SACRAMENTO — A cadre of staunch conservatives representing Orange County makes up one of the state Assembly's most identifiable blocs, one that has the potential to be a significant force in the Democrat-controlled Legislature.
Collectively, Republican Assemblymen Dennis Brown, Nolan Frizzelle, Ross Johnson, John Lewis and freshman Gil Ferguson are demonstrating legislative muscle that none could muster as individuals, Capitol observers say.
Now, with Ferguson added to their hard-line, usually rock-solid coalition, the Orange County lawmakers say it is going to be hard for legislative vote-counters to ignore them.
Assembly Republican leader Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) says the Orange County delegation is his largest group of loyal supporters, and is "absolutely" packing "more clout" because of its numbers.
But Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), perhaps Sacramento's most astute vote-counter, says, "I haven't observed it." Then, smiling, he insists: "That's true. I haven't. "
There are skeptics as well among Orange County business and political leaders. They say it is too early to tell whether the group can be anything more than a small but loud bloc of "no" votes in an Assembly made up of 47 Democrats and 33 Republicans.
The group is generally perceived as the most conservative delegation in the Legislature, which is in keeping with a reputation the county has long possessed here.
While the current class wears its conservative label proudly, its members say they would rather not be identified with the antics or the fanaticism of some Orange County legislators of the past.
"We certainly don't want to be regarded as five reincarnations of John Schmitz," said Lewis (R-Orange), referring to the veteran lawmaker, now a Washington-based lobbyist and student, who for 13 years represented Orange County in both Sacramento and Washington.
The five lawmakers--who are among a group of a dozen or so Assembly Republicans who have come to be referred to as "the cavemen" because of their hard-line ideological views--vociferously denounce big government and high taxes, while espousing the virtues of property rights and free enterprise.
Even their fans and allies--and the lawmakers themselves--acknowledge that no one in the group is as effective or as highly regarded a legislator as Democratic Assemblyman Richard Robinson of Garden Grove or Marian Bergeson, the Newport Beach Republican who was elected to the state Senate last year after three terms in the Assembly.
But they say their strength is in their numbers, in their close alliance with new Assembly Republican leader Nolan and in Gov. George Deukmejian's tendency to veto bills he doesn't like.
Lewis' and Dennis Brown's friendship with Nolan, in fact, goes back to the late 1960s, when all three were students at USC.
Now, in an era when Nolan and Democratic Speaker Brown are supposedly cooperating to avoid petty partisan bickering, the ties have translated into some choice committee assignments and key offices in the Republican caucus for the Orange County group.
Three of the Orange County group --Brown (who lives in Signal Hill but whose district lies mostly in Orange County), Johnson and Lewis--were appointed to the powerful, budget-writing Ways and Means Committee. Frizzelle and Ferguson were appointed to the Transportation Committee, along with Democrat Robinson.
Dennis Brown, Frizzelle and Ferguson all got vice chairmanships of various standing committees, while Frizzelle was named chairman of a subcommittee on health personnel and Brown was named chairman of the Ways and Means subcommittee on transportation.
Top Choices Granted
Though a freshman, Ferguson got his first two choices for committee assignments--Housing and Community Development, and Transportation--and Ferguson and others believe he did so because of his importance to Nolan in the party leadership battle.
Nolan also gave his Orange County friends offices in the Assembly Republican Caucus, naming Ferguson its secretary, Johnson its political action committee chairman and Lewis its elections committee chairman.
Lewis, says Nolan, has the shrewdest political mind in the Assembly.
"When we become the majority party in this state, it is going to be because of John Lewis," the minority leader said.
With such high visibility and leadership roles, the Orange County coalition say even liberal Democrats will have to start taking them seriously as a group.
"We have come to realize," said Dennis Brown, who is serving his fourth term, "that we can get more done in unison than we could going off on our independent ways."
At times, their number increases to seven when Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) and Assemblyman Robert C. Frazee (R-Carlsbad), whose district includes Orange County's southern tip, side with them on issues. But neither Allen nor Frazee see themselves as part of the "caveman" coalition that helped Nolan oust Assemblyman Robert Naylor (R-Menlo Park) late last year as minority leader.
