Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Close After Funding Cut, in Blow to Local Media

2 days ago

‘Freedom Week’: California Gun Owners Rush to Buy Ammo After Court Ruling

2 days ago

Wall Street Selloff Sparked by Trump Tariffs, Amazon Results, Weak Payrolls

2 days ago

US Construction Spending Extends Decline in June

2 days ago

Global Shares in Red After US Jobs Data, Trump’s Tariff Salvo

2 days ago

Construction of $200M Trump Ballroom at the White House to Begin in September

3 days ago

US Senate Committee Backs $1 Billion for Ukraine in Pentagon Spending Bill

3 days ago

Trump Says Mexico Trade Deal Extended for 90 Days

3 days ago

Fresno Unified Trustee Susan Wittrup Responds to $162,000 Payout

4 days ago
Walters: The Man Who Changed the Capitol
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 6 years ago on
January 20, 2020

Share

As strange as it may seem now, California’s state Senate was once a bastion of bipartisan — almost nonpartisan — comity.
Although Democrats were in the majority, they willingly shared power with Republicans. A bipartisan rules committee gently controlled the flow of legislation and committees were just as likely to have GOP chairmen (there were no women in the Senate until 1976) as Democrats.


Dan Walters
Opinion
The genteel nature of the house was bolstered by an unwritten rule that neither party would try to unseat an incumbent of the other party, confining partisan contests to vacant seats.
A feisty Republican senator from Southern California named Hubert L. Richardson ended that era. Richardson preferred to be called “Bill” and was widely known as “Wild Bill.” He championed rights for gun owners and tough anti-crime laws. And he decided to blow up the no-compete rule.
Richardson, an avid hunter, had been a senator for a decade when a legislative effort to curb handgun sales in the mid-1970s led him to found Gun Owners of California, the first of several political groups, and mount challenges to sitting Democratic senators.

Richardson Continued to Push His Causes, With Notable Success

A pioneer in direct mail fundraising and using technology in political campaigns, Richardson employed those skills to unseat three Democratic senators in three successive elections, beginning in 1976.
It so unnerved the Democrats that they ousted their long-time leader, Senate President Pro Tem James Mills, after their third loss in 1980, the defeat of Sacramento Sen. Al Rodda by a little-known Richardson aide, John Doolittle.
The Democrats elevated David Roberti to the top position on his pledge to protect Democratic incumbents from further challenges. Simultaneously, a year-long battle over the state Assembly’s speakership ended with the elevation of Willie Brown.
Those two events completely and radically changed the tenor of the Capitol, deemphasizing legislative accomplishment in favor of raising lots of money from special interest groups to fight partisan wars.
The Capitol’s pay-to-play, dog-eat-dog atmosphere continued for two decades, until Democrats achieved unquestioned dominance. It also sparked a federal corruption investigation that sent a number of legislators and other figures to prison.
After unseating those three senators, Richardson continued to push his causes, with notable success.

Wild Bill Richardson Was a Very Controversial Figure in His Day

He helped elect Republican George Deukmejian as governor in 1982 by a very narrow margin, mobilizing gun owners to oppose an anti-gun ballot measure that was also on the 1982 ballot. He founded a national gun owners organization and, perhaps most importantly, spearheaded the successful 1986 campaign to stop the re-election of Rose Bird, the state Supreme Court chief justice, and two other liberal justices deemed to oppose the state’s death penalty.

Obviously, Wild Bill Richardson was a very controversial figure in his day. Obviously, too, he single-handedly changed the nature of the Capitol, pioneered political techniques that continue to be used and altered the course of California history by playing key roles in the election of Deukmejian as governor and the defeat of Chief Justice Bird.
Richardson’s take-no-prisoners approach to politics was framed in one of the several books he authored, “Confrontational Politics.” Another book, “What Makes You Think We Read the Bills?” was an insider look — from a very personal standpoint — at the foibles of the Legislature.
Richardson, who continued to live in the Sacramento area after leaving the Legislature in 1988, died last week at age 92. His death was announced by Gun Owners of California, now headed by his son-in-law, Sam Paredes.
Obviously, Wild Bill Richardson was a very controversial figure in his day. Obviously, too, he single-handedly changed the nature of the Capitol, pioneered political techniques that continue to be used and altered the course of California history by playing key roles in the election of Deukmejian as governor and the defeat of Chief Justice Bird.
Very few political figures past or present could claim to have had such impact.
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

