Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez backed down Tuesday from a threat to furlough the entire staff of Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Portantino.

The news marked the latest twist in a months-long public feud since an order from Assembly leadership that Portantino reduce his office spending.

The La Cañada Flintridge Democrat had been informed by the Assembly Rules Committee in July that his staff would be put on leave without pay this fall because of projections that his office expenditures would run tens of thousands of dollars over budget.

Portantino disputed the stated reason for the cut, saying he was being punished for being the lone Assembly Democrat to vote against the state budget package approved earlier in the year.

The six-week period of mandated unpaid time off was set to begin for Portantino's original staff of 11 later this month. But his office was informed by Pérez's office on Tuesday that the furloughs wouldn't be needed "in light of two staff departures, and the requests of two additional staff members for leaves of absence."

The decision not to impose furloughs leaves Portantino with at least seven full-time staff members instead of zero in the coming months. Pérez communications director Robin Swanson said in a statement that any future hires, including replacements, "must be accompanied by a spending plan that details how Mr. Portantino's expenditures will remain within his allocation."

Portantino said the speaker's actions "proved my point" that he was never over budget to begin with and that the speaker controls the purse strings. He said he believed following through with the threat would have put Pérez in a legally tenuous situation.

"I am disappointed in the speaker holding on to the delusion that this entire episode has to do with anything but my independent vote on the budget," he said. "I'm not going to rest until we have complete transparency in the Assembly. He needs to stop blocking that … and embrace transparency."

The dust-up over Portantino's spending triggered a broader push for disclosure of additional Assembly budget information, including a lawsuit filed by The Bee.

After initially denying requests from Portantino and several news outlets, the Assembly released some office spending records in August. Portantino remained critical, accusing leaders of "cooking the books" to mislead the public about the lower house expenditures.

Hours before the speaker's decision was made public, Portantino had released a letter criticizing Pérez's handling of a proposed task force to review legislative budgeting and open records policies, saying the effort lacks transparency.

While members of the committee, which has yet to meet, have not been named, Swanson said it will produce a proposal by the previously announced January deadline.

"We're not working on Anthony Portantino's timetable," Swanson said.

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Call Torey Van Oot, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5544.

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