This post isn't directly related to the Assembly Republican majority of 1996, but it does directly relate to that seminal event that made it possible: the recall of Doris Allen. It also relates to Howard Kaloogian.
Now, there are enough former Kaloogian staffers around that we probably could form Kaloogian Anonymous:
Hi, my name is Matt and I worked for Howard Kaloogian. [Hi Matt!]
This is my story.
Following my surreal stint on the Mike Huffington for U.S. Senate campaign, I bounced around professionally for a few months. Then-CRP Executive Director John Peschong had wanted to bring me aboard as CRP Communications Director, but my hiring was blackballed by Gov. Wilson's political guy, Jeff Randle. The new CRP Chairman, John Herrington, had already had to fight Randle and the Wilson people for keep Peschong on board and just wasn't ready for another brawl over an operative (me) he didn't know.
That's the back story. Eventually, someone told me that freshman Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian had a position to fill in his Carlsbad district office. I was psyched because A) I needed a job and B) Kaloogian had acquired a reputation as a fearless fighter for conservatism. This reputation stemmed mainly from a Bob Novak column in which Howard was quoted as saying something very critical of the Wilson Administration (though I can't remember what he actually said).
Howard later told me he thought he was speaking off-the-record and was mortified when the comment appeared in print. But I didn't know that yet.
I met with Howard and he hired me. I was actually an employee of the Public Employee Retirement System Committee, of which Howard was chairman under the power-sharing agreement then-Assembly GOP Leader Jim Brulte had negotiated.
Fast forward to that infamous day in June 1995 when Doris Allen stymied the gains of the Paul Horcher recall and sold herself out to Willie Brown -- making herself Assembly Speaker and postponing the GOP majority ascension to power.
I was in Howard's D.O. when it took place, and the first thing I did was to call Jeff Flint and ask, "When's the recall?"
"We're working on it," was Jeff's reply.
That's how things worked in Orange County.
Next, I drafted a blistering press release denouncing Doris Allen's political treason and calling for her recall. I faxed it up to the Sacramento office and awaited my boss's approval to send it out. Given Howard's reputation as conservative bomb-thrower, I figured it as a given that he'd be out in front of the coming Doris Allen recall.
A short time later, Howard called. He explained that although what Doris had done was terrible, what we needed to do was send out something much more conciliatory. After all, he didn't want to provoke Doris into taking away his PERS Committee chairmanship, and Howard reminded me that if he lost that chairmanship, then I would lose my job.
I was dumbfounded by Howard's response to the Doris Allen sell-out. Stupefied.
I told Howard that since the Democrats were now running the whole show he was doomed to lose his chairmanship in any case, and that it was only a matter of time before Doris's people went down the Assembly staff roster and fired me, in any case.
I assured Howard that Doris was as good as recalled -- Curt Pringle, John Lewis and Dana Rohrabacher were already putting the machinery together and Doris Allen would be out of office by the end of summer.
Howard disagreed with my analysis, and stated his belief the outrage would all blow over in a couple of weeks, and we needed to learn to live with Doris Allen as Assembly Speaker.
I responded by telling Howard he didn't know how things worked in Orange County, and that when politicians like Lewis, Pringle and Rohrabacher teamed up on a campaign project, they won.
Events, of course, proved me right -- as Howard later admitted. In the meantime, a merciful Providence intervened, and I began discussions with the International Jet Sports Boating Association to come aboard as their first government relations manager.
By the time Doris Allen was recalled in September 2005, I was happily ensconced in my new job fighting for personal watercraft owners' freedom to ride.
Prior, to the Doris Allen speakership and recall, I had viewed GOP politics as pretty basic. You had conservatives and you had squishes. I learned during those few months that the reality was more complex. Several conservatives you'd have expected to man the ramparts either headed for the tall grass (like Howard Kaloogian) or tried to cut deals for themselves with Doris (and her successor Brian Setencich) and the Democrats (like Bernie Richter and Bruce Thompson).
On the other hand, you had "squishes" like Brooks Firestone who adopted a "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" attitude toward ending the Allen/Setencich speakerships and fighting for the Assembly GOP's rightful claim to the Speakership.
That ordeal illustrated for me that the color of a politician's ideology isn't necessarily indicative of the sturdiness of his (or her) character.
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