Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Thai Fighter Jet Bombs Cambodian Targets as Border Battle Escalates

4 hours ago

Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan Dies at 71, TMZ Reports

6 hours ago

TikTok Will Go Dark in US Without Chinese Approval of Sale Deal, Lutnick Says

7 hours ago

Meme Stock Surge Underlines Market Froth, Mostly Centered on Retail Investors

7 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Still Searching for Missing Mother and Infant

7 hours ago

California Releases Teacher Data. It Shows Big Rise in Hispanic Teachers

8 hours ago

Biting a Bat and 5 Other Wild Moments From Ozzy Osbourne’s Life

8 hours ago

Henry Thompson Did Wonders for Fresno Airport, Leaves ‘Incredibly Big Shoes to Fill’

1 day ago
Walters: An Epic Capitol Power Struggle Recalled
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 6 years ago on
December 11, 2019

Share

Exactly 40 years ago today, a political power struggle erupted in the California Assembly, one that lasted nearly a year and fundamentally altered the Capitol’s culture.
Many of today’s legislators weren’t even born when Assemblyman Howard Berman, the majority floor leader, abruptly demanded that Assembly Speaker Leo McCarthy step down in his favor.


Dan Walters
Opinion
Berman alleged that McCarthy’s fundraising for a future U.S. Senate bid was “seriously endangering the Democratic Party’s future in the state Legislature” because Republicans could win control of the Assembly and thus control redrawing of legislative and congressional districts after the 1980 census.
McCarthy refused to cede the powerful position, saying of Berman, “ambition has overtaken the normally high standards of decency and scruples that have characterized Mr. Berman’s performance in the house and his relationship with me.”
It was not an ideological dispute since both were liberals. Partially, it was a regional rivalry — Berman from Los Angeles, McCarthy from San Francisco. Mostly, however, it was a cultural clash.
McCarthy was a somewhat formal, old-fashioned New Zealander-Irish politician while Berman, 11 years younger, typified the careerist politicians who had emerged after the Legislature became a full-time, professional body.

The Two Factions Then Tried to Unseat Each Other’s Backers With Primary Election Challenges

While Berman appeared initially to claim a majority of the Assembly’s Democrats, McCarthy’s rebuff made it a stalemate.
When the Legislature convened in January 1980, Berman would routinely make motions to vacate the speakership, but with Democrats divided and Republicans refusing to vote either way, nothing happened.
The two factions then tried to unseat each other’s backers with primary election challenges. Long-standing personal friendships and political alliances were shattered; one challenger to an incumbent was threatened with death, and an assemblywoman gave up her seat in response to threats to reveal sordid details of her sex life.
A few incumbents lost their seats in the June 1980, primary but the stalemate continued until the November election when Berman’s side won a clear majority of the 47 Democratic Assembly members.
That was not the end of it, however. When the Legislature convened in December 1980, 51 weeks after Berman had issued his first demand, McCarthy’s faction did a deal with Republicans to elect Willie Brown as speaker.
Republicans openly feared that if Berman became speaker, his brother, Michael, a genius at redistricting, would shrink their legislative and congressional seats, and decided Brown was a better bet.

The Scandal, in Turn, Fueled a 1990 Ballot Measure Imposing Term Limits on Legislators

Brown, however, quickly consolidated his position among Democrats, created congressional and state Senate seats for Berman and his most ardent backers, and limited Republican leverage.
Brown went on to become the Assembly’s longest-serving speaker, but the wheeler-dealer atmosphere he fostered in the 1980s led to an FBI corruption investigation that sent a number of legislators, legislative aides and lobbyists to prison.
The scandal, in turn, fueled a 1990 ballot measure imposing term limits on legislators, leading to a rapid turnover of membership that allowed an influx of women and non-white lawmakers.
McCarthy didn’t run for the U.S. Senate in 1982, despite his earlier fundraising. Instead, he won the first of three terms as lieutenant governor that year and died in 1995. Berman spent 30 years in Congress, but lost his seat to a fellow Democratic congressman in 2012 after redistricting threw them both into the same Southern California district.
Berman’s victorious opponent, Brad Sherman, received some financial support from San Francisco, generated by one of McCarthy’s close friends as retribution for what had happened 32 years earlier.
CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
[activecampaign form=31]

