COMPROMISE CAME AFTER INTENSE TALKS.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard and David M. Drucker Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - The compromise deal that was reached Thursday in the Assembly over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's fiscal recovery plan was the product of intense personal negotiations that at times lasted long into the night and were driven by an approaching deadline for action.

In the days leading to the Assembly vote, Schwarzenegger held several meetings with Democratic leaders and by Wednesday morning, Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Los Angeles, was saying that things looked hopeful - but it was their final meeting that night that sealed the deal.

That meeting included Wesson, budget chairwoman Jenny Oropeza, D-Carson, appropriations chairman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento and speaker-elect Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles. It started around 10:30 p.m. and stretched long into the night, not breaking up until about 1:30 in the morning.

``We had five or six outstanding issues to go through in detail,'' Steinberg said. ``The adrenaline was flowing and we knew that (Wednesday) night was the night if we were going to get it done - and we did.''

According to some present, there was red wine flowing - though supposedly Schwarzenegger himself did not drink - and cigars were lit at the end when the deal was finalized.

At times during the meeting, when things hit a stalemate, Schwarzenegger would call Wesson aside to a back room and talk with him one on one for a time, then return to the group with the particular issue worked out.

Finally a deal was struck that incorporated some elements from a plan originally proposed by Assemblymen Keith Richman, R-Granada Hills, and Joe Canciamilla, D-Martinez, and some elements from the governor's original plan and the Democratic alternative.

It didn't give either side everything they sought, but both sides said they managed to find a comfortable middle ground.

Republicans got a limit on spending and a mandatory reserve, though not the hard cap they had sought. Democrats got to look fiscally responsible following two disastrous budget years, yet have a plan that will still allow the state to expand spending if revenues grow.

And both sides got to say they overcame the partisan politics that threatened to grip the Capitol once again.

``I think that this measure goes a long way and is a compromise,'' said Richman. ``One of the problems in the Legislature in the past has been the partisan gridlock and dysfunction because people stuck to their positions and were unable and unwilling to move off their positions at all. And it's critical that if we're going to get solutions that compromises are going to be made.''

Once he struck the deal with Democrats, Schwarzenegger then had to convince reluctant members of his own party, who thought the spending cap had been weakened. Thursday afternoon as the vote was approaching, he called nearly every Republican member of the Assembly into his office, rotating them in and out in groups of four to six.

In the end, the deal left some on both sides grumbling, but going along grudgingly nonetheless.

``It's not close to what I want, but we want to support the governor,'' said Assemblyman Rick Keene, R-Chico, who sponsored Schwarzenegger's original legislation.

The deal seemed to be set by early afternoon, but the Assembly kept delaying its floor session to work out final details and language, not finally finishing till about 9:40 p.m.

Harrison Sheppard, [phone]

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com