Willie Brown helps pick his successor in Assembly, stumping GOP foes again

Jet, June 26, 1995

Willie Brown, who has given Republicans fits for 15 years as Speaker of the California Assembly, recently stepped down from the second most powerful position in the state, but he went down swinging.

Before leaving, Brown stumped his critics once again by helping select his successor, Republican Doris Allen, the first female to hold the position and the first Republican in 25 years. She is a politician from conservative Orange County who is on the outs with her own party.

Ms. Allen immediately upset her fellow Republicans by naming Brown to the newly-created post of speaker emeritus which means he can have whatever powers she wants to give him. And that upsets Republicans even more. There are 80 seats in the Assembly, 39 are held by Democrats and 39 by Republicans with 2 vacancies. Allen received no other Republican vote than her own.

Some Republicans said they expect Brown to still be in control, just pulling strings from the background since he craftily maneuvered Ms. Allen's election.

When asked about turning over control to a woman, Brown, in his typical bluntness said: "Isn't that incredible? Isn't that incredible? Isn't that incredible? That is absolutely incredible--and it's not affirmative action, not affirmative action at all, no special assistance, no preference. Those White boys got taken, fair and square."

It is that kind of maneuvering that has made Brown so at odds with Republicans up and down California. Brown announced that he plans to run for mayor of San Francisco.