Posted on 09/06/2004 9:16:21 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO -- It's been a roller coaster first term for Democratic Assemblywoman Nicole Parra.
When the two-year legislative session ended late last month, she had won credit for passage of a bill to make it easier for parents to check for convicted sex offenders in their neighborhoods by putting the Megan's Law database on the Internet.
She was also instrumental in boosting state funding to protect military bases from closure.
But she also spent most of the time walking on political eggshells to avoid making mistakes that could be exploited by her Republican challenger in what is expected to be a tough re-election battle.
She was embarrassed when photographers caught her smoking a cigar on a Capitol balcony during a lull in budget deliberations last year.
She also got crosswise with the United Farm Workers union and sparred repeatedly with her Democratic rival in Kern County politics, Sen. Dean Florez.
Now, she is seeking re-election in her 30th Assembly District, which includes the west side of the valley and southeast Bakersfield.
Based on her record, should voters return her to office on Nov. 2?
An emphatic yes comes from Parra and her supporters.
"She's made an outstanding contribution in her first term in the Assembly," said Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. "The work she's done on Megan's Law, I think it's a remarkable achievement for a first-term legislator."
No, says her Republican opponent, Bakersfield businessman Dean Gardner, and other critics.
They charge that Parra has been so carefully managed and protected by Democratic leaders worried about her re-election chances that she has done what they tell her to do, not what her valley constituents need.
"I consider listening to your district and making your district better as much more important than listening to the leadership," said Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield.
Parra's tumultuous ride began on Election Day in 2002, when she edged Gardner in their first contest by just 266 votes. The margin, so thin it took weeks to certify, stunned both parties.
Democrats never saw Gardner coming. Republicans kicked themselves for giving up on Gardner and refusing to fund his campaign. Both sides vowed not to make the same mistake twice.
That set the tone for Parra's first term.
"She's had a target strapped on her back since the day she got here," said GOP political strategist Dan Schnur.
Bragging rights
Once in Sacramento, Parra emerged immediately as the lawmaker identified with one politically popular issue.
That is Megan's Law, which makes information about convicted sex offenders available to people in the communities where the offenders live.
Parra's first bill proposed extending the program beyond its scheduled shutdown on Dec. 31, 2003, a "sunset" routinely employed to prompt periodic review of state programs.
Initially, the bill was not expected to draw much attention or controversy. It soon became a political football, however. The Associated Press reported that California law enforcement officials had lost track of more than 33,000 convicted sex offenders.
Currently, most offenders can be tracked by the public only by their ZIP codes, and minority Republicans demanded that the bill be revamped to put the names and home addresses of registered sex offenders on the Internet. Similar proposals had been blocked for years by Democrats on civil liberties grounds. If they couldn't win on the Internet issue, GOP leaders felt they could force Democrats into an embarrassing vote against a popular proposal.
The ensuing standoff almost resulted in the shutdown of the entire Megan's Law disclosure program.
But cooler heads prevailed. By the end of this year's legislative session last month, the political climate had changed, and Parra's amended bill to put the home addresses of the most serious offenders on the Internet passed with relative ease.
Questions remain, however. Did Parra win passage of the bill by personally overcoming opposition in her own party or did Democratic leaders swallow their convictions and pass the measure to give her a major law-and-order bill to brag about in her campaign against a conservative Republican?
GOP state Sen. Jim Battin of Palm Desert, who was behind the previous versions of the bill that were rejected, said it was all politics.
Nunez and the Senate's Democratic leader, John Burton, insisted Parra deserves the credit.
"It was very difficult to convince Democrats to do a bill to put on the Internet information about potential (sex offender) suspects," Nunez said. "The ACLU and others were opposed to it. But she did it."
Although it has not yet been signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Megan's Law bill was the crowning achievement of Parra's first term.
On base
She was also active in some other lower profile issues. She was appointed chairwoman of the Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee, which screens bills on veterans' issues. That evolved into a role in oversight of California's efforts to protect military installations like Edwards Air Force Base and Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, in next year's round of base closures.
She joined another Assembly member in asking Schwarzenegger for an extra $1.5 million for the base protection program. With the state's budget crisis, that was trimmed to $350,000, but it is still more than the administration had planned to spend.
