BUSTAMANTE SEES LESS-PARTISAN ASSEMBLY TERM.

Byline: John Howard Associated Press 

Cruz Bustamante, an obscure state lawmaker fast on his way to becoming one of California's most powerful politicians, said his looming Assembly speakership will be less partisan and more collegial than those of his predecessors.

But, he quickly noted, all his top committee assignments will go to fellow Democrats.

``There have been a lot of requests for a lot of positions,'' but nothing will be decided until next month, he said.

The Fresno lawmaker said he hoped to avoid the ``painful, punitive and nonproductive'' transitions of earlier speakerships, but he acknowledged that partisanship was a fact of life in the fractious Assembly, which has had four speakers in less than two years.

``This is not going to be one big happy family all through the year - we all know that,'' he said. ``It's about time that the institutions of the Legislature . . . make the public's business predominant.''

Bustamante added that he sought a speakership that would be ``collaborative and set a pattern for the future.''

The public, he said, sent ``a clear signal'' that they ``want moderation, a little bit less flash, a little bit less rhetoric,'' an apparent reference to the past two years that have been filled with Assembly infighting.

The Democrats, newly ascendant following Tuesday's elections, chose Bustamante, 43, as their leader at a private meeting. He is expected to formally assume the speakership when the Legislature convenes next month.

Democrats appear to hold 41 seats in the 80-member lower house, and could capture up to three more, ousting majority Republicans who controlled the house under Speaker Curt Pringle, R-Garden Grove.

Bustamante's pending speakership marks the first time a Democrat has held the job since Willie Brown departed under mounting GOP pressure after a nearly 15-year reign.

For most of his term, Brown was widely viewed as the second most powerful state official after the governor.

But the Assembly turmoil, combined with term limits, have left the Assembly speakership less powerful than before; the top legislative leader now is the Senate president pro tem, Democrat Bill Lockyer of Hayward.

Bustamante also faces new fund-raising ground rules following voter approval of Proposition 208. The speakership traditionally has been the focus of legislative fund-raising, and the new rules may make it more difficult to fill campaign war chests and keep balky Democrats in line.

The campaign finance measure sponsored by Common Cause and the League of Women Voters limits individual political donations per candidate to $100 in smaller districts, $250 in larger districts and $500 in statewide races. Committees of smaller donors could give up to twice the limits.

Contribution limits would double for candidates who accept voluntary spending limits. The measure would also limit total contributions from political parties, unions, businesses and others, and prohibit transfers between candidates.