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School Services of California, Inc.
Community College Update
November 7, 1996
Copyright© 1996 by School Services of California, Inc.
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Democrats Unite Behind Bustamante
for Assembly Speaker

Assembly Democrats have announced that Cruz Bustamante (D-Fresno) will be their choice as Assembly Speaker when the Legislature reconvenes on December 2 to begin the 1997 legislative session.

The announcement came two days following the general election in an effort to unite Assembly Democrats, rumored to be split over who would become the next Democratic Assembly Speaker. The united front was also intended to stave off the speakership battle debacle that occurred two years ago when Republicans captured the Assembly. That battle resulted in the recall of two Republican Assembly Members who had voted to retain Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, the attempted recall of a Democratic Assembly Member, and banishment of another legislator, short-lived Republican Speaker Brian Setencich (R-Fresno) who was elected by the Democrats. It was only after a full year of the Republican majority in the Assembly that the party was able to elect its candidate, Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) as Speaker.

First elected to the 31st Assembly District in 1993, Cruz Bustamante served last year as the Assembly Democratic Caucus chair. Considered a moderate, consensus-building Democrat, Bustamante has long supported public education, serving as a member of the Assembly Higher Education Committee in 1996. If elected by his colleagues in December, he will be the first ever Latino, and first Democrat since Willie Brown's departure, to serve as California's Assembly Speaker.

&emdash; Nancy LaCasse
[Posted 11/12/96]