SACRAMENTO — Despite losing two seats to the Democrats, Assembly Republicans voted Thursday to retain as their leader Ross Johnson of La Habra, a fiery lawmaker who has weathered repeated challenges since he took over the post two years ago.
In a closed-door meeting, the Republicans voted 23 to 9 for Johnson over Assemblyman Bill Jones, a Fresno rancher who had claimed the day before to have secured commitments from enough Republicans to oust Johnson.
Jones and Johnson said after the vote that they had reconciled their differences and agreed to unite in support of governor-elect Pete Wilson, hoping to give the same protection from veto overrides that they provided Gov. George Deukmejian.
Although there are now only 32 Republicans in the 80-seat lower house, Democrats still need the votes of six GOP lawmakers for the two-thirds majority needed to pass the budget, raise taxes or override the governor.
