That one time a California lawmaker maybe called a senator a pedophile
A young member of the California Assembly learned a painful lesson Sept. 4, 1985, when a senator told the chamber they wouldn’t be voting on his bill and the legislators started cackling.
The Los Angeles Times reported that “the reason for their amusement was the unannounced but well-known plan to kill or stall any bill” by Assemblyman Steve Peace, D-Chula Vista. Californians, apparently, have been complaining about a lack of civility in politics for decades, and 1985 offered up one more blistering example: Peace had deeply offended Sen. Alfred Alquist, D-San Jose, during a very public shouting match Sept. 3 as the legislature neared the end of term and, The Bee reported, male lawmakers’ tempers began to flare.
Whether Peace actually shouted that the state senator was a “senile old pedophile” is a matter of debate — Peace denied it. But it’s a matter of record that, after Alquist tabled one of Peace’s bills Sept. 3, the two Democrats openly screamed at each other, and the fight escalated to the point that a sergeant-at-arms stepped in between them. Alquist threatened to have Peace arrested. The spat made the front page of The Bee first Sept. 5 and then again Sept. 8. (Peace could not be reached for an interview by Sept. 5, 2022; nor could Alquist, who died in 2006.)
The bill that Alquist and the rest of the Senate Appropriations Committee tabled would have made school buses accessible for more disabled children. Peace was, according to The Bee’s sources at the time, “in a state of rage” when he confronted Alquist in the hallway, and he was “clearly the most obscene.”
Then, the next day, Peace sent Alquist a letter that, instead of containing a straightforward apology, contained a clarification that Peace had not called him a “senile old pedophile” at all, but rather a “pitiful little creature.”
The L.A. Times reported on his non-apology: “I should not have referred to you as a ‘pitiful little creature,’ but those were the strongest terms I used, irrespective of what you thought you heard.”
The Bee covered Alquist’s two-sentence reply: “You obviously have some very severe problems. I would suggest you immediately seek psychiatric help.”
This fight inspired introspection among state legislators. The Bee reported Sept. 8 that “there are those who believe that disputes among California lawmakers have become much more vulgar and intensely personal in recent years.” In the weeks before Peace maybe called his colleague a pedophile, another lawmaker, the Assembly’s Dick Floyd, spilled coffee on spectators at a hearing and stomped off in a huff, telling them to send them their laundry bill; Sen. Bill Lockyer accused a colleague, Sen. Diane Watson, of “mindless blather” (he apologized).
Despite the nastiness, reporter Stephen Green pointed out that it had been “more than a decade since blows were exchanged between anyone in the Legislature.” The last time that happened was in 1974, when two assemblymen brawled and one of them ended up in intensive care.
But after the 1985 spat over the school bus bill, the clear-headed Sally Tanner, D-El Monte, told The Bee it was simply due to having so many emotional people in the legislature: “There are a lot of people here with fragile egos.” She pointed out that the newly formed Women’s Caucus had taken over one of Peace’s bills to keep the peace.
This story was originally published September 5, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
