Racism in My Experience Part 18
The California Legislature
I worked in the California legislature for over eight years from 1984 through ‘92. It was a period of split governance between a Democratic legislature and two different Republican Governors. There were intense debates on the floor and in the committees, but I never heard any racist commentary. I found it to be a place where progress could be made far faster and more thoughtfully than through litigation in the courts. I think the absence of overt racism was due to the powerful black political leaders of that era – people like Speaker Willie L. Brown and Assemblywoman Maxine Waters. The powers of the special interest lobbyists in corrupting people like Senator Alan Robbins, Assemblyman Pat Nolan and Assemblyman Frank Hill were undeniable, but there were so many more extraordinary and thoughtful politicians from both sides of the aisle.
The state legislature had a hard time doing the people’s business for several reasons – the super-majority requirements, the thin governing majorities and growing partisanship, the power of the initiative, and the power of the interest groups. The budget, taxes and spending bills required two-thirds majorities – a very tough and high hurdle. Legislative majorities were very narrow during this time frame, meaning if the minority Republican caucus stayed unified, they could block most taxes and spending. There were eminently reasonable Republicans such as Ken Maddy, Becky Morgan or Marian Bergeson and experienced, thoughtful Democrats like Byron Sher, Phil Isenberg or Patrick Johnston who were able to strike cross-party compromises on some important policy issues. Legislation had to be very centrist to attract and maintain the support of members of both parties and the Governor; that meant good ideas from the left or the right had a horrendous uphill hurdle; it was hard to rock the boat of conventional wisdom and establishment thinking.
Gerrymandering of legislative districts assured that they were either safely Democratic or Republican seats, and this promoted candidates from the poles of each party who chafed at their inability to move their ideological opposites. California has since moved to a system where a Citizen’s Commission draws legislative districts and general elections are between the top two finishers, regardless of party affiliation. I think this has been a big improvement, but I’m not up there in the midst of the fray.
California’s initiative process was created as a way for voters to bypass a corrupt legislature during the Progressive era of Hiram Johnson over a century ago. It was designed to promote direct democracy. During and after the late 1970s, 80’s and early 90’s, it became a tool of interest groups (both good and bad) who could not otherwise secure legislative passage of their priorities. Since it only requires a majority vote to raise taxes by initiative, initiatives could more readily bypass the two-thirds vote requirements in the state legislature. The log rolling necessary to assemble a coalition broad and strong enough to persuade the state’s voters to pass a tax increase is done behind closed doors with no open committee hearings or debate or legislative analysis and oversight or transparency.
Racism was most obvious during the biennial political campaigns where short hand appeals to voter emotions replaced debate and dialogue. Speaker Brown, who was African American, was typically caricatured in opposition political campaigns. I have no idea whether this was effective, but the campaign consultants and the political candidates clearly thought so as they continued to do it.
Racial impacts were most evident in the crime bills; this was an era of high crime rates and a “lock them up and throw away the keys” response was autonomic. http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm Crime fears were projected onto racial minorities who were most often the victims of crimes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_States The political powers of local DA’s, sheriffs, corrections and police officers were paramount with the voters and state legislators. What could not be achieved in the state’s legislature then became prime fodder for the California initiative process. The results were more and more black and brown males locked up for longer and longer terms and a huge growth in the prison industry and in correction and public safety spending in the state budget. Dangerous prison overcrowding and lack of access to medical care finally compelled the courts to intervene and put the system in receivership. It took more than 30 years before the mass incarceration cycle ran its course and began to fade. https://thecrimereport.org/2019/08/27/arrest-release-repeat-the-tragic-cycle-of-american-jails/ California has made some recent progress in improving its too often inadequate and poorly funded local mental health and substance abuse treatment systems for which jail and prison were a poor substitute.
Many of the senior legislative policy staff were white during the time period of the 80’s and early 90’s when I was there. Senator Dianne Watson stood out for hiring experienced and talented African American senior staff.
Prepared by: Lucien Wulsin
Dated: 9/24/20