Assembly GOP moves against governor
Hardballer Villines elected party leader in legislature
By Steven Harmon
MEDIANEWS SACRAMENTO BUREAU
Article Last Updated:11/12/2006 02:52:58 AM PST
SACRAMENTO — Conservative Republican Assembly legislators signaled they are prepared to make life difficult for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by installing a combative conservative as their leader, a move experts said might backfire and actually marginalize the GOP caucus.
Clovis Assemblyman Michael Villines, a San Jose native, was elected to the top Assembly Republican leadership post Thursday after leading a quiet summer-long campaign to oust former leader, San Diego's George Plescia.
Plescia was seen by conservatives as too willing a partner with Schwarzenegger, a Republican, in negotiations over the budget and four infrastructure bond proposals that voters approved Tuesday.
"They've gone for a guy who was in Schwarzenegger's face in opposing the bond measures, and rendered themselves a little more irrelevant in the process," said Tony Quinn, co-editor of California Target Book, a non-partisan publication that tracks the Legislature. "That's their problem. The governor will simply deal with the Democrats and when he needs six Republican votes on the budget, he'll pick them off one at a time."
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