THE SPEAKERSHIP BATTLE : Assembly Battle Puts Chief Clerk in Tough Spot

On Monday, with all eyes on him as he ruled from the podium on arcane points of parliamentary procedure, obscure legislative aide E. Dotson Wilson commanded center stage in the dramatic speakership fight unfolding on the state Assembly floor.

On Tuesday, Wilson was home recuperating from his unaccustomed fame, after a detour to a hospital where he was admitted reportedly suffering from the stress of his day in the limelight.

As chief Assembly clerk, the well-paid but seldom noticed Wilson, 42, was supposed to have presided over a purely ceremonial moment, the one day in any normal legislative year when the lower house chamber is briefly without a Speaker while the membership meets to elect one.

But when the selection process blew up into a fierce, unresolved partisan battle, Wilson’s moment turned into a long, bruising day of verbal blasts from Democrats and Republicans alike.

Seemingly trying to do no more than keep the riled up Assembly members on the parliamentary straight and narrow, Wilson appeared nervous as he absorbed relentless criticism, including a stinging attack from the man he owes he job to--former Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco). Brown was unhappy with some of Wilson’s procedural rulings because they worked in favor of the Republicans, who were trying to prevent Brown from forming the majority he needed for reelection.

At a Tuesday news conference, Brown declared that Wilson made “horrible rulings that ruined my day” and “frankly made no sense at all.” At another point, however, when asked if he still supported Wilson as chief clerk, Brown replied, “Absolutely.”

Wilson was Brown’s hand-picked choice for the $105,840-a-year chief clerk job, which Wilson assumed in 1992, becoming one of the five most highly paid legislative staffers in the state Capitol.

Upon Brown’s nomination, Wilson was elected chief clerk by the full Assembly on a 43-15 party-line vote with Republicans voting no.

“I lobbied my membership, got the votes and got Mr. Wilson installed, over the objections of the Republican caucus, who yesterday received the benefits of Mr. Wilson’s rulings,” Brown said.

He added that he has not spoken to Wilson personally and said he did not ask him to remain at home on Tuesday--which some suspected was a ploy to allow Brown to preside over Tuesday’s Assembly session.

A press spokesman for the Republicans, Phil Perry, said Wilson performed admirably. “He made fair rulings,” Perry said, “but he didn’t follow the script that Willie and the Democrats wrote for him.”

Times staff writer Dan Morain contributed to this story.