This Test Can See a Heart Attack in Your Future

DON'T MISS

‘South Park’ Skewers a New Kind of Sanctimony and Trump

DON'T MISS

India Will Buy Russian Oil Despite Trump’s Threats, Officials Say

DON'T MISS

The US Said It Had No Choice but to Deport Them to a Third Country. Then It Sent Them Home

DON'T MISS

Trump Reaffirms Support for Morocco’s Sovereignty Over Western Sahara

DON'T MISS

Fresno’s Dog Daze Fest Returns With The Chainsmokers Headlining

DON'T MISS

Willow the Streetwise Poodle Mix Gets a Second Chance

DON'T MISS

Newsom Wants Voters to Weigh In on New Congressional Districts in November

DON'T MISS

Kia America Recalls 201,149 US Telluride Vehicles

DON'T MISS

US Reviewing Visa Denial for Venezuelan Little League Players, State Department Says

UP NEXT

Corruption Scandal Puts Mexico’s President on Defense Against Trump

UP NEXT

The Trump Presidency Takes a Better Turn

UP NEXT

How Netanyahu Keeps Playing Trump for a Fool in Gaza

UP NEXT

How Israel’s War With Hamas Became Unjust

UP NEXT

PBS Has a Future by Leaving the Past Behind: Opinion

UP NEXT

Israeli Columnist Alleges Ethnic Cleansing Plan in Gaza

UP NEXT

No One Controls MAGA, not Even Trump. The Epstein Files Prove It

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

The US Said It Had No Choice but to Deport Them to a Third Country. Then It Sent Them Home

21 hours ago

Trump Reaffirms Support for Morocco’s Sovereignty Over Western Sahara

22 hours ago

Fresno’s Dog Daze Fest Returns With The Chainsmokers Headlining

23 hours ago

Willow the Streetwise Poodle Mix Gets a Second Chance

23 hours ago

Newsom Wants Voters to Weigh In on New Congressional Districts in November

24 hours ago

Kia America Recalls 201,149 US Telluride Vehicles

24 hours ago

US Reviewing Visa Denial for Venezuelan Little League Players, State Department Says

24 hours ago

Hamas Says It Won’t Disarm Unless Independent Palestinian State Established

1 day ago

Gifford Fire Grows to 23,588 Acres in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo Counties

1 day ago

Fresno Donates Firefighting Gear to Sister City Guadalajara

1 day ago

This Test Can See a Heart Attack in Your Future

A long list of Lynda Hollander’s paternal relatives had heart disease, and several had undergone major surgeries. So when she hit her mid-50...

45 minutes ago

45 minutes ago

This Test Can See a Heart Attack in Your Future

45 minutes ago

‘South Park’ Skewers a New Kind of Sanctimony and Trump

A view shows oil pump jacks outside Almetyevsk in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia June 4, 2023. (Reuters File)
19 hours ago

India Will Buy Russian Oil Despite Trump’s Threats, Officials Say

A Lao man deported from the U.S. holds up his non-national ID card - a document that defines his legal status in the country he left behind decades ago, and to which he has now returned, in Vientiane, Laos, July 31, 2025. REUTERS/Phoonsab Thevongsa
21 hours ago

The US Said It Had No Choice but to Deport Them to a Third Country. Then It Sent Them Home

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on his way to New Jersey from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., August 1, 2025. (Reuters File)
22 hours ago

Trump Reaffirms Support for Morocco’s Sovereignty Over Western Sahara

23 hours ago

Fresno’s Dog Daze Fest Returns With The Chainsmokers Headlining

After surviving more than six months alone on the streets, a 15-pound poodle mix named Willow is now safe and learning to trust humans again. (Mell's Mutts)
23 hours ago

Willow the Streetwise Poodle Mix Gets a Second Chance

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks to the press after a hearing on the use of National Guard troops amid federal immigration sweeps, at the California State Supreme Court in San Francisco, California, U.S., June 12, 2025. (Reuters FIle)
24 hours ago

Newsom Wants Voters to Weigh In on New Congressional Districts in November

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

Search

Send this to a friend