Dan Walters: Núñez leaves mixed legacy

Fabian Núñez, the eighth and longest-serving Assembly speaker in the 13 years since the legendary Willie Brown was forced to vacate the position in 1995, is being forced out himself by a legislative term limit law he tried, and failed, to persuade voters to change.

None of Núñez's seven predecessors had more than a momentary impact; indeed, a few of them were there scarcely long enough to change the I-love-me plaques in the speaker's ornate office. But Núñez, elected as a first-termer in the hope that he could bring some stability and accomplishment to the Assembly, does have a record of sorts.

It's a record of some legislative successes – especially after his mutually frosty relationship with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger melted into partnership and personal friendship – and an array of failures.

He and Schwarzenegger forged agreement on billions of dollars of infrastructure bonds, anti-global warming legislation and raising the state's minimum wage, among other things. But they failed abjectly on expanding health insurance coverage. Promises on education and political reform went unfilled.

"I've been willing to fail," Núñez said last week during a farewell session with Capitol reporters. "It's one thing I've grown to be very comfortable with."

Often, Núñez was his own worst enemy. His early days as speaker were marked by a tendency to butcher syntax, leaving listeners wondering whether he really knew anything about the topics on which he was expounding. He later became more polished, but his association with Schwarzengger's movie star lifestyle led to some excesses, such as spending many thousands of dollars of campaign funds on high-flying foreign travel.

Núñez's personal finances also improved markedly when he reunited with his estranged wife and she secured a lucrative policy consulting job. The couple purchased a $1.2 million home in a cushy Sacramento suburb.

Núñez wanted to continue enjoying the speakership's power and privileges but could do so only by persuading voters to ease up on legislative term limits. He and others put together a ballot measure that would allow them to remain in their houses for up to six additional years, and moved the presidential primary to Feb. 5, at least partially so the term extension could happen this year.

Opponents of the measure, however, adroitly exploited the measure's self-serving provisions and the poor public images that Núñez and his Senate counterpart, Don Perata, had acquired to persuade voters to reject the measure. It forced Núñez out of the Legislature and, most likely, into the private sector, where his connections may allow him to continue his affluent lifestyle.

Núñez's successor, Karen Bass, is unlikely to match his record. She inherits a huge budget deficit and will hold the speakership for no more than two years because of term limits, making her an instant lame duck. "I can't see past the budget," Bass said Monday, essentially setting limits on herself.

While Bass won't formally take the position until today, she committed an odd faux pas on Monday. She told The Bee that an unusually early floor session would be devoted to a ceremony for Asians and Pacific Islanders and then plowing through the Assembly's thick agenda of pending bills. After the ceremony, however, the house quickly adjourned, apparently so members could attend a charity fundraising golf tournament.

Later, Bass insisted that she was not being misleading about the purpose of the session and that the quick adjournment was to allow members to attend committee hearings, but no hearings were scheduled until several hours later. However it was framed, her media credibility took a hit – not a promising beginning to what she describes as a "rather short" speakership.

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• Call The Bee's Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/walters.