Arambula can leave with style

Published online on Sunday, Jun. 21, 2009

In three terms in the state Legislature, Fresno Democrat Juan Arambula has found there is little room for a moderate lawmaker who believes in finding workable compromises to the state's most difficult problems. He's been smacked down so many times that he says he's feeling like a skunk in church when he's at Democratic caucus meetings.

They've tried to make life miserable for him, even while they talk of the Democratic Party's "big tent." Of course, they assigned him to a tiny office in the big tent for not rubber-stamping leadership positions. And they've tossed him off key committees for not always saluting the public employee unions that drive Democratic politics in Sacramento.

Now in his final 18 months in the Assembly, Arambula is toying with the idea of becoming an independent. That wouldn't improve his clout in the Assembly, but it sure wouldn't hurt him.

The irony of him leaving the Democratic Party would be that Arambula epitomizes what a Democrat should be, pulling himself out of poverty and then dedicating his life to helping others have the same opportunities that he's had.

Arambula is the son of migrant farmworkers, and used education to succeed. He earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard, a master's degree from Stanford and a law degree from the University of California's Boalt Hall School of Law.

It is outrageous for Democrats in Sacramento to lecture him on what it means to be a Democrat. His party leaders are faux-Democrats who take money out of programs intended for the poor and give it to the public employee unions. Then they have the gall to say they are looking out for the poor. The poorest in our state are pawns in the political game in Sacramento.

So it's not surprising that at 57, Arambula is frustrated with elective politics, and says he has no intention to run for another office. "I think I'll take a little sabbatical after my term is up," he said.

He has served as a school board member in Fresno for nine years and then spent eight years on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. In those jobs, he thought he was effective because "you're accountable to the local voters and not the special interests."

In Sacramento, every issue has to pass a litmus test. The Democrats must run issues by the public employee unions and the Republicans sign pledges to out-of-state political action committees not to raise taxes. Everyone's position seems to be pre-determined, which is why the "debates" on bills during legislative hearings are a farce.

"It does seem very hard to be an independent, to use one's independent judgment on issues," Arambula said last week. "The special interests have a lot to say about what goes on in both parties. But my real frustration is I can't be effective for my constituents."

Arambula got on the wrong side of the Democratic leadership by suggesting that the state budget be balanced without using gimmicks and "phantom money." To not get a real solution will only put the state back into the same mess in a few months, he said. Arambula also wants deeper cuts than his caucus is comfortable with making.

"There are genuine and entrenched labor interests -- CTA, SEIU and the rest of the alphabet soup of labor agencies -- and it's difficult to do anything without running into significant and well-funded opposition," he said. "The tentacles go all over the place. You can't get meaningful reforms without stepping on powerful toes."

One area in which Arambula thinks there could be legislative progress is a solution to the state's water crisis. If a long-delayed comprehensive water proposal passes the Legislature, it could wash away a lot of his frustration.

It would be nice if Arambula could leave the Assembly being part of that legislative accomplishment.