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno Brewery Teams With Japanese Sister City on Rice Lager Release

DON'T MISS

US Justice Department Official Meets Epstein Associate Maxwell

DON'T MISS

Clovis Police Arrest Two in Mail Theft During Organized Retail Crime Detail

DON'T MISS

California Political Lobbying Firm Agrees to Settle Federal Fraud Allegations

DON'T MISS

Lara Trump Skips North Carolina US Senate Race, Clears Way for Cooper Versus Whatley

DON'T MISS

Madera County Authorities Dismantle Illegal Marijuana Grow Operation

DON'T MISS

Israel and US Recall Teams From Gaza Truce Talks, US Says Hamas Not Showing Good Faith

DON'T MISS

How Long Will Fresno’s Resort-Like Summer Weather Continue?

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Judge Reduces Sentence for Teen Convicted in Killing Orosi Teacher

DON'T MISS

Thai Fighter Jet Bombs Cambodian Targets as Border Battle Escalates

UP NEXT

A Pro-Trump Community Reckons With Losing a Beloved Immigrant Neighbor

UP NEXT

Why American Jews No Longer Understand One Another

UP NEXT

Masked Raids and Impersonators Driving Force Behind Terror Campaign Across Nation

UP NEXT

I’m Not Leaving Measure C and COG Can’t Make Me: Brooke Ashjian

UP NEXT

I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.

UP NEXT

California Is Finally Adopting Phonics, Fulfilling a Grandmother’s Dream

UP NEXT

New CA Budget Papers Over $20 Billion Deficit, Ignores Day of Reckoning

UP NEXT

Trump Is Winning the Race to the Bottom

UP NEXT

Why California Ag Is at Odds Over Converting Land to Solar Farms

UP NEXT

Federal Immigration Crackdown Threatens California’s Historic Housing Reforms

California Political Lobbying Firm Agrees to Settle Federal Fraud Allegations

1 hour ago

Lara Trump Skips North Carolina US Senate Race, Clears Way for Cooper Versus Whatley

1 hour ago

Madera County Authorities Dismantle Illegal Marijuana Grow Operation

1 hour ago

Israel and US Recall Teams From Gaza Truce Talks, US Says Hamas Not Showing Good Faith

2 hours ago

How Long Will Fresno’s Resort-Like Summer Weather Continue?

3 hours ago

Tulare County Judge Reduces Sentence for Teen Convicted in Killing Orosi Teacher

3 hours ago

Thai Fighter Jet Bombs Cambodian Targets as Border Battle Escalates

4 hours ago

West Coast Rapper YG to Perform at 2025 Big Fresno Fair

4 hours ago

California Cannot Require Background Checks to Buy Ammunition, US Appeals Court Rules

5 hours ago

Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan Dies at 71, TMZ Reports

6 hours ago

Fresno Brewery Teams With Japanese Sister City on Rice Lager Release

A Fresno brewery is celebrating international friendship with the release of a Japanese-inspired rice lager, created in partnership with Sou...

4 minutes ago

4 minutes ago

Fresno Brewery Teams With Japanese Sister City on Rice Lager Release

Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell stands at the podium to address Judge Alison Nathan during her sentencing in a courtroom sketch in New York City, U.S. June 28, 2022. (Reuters File)
30 minutes ago

US Justice Department Official Meets Epstein Associate Maxwell

53 minutes ago

Clovis Police Arrest Two in Mail Theft During Organized Retail Crime Detail

1 hour ago

California Political Lobbying Firm Agrees to Settle Federal Fraud Allegations

Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, looks on, before President Trump signs the "Genius Act", which will develop regulatory framework for stablecoin cryptocurrencies and expand oversight of the industry, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 18, 2025. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

Lara Trump Skips North Carolina US Senate Race, Clears Way for Cooper Versus Whatley

Authorities in Madera County eradicated more than 1,600 marijuana plants during a search of an illegal grow operation in Raymond. (Madera County SO)
1 hour ago

Madera County Authorities Dismantle Illegal Marijuana Grow Operation

An explosion in Gaza is seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 24, 2025. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)
2 hours ago

Israel and US Recall Teams From Gaza Truce Talks, US Says Hamas Not Showing Good Faith

3 hours ago

How Long Will Fresno’s Resort-Like Summer Weather Continue?

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend