Leo T. McCarthy, former lieutenant governor of California and a durable figure in the state's rough-and-tumble Democratic Party politics for more than a generation, died Monday at his home in San Francisco after a long illness, family members said. He was 76.
With a distinctive smile that could dissolve from warm and inviting to icy and menacing with barely a twitch of muscle, McCarthy was most thoroughly -- and memorably -- effective as a hard-driving, ramrod-straight, take-no-prisoners statehouse insider. He served as Assembly speaker from 1975 to 1982, an era before term limits when legislative power was accrued slowly and only by those with uncommon backroom acumen and sharp partisan elbows.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, noting McCarthy's passing, said in a statement that "as speaker and lieutenant governor, Leo promoted a values-based agenda to educate our children, grow our economy and protect our environment."
"He was a great champion for justice, and he was a dear friend and purposeful mentor to me," Pelosi said.
He may be most widely remembered, though, for his three terms as lieutenant governor, elected in 1982, 1986 and 1990. Under any circumstances, the position tends to serve as a launching pad more than a substantive office, but in McCarthy's case, his room to maneuver was reduced by the fact that he served all 12 years under Republican chief executives.
McCarthy saw himself as a champion of Democratic causes and underdog constituencies, including the environment, healthcare and education. But on the larger stage of California politics, where celebrity was ascendant, the two sides of the coin held that McCarthy was either remarkably reserved in public or just plain bland. Perhaps closer to the truth, he was single-mindedly intense, even righteous, about the causes that engaged him -- a "heat-seeking missile," as one colleague called him.
"He had a big heart and was widely admired. He was in politics for the right reasons and people understood that," said former Gov. Gray Davis, a fellow Democrat. "He was one of the most decent people I met in 30 years of public life."
Twice McCarthy tried to break into the first tier of statewide politics with campaigns for the United States Senate. In 1988, he lost to Republican Pete Wilson, and four years later was beaten in the Democratic primary by Barbara Boxer.
