Other than governor, there’s no more powerful elective state office than Assembly speaker, columnist George Skelton writes.
One of California’s most important elections last week was held behind closed doors with only 63 voters. TheyIt’ll be Assemblyman Robert Rivas, 42, a San Benito County Democrat who grew up in farmworker housing on a vineyard in John Steinbeck country.
So, this is a job worth fighting for. And every few years a nasty brawl erupts between rivals reaching for the post. Sometimes there’s a coup attempt when a speaker refuses to voluntarily surrender the prestigious position. Someday, Rivas may well be in the same position Rendon is now — forced by an ambitious upstart to begin packing.
Rivas had enough votes to replace Rendon when the post became open. But the challenger apparently didn’t have enough to boot the speaker and create a vacancy.Rendon and Rivas financially backed Democratic candidates who promised to vote for them when the new legislative session convenes on Dec. 5. Rivas collected donations from supportive colleagues and funneled about $900,000 into at least a dozen races.
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