GOP’s Assembly Leader Packs Some Surprises

SACRAMENTO — The new Assembly Republican leader has an American flag draped over the front door of his Capitol office. He leads legislators in Bible study and intensely opposes abortion. He believes Californians are overtaxed and thinks their guns are over-regulated.

By any standard, this makes Assemblyman Bill Leonard of San Bernardino a political conservative.

But wait! What about this stuff? He’s against term limits for elected officials and opposes the two-thirds vote requirement for passage of the state budget and local bonds. He once sponsored legislation to ban the internal combustion engine. Ordinarily, these are the telltale signs of a liberal.

“I’m one of those who probably is hard to label,” he says.

Not really. Leonard, without question, is a conservative. He’s just not a knee-jerk right-winger--there’s a strain of free-thinking independence here.

There’s also a strong strain of civility, which is a declining quality among legislators. Leonard wears a perpetual, pleasant smile, a slight grin. “Decent” is the word fellow pols commonly use to describe him, although they don’t mean to imply this necessarily qualifies someone for political leadership.

Democratic strategists are just relieved that the new GOP leader is somebody who never has exhibited the electoral savvy of, say, a Jim Brulte.

But Sen. Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga, the former Assembly minority leader who shepherded Republicans into a brief house majority two elections ago, is close to Leonard and high on him.

“He’ll be a consensus-builder within the caucus,” Brulte predicts. “He’s not flashy, he’s not dominating, but he has good bedside manners.”

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Leonard, 49, a 19-year veteran of both legislative houses, has taken over the Republican leadership from Assemblyman Curt Pringle, 38, of Garden Grove. Pringle stepped aside to focus on a race for state controller. Maybe he would have been shoved anyway.

Pringle’s two-year reign got mixed reviews. Bedside manners were not his specialty. But he was a good legislative leader--the best of the lot during the recent budget debacle. He kept Assembly Republicans in line for Gov. Pete Wilson and was a productive negotiator for the governor.

The ultimate sin, however, was committed by Pringle. The Assembly fell back into Democratic hands on his watch. Critics say he got greedy and tried to win unwinnable seats rather than pouring money only into the districts Republicans should have won. He lost his speakership and the confidence of colleagues.

When Pringle announced months ago that he would bow out after a budget was passed, it triggered an internal fight for his job. Leonard beat out a Pringle lieutenant, Keith Olberg of Victorville, and also a Pringle critic, Tom J. Bordonaro Jr. of Paso Robles.

Then to send a message that while he’s decent, he’s not defenseless--warm but not weak--Leonard rewarded and punished. Most notably, he bounced Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer of Irvine from the powerful Rules Committee and also banished her to a smaller Capitol office. Her crime was supporting Olberg. (She’s also one of the few GOP lawmakers who supports abortion rights).

“Leonard is bland,” notes one GOP insider, “but he’s experienced.”

Experience, like civility, is another declining legislative quality.

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Leonard also is a policy wonk. He actually reads the bills. His underlying philosophy: “I believe very strongly there ought to be less government.”

I asked him about some specifics:

* Guns--Although laws are too restrictive, “I believe every [gun owner] ought to take a firearms safety course because guns are far more dangerous than Hollywood portrays.”

* Illegal immigration--He finally supported Proposition 187, but not warmly. He was bothered by kicking children out of school and felt the problem wasn’t immigration, but welfare reform.

* Affirmative action--He was an early co-sponsor of Proposition 209.

* The internal combustion engine--”I tried to get legislators’ attention about the smog problem in Southern California. In the first committee, my bill just got laughed to death.”

* Personal--He’s a nonsmoking teetotaler who loves family houseboat vacations. He also was a vegetarian for 20 years, but admits, “My body never adjusted to it.”

* Why he wants to be minority leader--”I’m here to be speaker.”

Indeed, that’s probably how he’ll ultimately be judged--on whether he’s capable of leading Republicans back into the majority in time for the 2001 redistricting. Meanwhile, he’ll just have to live with being best known as a politician who’s decent.