberg has been a statehouse regular for years.
That is not the case. Hertzberg is a new and endlessly energetic lawmaker who has thrown himself body and soul into representing, as he describes it, “the heart of the Valley,†the 40th Assembly District.
At the same time, he has also thrust himself into the highly flammable battle over Valley secession, a fight that has already cost one veteran lawmaker a job. And in the process, he has pitted himself against some of Sacramento’s veteran political power brokers.
So who is this brash newcomer?
Active most of his adult life in Democratic politics, he was elected in November to replace termed-out Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman in the Van Nuys-centered district that includes parts of communities stretching from North Hollywood to Northridge.
The son of a constitutional lawyer, Hertzberg, 42, said his dad was “very tough†on him during a legal apprenticeship.
As a result, Hertzberg said, he turned out tough himself. “I’m fearless,†he said.
With his hale-fellow-well-met style, Hertzberg is becoming a highly visible Capitol player.
One of his unlikely fans is conservative GOP Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge), who said Hertzberg is a star of this year’s class.
“He revives the term ‘the Happy Warrior,’ †said McClintock. “In all my years of politics, I’ve never encountered anyone who was so helpful, knowledgeable and cooperative.â€
From the other end of the political spectrum, Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) praises Hertzberg’s sensitivity and drive.
“He goes out of his way to accommodate people,†Polanco said. “That’s a unique trait in Sacramento.â€
That’s high praise from Polanco, who opposes McClintock and Hertzberg’s proposed legislation that would facilitate Valley secession.
For his secession efforts, he gets good reviews from local activists.
“He’s wonderfully refreshing,†said Sherman Oaks real estate broker Jeff Brain. “He’s direct, open. He’s not playing games.â€
But Hertzberg’s full-steam-ahead approach led to a standoff with Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) when Hertzberg refused to yield to Lockyer’s wishes about the secession bill’s provisions.
New Assembly members usually don’t take on the most powerful guy in the Capitol without wishing they hadn’t, but Hertzberg seems unfazed.
“I don’t think you ever hurt your career when you stand up for what you believe in,†he said.
That may be a bit of bravado. Historically in Sacramento, turning belief into action has required a certain deference to those who run the place. It remains to be seen how Hertzberg’s challenge of Lockyer will play out.
While known locally for the secession-bill fight, in Sacramento the Assembly Public Safety Committee is Hertzberg’s metier.
In part due to his long involvement in Latino politics and partly because he favors the death penalty, Hertzberg was named chairman of the key committee, an unusually high-profile spot for a newcomer.
As a nod to Hertzberg’s affectionate style of greeting, Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante (D-Fresno) said he has given Hertzberg another unofficial title: chair of the Hugging Caucus.
“Bob has probably hugged everyone . . . in the San Fernando Valley, and he is taking his hugging to Sacramento and statewide,†Bustamante said. “Everyone takes it in fun and for who he is.â€
Not everyone.
Assemblywoman Diane Martinez (D-Monterey Park) said that she found Hertzberg’s physicality offensive and told him so.
“This is a full body grab,†she said. “He has no idea how offensive that is.’
Martinez tangled with Hertzberg on the Public Safety Committee until, she said, he demanded--successfully--that Bustamante oust her for embarrassing him.
“He absolutely falls apart when anyone questions his authority,†Martinez said. “He comes to this Legislature thinking he knows all the answers. . . . I hope Lockyer teaches him a couple of badly needed lessons.â€
A voracious reader of history, public policy, anthropology, philosophy and whatever else grabs his fancy, Hertzberg’s office--and house, says his wife--is chockablock with books.
He has 11 Rolodexes lined up on an office credenza, sits in a replica of the rocking chair used by President John F. Kennedy and has cartoon-character ties, mugs, pens and pencils to pass out to visitors.
On the coffee table is a several-inch-thick white binder filled with Hertzberg’s observations on his first six months in office.
Everyone on the staff has a copy.
Hertzberg says he is a taskmaster, as demanding of the staff as he is of himself.
“The fundamental basis of our work here is excellence,†Hertzberg said. “There’s no room for slackers.â€
Hertzberg’s favorite thing to show visitors is a framed, multicolored wall chart he made of the state codes and how they relate to one another.
He is so proud of the chart that his colleagues played a joke on him, telling him they found an error.
Bustamante said Hertzberg combed the chart several times before finally being told of the put-on.
In an interview, Hertzberg said he takes a systems-management approach to his work and is finding the inefficiency of the Legislature hard to take.
For example, he said, members routinely introduce bills on the same subject, a duplication of effort that leads to confusion and ego battles over which member is powerful enough to get it passed.
Although the number of bills a member can submit has been trimmed, Hertzberg said the volume--100 bills one recent day--is such that members can’t possibly study them all.
“That’s no way to run a state,†he said. “It’s horrible.
“I may get laughed out of the place, but I’m going to try ot change it.â€
When he took over the Public Safety Committee, Hertzberg said he personally called all the members to ferret out those who planned to bring gun-control bills.
A meeting was called by Hertzberg, the result of which was a coordinated package of measures, not a glut of competing ones covering the same territory.
Hertzberg got involved in politics in 1973 by traveling with Mervyn Dymally as he campaigned around the state before being elected lieutenant governor.
A ferocious battle over the Assembly speakership was going on and Hertzberg was privy to the political machinations.
“I was the little kid in the corner no one paid any attention to,†he said.
A Los Angeles native, Hertzberg was raised on the Westside and in Palm Springs, where the family moved so his oldest brother, who has cerebral palsy, could attend regular public school classes.
The middle of five brothers, Hertzberg followed his dad into law and was a litigator who switched to corporate law to make more time for civic activities and family.
He is married to Cynthia Telles, a professor of medicine at UCLA, who is president of the Los Angeles City Women’s Commission and a member of the committee selecting a new police chief for Los Angeles.
They have three sons between them. In addition to the weekends, Hertzberg flies home on Tuesday nights. He reserves Friday nights and Saturdays for the kids. To the chagrin of his staff, Saturday evening is reserved for him and his wife.
“He’s been able to keep a good balance,†Telles said. “I was worried at first.â€
While many view Hertzberg as having a bright future in politics, he said he is reserving judgment until he sees what can be accomplished.
He calls the constant air commute deadly, but there’s something else about the job that bothers him even more.
“Today, somebody lies to me and tomorrow I have to ask them for a vote. . . . That’s the hardest thing for me. The work is not hard. I love it.â€
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