A Lame Duck In Tune on the Way Out

David Roberti clearly is not a politician for the video age. You would never find him trying to imitate Phil Donahue at a so-called town meeting scripted for television.

Although his oratorical skills are terrific, Roberti is chunky and jowly and always seems a bit rumpled. “I don’t watch myself on TV anymore. It makes me upset. I tell my wife to do my watching for me,” the Senate leader acknowledged in a soul-baring floor speech as he fought for passage of the state budget.

Nor is Roberti (D-Van Nuys) a typical political leader who exercises power by reward and punishment. In California’s Senate, power is more diffused than in the Assembly, where it is relegated almost exclusively to the Speaker.

“If he tried to threaten us like they do in the Assembly, we’d say, ‘See ya tomorrow in the caucus at the election of a new leader,’ ” says Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-Modesto), who finally cast a crucial vote for the budget at 1:30 a.m. after intense pressure from Roberti.

What power Roberti does have is being eroded daily by his lame-duck status. Because of an anomaly caused by redistricting, Roberti will be the first legislator to be bounced by term limits. He’ll be out by the end of 1994, two years earlier than other lawmakers.

So for many reasons--appearance, style, power--Roberti operates in the shadow of his Assembly counterpart, Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco). This is despite their having served as leaders for the same duration--since December, 1980--and the fact that Roberti has been in the Legislature almost as long as Brown, nearly 27 years. Roberti, 54, recently surpassed the legendary Hugh M. Burns’ record for postwar longevity as Senate president pro tem.

Voters undoubtedly had in mind the likes of David A. Roberti--a career politician and proud of it--when they imposed term limits in 1990. But the irony is that Roberti, as his eviction nears, never has been more effective as a legislator. And, perhaps more importantly, never has he been as in tune with voters.

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Both points came through loudly on the night of June 21 when, after an eight-hour struggle, the Senate passed Gov. Pete Wilson’s $52-billion budget with no votes to spare. During the bitter debate, Roberti delivered two remarkably candid, desk-thumping floor speeches that basically fell through the cracks of news coverage because of the late hour.

The Senate leader declared that voters cared less about budget details than the Legislature’s legal “duty” to complete its work on time--before the start of the fiscal year. He warned against the Legislature again “indulging its ideological predilections at the expense of the people” and he confessed past guilt. “I’ve indulged myself--mea culpa--I’m a sinner too,” he said. “But one thing the wonderful job of president pro tem has done for me is to mature me.”

Referring to term limits, Roberti noted that “I’ve disabused myself of the opportunity of reelection. The message has come through. . . . People got sick and tired of the fact that legislators--not me alone--can’t do things on time.”

Roberti noted that one colleague had called him “Italian and paternalistic.” Others accused him of “engaging in self-esteem” and “ego gratification.”

“Let’s get a life here,” he shouted. “The law, the law, the law says we have to pass it on time.”

And he concluded by admitting to being piqued at playing second fiddle to Speaker Brown. “If we’re going to let hurt feelings dictate how we vote, I get to be candidate No. 1,” he said. “I got to read how the governor and the Speaker decided on something and then called me downstairs to (talk) about it. . . . I swallow my pride. But what if I told my voters that the reason I wasn’t voting for the budget was my feelings were hurt. They’d tell me to get a life.”

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On the first roll call, only 15 senators voted for the measure. It took seven hours to wheedle and coerce the necessary 27 votes.

Roberti served as a broker between balking Democrats and the governor.

Sen. Nicholas C. Petris (D-Oakland), the 23rd vote, got Wilson to help Alameda County cope with property tax losses resulting from the 1991 Oakland hills fire. Sen. McCorquodale, the 25th vote, secured Wilson’s commitment to reimburse counties for taxes they lose when landowners agree to keep their property in agriculture. Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), the final 27th vote, got concessions on community college fees and money for county youth ranches.

The Senate leader also called in chits. “The longer you’re around, the more people owe you,” he notes. And to some longtime colleagues, he simply said, “I’ve taken all this heat for you and now I’m asking you to do a little for me.”

These were valuable IOUs that future pro tems will not have time to earn because of term limits--no matter how attractive they are on television.