Those are things most Kern County voters would support, but they did not keep Parra from being dogged by controversy on other fronts.
She drew sharp criticism last September when The Californian published a photo of her smoking a cigar with other lawmakers during an overnight budget stalemate. However, some women rallied to her support, saying cigar smoking is now widely accepted for both men and women.
Controversy also frequently erupted over Parra's votes on major bills.
For a Latina Democrat, she generated a surprising amount of criticism from advocates for farmworkers, the environment and civil liberties.
They complained that she often voted with Republicans to support the interests of farmers and other business interests over those of workers and consumers.
Within months of taking office, Parra alienated the United Farm Workers union, which had strongly supported her campaign. The UFW withdrew its endorsement of Parra after she refused to vote for the union's top-priority bill for 2003. It sought to restore sales taxes on farm equipment to subsidize health insurance for farmworkers.
Although the "tractor tax" bill ultimately died, the incident cost Parra the consultant who managed her 2002 campaign, Richie Ross. He is also the UFW's top lobbyist.
Ross and UFW officials declined to comment for this story, but Parra said she has no regrets about her voting record.
She said she votes for what she believes is the long-term best interests of farmworkers. That often involves steps to boost the job-creating farm economy over the political agenda of the union, she said.
"I know the difference between (union) leadership issues and real worker issues," Parra said.
Legislative drift
Parra left farmworker advocates and environmentalists especially angry when she voted last month against a bill to help pay for medical costs of pesticide drift victims.
"That hurt a lot, especially with the silly reason she gave," said Teresa DeAnda. A supporter of Parra's 2002 campaign, DeAnda was a victim of a 1999 pesticide drift incident in the Fresno County town of Earlimart and now works for Californians for Pesticide Reform.
Parra said she was sympathetic to farmers who feared the bill would increase their insurance liability rates.
But even critics like DeAnda acknowledge that Parra's record is not entirely conservative.
She voted for the controversial bill to allow driver's licenses for many illegal immigrants last month. Nunez and other Democratic leaders told her privately that her vote wasn't necessary for passage of the bill and she was free to vote against it if it would help in her campaign.
"This is something very important in the Central Valley, to help people get to and from work," Parra said later.
The bill is expected to be vetoed by the governor.
In Parra's vote on the pesticide drift bill, another dynamic may have been involved.
Its author is Florez, the Democratic senator from Shafter who has feuded for years with Parra and her family. Earlier this year, one of Florez's aides, Michael Rubio, defeated Parra's father, Pete Parra, in the elder Parra's bid for re-election to the Kern County Board of Supervisors.
Friction between Florez and Nicole Parra erupted regularly. That sometimes amazed other lawmakers, most of whom try to maintain an air of party unity.
At one point, Florez accused Assembly leaders of trying to protect Parra by blocking his legislation to require farms and dairies to help reduce air pollution. He charged it was a move to prevent her from having to vote on bills that could become a big issue in her campaign.
She eventually voted for the bills, and they passed, although she claims credit for easing their economic impact on farm owners.
Parra says she is happy about her successes and undaunted by the controversies.
She said she wants to win re-election not only to serve the district but also to be a role model for young Latinas.
"I will be the only woman and the only Latina representing the southern Central Valley in an elected position at either the state or federal level," she said. "That's very important when you have an area with as many problems as we have."
fyi
Wait a minute here. I thought that people keep saying that Arnold is a RINO and supports this bill...?
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Other than that, doesn't that kind of concern ya that he would still support the license for someone who is still technically 'illegal' with additional 'safeguards'?
I hope he doesn't get Veto-wristitis too soon,, at least not before he vetoes the Sierra Nevada Conservancy bill.
;-)
He is not going to veto the Conservancy bill and you know it. It'll be the one friggin promise he keeps.
Ok it wasn't in the Bee it was here. This standard for the party. This is what needs to stop.
Sacramento Area ping list.
That's odd. The legislature is considering an anti-smoking bill patterned after Megan's Law. I hear.
What a liar. I happen to know she is DAUNTED by a few controversies - like me. And for her to say she wants to be a role model makes me want to throw up!
This reporter didn't even address the most pressing issue - that this young pup was appointed by the democraps to head the Veterans Affairs Committee. Give me a break! What lousy reporting. CA Vets hate her guts.
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