As California slogs through its fourth week without a budget, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez has emerged as either the most loved or loathed of the four legislative leaders, depending on your perspective.

The Los Angeles Democrat has drawn the ire of Republicans, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, for adhering to a game plan that relies on more taxes and borrowing, and limited cuts to schools and social services.

But Pérez's budget package also has galvanized support from the state's most powerful labor unions, who call him one of their own, as well as advocates for education and the poor. Teachers unions have rallied on his behalf – and even tried to put the squeeze on his Democratic counterpart, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

"What's been happening is that Democrats have been negotiating against themselves instead of going out there, coming up with a plan and saying, 'Let's start here,' " said David Sanchez, president of the California Teachers Association, which represents 325,000 members. "… To us, (Pérez) shows true leadership and outside-the-box thinking."

As a rookie budget negotiator, Pérez finds himself in one of the state's most difficult fiscal quagmires in recent years. California has a $19 billion deficit, nearly one-quarter the size of the state's general fund.

Pérez, 40, spent most of his working life in the Los Angeles labor ranks, primarily with the United Food and Commercial Workers. Union political muscle was instrumental in electing him to the Assembly in 2008 and the speakership earlier this year.

Colleagues praise his grasp of policy issues. He is also considered politically shrewd.

Labor has not been his only concern; he has advocated for gay and lesbian rights, and is the first openly gay Assembly speaker. He also has pursued environmental causes.

Pérez has been an activist for most of his adult life. As an undergraduate, he organized rallies and protests at the University of California, Berkeley.

"He's always been very smart politically and smart on policy," said Mark Weideman, a Capitol lobbyist and college friend.

His highest-profile role came as political director for UFCW Local 324 in Orange County. In 2003 and 2004, he ran ground operations of a 141-day strike against three major grocery companies in Southern California. The dispute involved 70,000 workers, and Pérez's job was to boost the morale of union members, discourage customers from crossing the picket line and resolve conflicts.

"There was a lot of alleged misconduct, and John would go on site, investigate and work with the police or city attorneys," said Greg Conger, president of Local 324. "We disrupted their business, and the employers didn't like it. They brought in goons to cause problems, and John came in to bring down the temperature a bit."

Pérez was instrumental in identifying hundreds of workers that Ralphs rehired under false names and Social Security numbers in an attempt to break the strike, said Ricardo Icaza, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and head of UFCW Local 770. The grocer later pleaded guilty to identity fraud, conspiracy and false tax reporting, and agreed to pay $70 million in fines and restitution.

In 1999, Pérez and grocers teamed up to push through a last-minute Capitol bill intended to prevent nonunion, big-box retailers from competing for grocery customers. Democratic Gov. Gray Davis ultimately vetoed the proposal, calling it "the worst kind of end-of-session maneuvering by special interests" and "anti-consumer."

Despite his labor roots, some suggest Pérez may have some sympathy for businesses because he represented private-sector workers.

"He's not totally ideological," said Bill Dombrowski of the California Retailers Association, who first worked with Pérez on labor regulations for pharmacists more than a decade ago.

Pérez said his union experience has provided him with insight on state budget talks. Some labor contracts were so generous that employers could not compete; others were so weak that employers could not find enough help.

"There's a sweet spot in between," he said this week. "The question for us is, how do you balance the budget in a way that doesn't devastate the economy and doesn't make it more difficult for us to engage in the economic recovery that's essential for the state to move forward?"

As budget negotiations continue, Pérez says that he and Steinberg are working in concert, but acknowledged that his relationship with Schwarzenegger is not deep.

Republicans, meanwhile, say Pérez's taxing and borrowing scheme reflects his inexperience. "Sadly, Speaker Pérez has chosen to abandon common sense in this process," Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, wrote last week. "The result will prolong and make this budget process more difficult."

A Pérez defender, Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate, said Assembly Democrats have "wanted to rethink our approach to things, and I think the speaker has fairly portrayed that viewpoint. … Because the senators have been around longer and through a few of these cycles, they were more inclined to get to resolution. … Our approach may take a little longer, but we hope it's a better result at the end of the day."

Some believe Pérez is holding out as a way to attract more labor contributions; he has been a prolific fundraiser in the past.

In crafting his budget plan, Pérez consulted, among others, Art Pulaski, secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation.

"I got out early in support of the speaker's budget because I thought it was more thought through in terms of a creative approach to protecting jobs," Pulaski said. " … John isn't about to relinquish anything until he knows it isn't going to happen."

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Call Kevin Yamamura, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5548.