Brown Warms Up His Coldest Foes : Speech: Former Speaker may not have won hearts of Diamond Bar audience, but he makes a strong showing against conservative Assemblyman Richard Mountjoy.

By BILL STALL and DENISE HAMILTON

Dec. 28, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Willie Brown, the former and now would-be Speaker of the California Assembly, the silver-tongued Democrat who has represented a slice of San Francisco for three decades, came to the lair of the conservative enemy Tuesday to lecture on California politics and government.

The 60-year-old Brown told an affluent luncheon audience in Diamond Bar that the battle over the Assembly is far more complicated than the story they have heard since the legislative house deadlocked Dec. 5 on the selection of a Speaker.

“This is a democracy,” Brown said after nearly two hours of discourse with conservative Republican Assemblyman Richard L. Mountjoy of nearby Arcadia before an overflow audience of 250 at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Diamond Bar Country Club.

“There is no corner on truth, honesty and rationality,” Brown said. “Only the Master is, in fact, perfect. Only the Lord occupies that position. The rest of us are simple applicants attempting in one fashion or another to emulate his teaching and his being. And believe me, that requires a great deal of discipline in the world of politics.”

And Willie Brown, the simple applicant in the impeccable silk suit, said that once all the members of the Assembly reach consensus on leadership, “if it includes Willie Brown’s participation--so be it. If it doesn’t--so be it. . . . I thank you for at least accepting me in your environment.”

Brown may not have won the hearts of the mostly Republican suburban audience, but he was accepted with moderate and respectful applause. What boos there were came at the mention of the name of an absent Republican, Assemblyman Paul Horcher of Diamond Bar, the former Republican who switched to independent and on Dec. 5 cast the vote that deadlocked the Assembly 40 to 40 and prevented GOP leader Jim Brulte of nearby Rancho Cucamonga from becoming Speaker.

The deadlock remained Tuesday and Brulte also declined an invitation to come to the Diamond Bar luncheon because he was busy lobbying colleagues in the San Diego area.

Mountjoy, one of the more conservative members of the Assembly since his election in the Proposition 13 year of 1978, is a key figure in the dispute because he not only won reelection Nov. 8 to the Assembly, he also won a special election to the area’s state Senate seat.

But Mountjoy vowed again Tuesday that he would sacrifice the Senate seat as long as he remained the possible swing vote that would elect Brulte Speaker or keep Brown from occupying that post.

Mountjoy accused Brown of arm-twisting Horcher.

“This whole thing is about, ‘I want to be Speaker so I can go down as the Speaker emeritus,’ ” Mountjoy said. “That’s nonsense. That’s ego. That’s craziness. That’s not what this country is all about.”

If the chamber members came to find out who ultimately would become Speaker of the Assembly, they learned nothing much new. Mountjoy predicted that he might have to remain in the Assembly as late as mid-January, until Brulte picks up enough Democratic votes to give him the job. The Assembly Speaker is usually regarded as the second most powerful official in California after the governor.

But at least some in the audience were captivated by Brown’s trademark oratory, which made actions that Mountjoy described as treachery, back-room dealing and dictatorship sound like statesmanship and responsibility.

Brown even made the argument that he had been a better representative of the Diamond Bar area in the Assembly than Mountjoy, citing his efforts on behalf of a land swap for a Diamond Bar high school site and a local traffic safety program.

He rejected Mountjoy’s portrayal of the Nov. 8 statewide vote as a mandate to seat a Republican as Speaker of the Assembly, even though voters chose 41 Republicans and 39 Democrats.

Brown pointed out that the Speaker is chosen by the members of the Assembly, not by voters.

“Let me indicate to you that the people of the state of California deserve quality representation,” Brown said. “They deserve representation that is serious, that is focused, and that moves from the campaign rhetoric to actual legislating. . . .

“That includes consulting all members and arriving at some conclusion just as you do in any other aspect of your life. That is how the Legislature needs to be organized.”

Mountjoy said that in spite of Brown’s high-minded talk, he has treated the GOP in dictatorial fashion, noting that Brown is seeking to remove him from the Assembly and force him to take the Senate seat.

Jeanne Fitzgerald, vice president of the Diamond Bar Chamber of Commerce, was impressed with the visitor from Northern California.

“Brown came into Republican territory and took on all comers,” she said. “He’s got quite a personality. I believe Brown came off better (than Mountjoy) and I’m a Republican.”

Charles House, executive director of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, disagreed.

“Willie Brown is a fair man and very articulate, but Mountjoy came off better because he spoke to the issues,” House said as members of the audience swarmed around Brown, seeking to have a word with him or to get a snapshot taken.

By describing Brown as fair, GOP official House was more charitable to Brown than Mountjoy was.

“Democracy has spoken,” Mountjoy said in his closing remarks. “On Nov. 8, the people of the state of California chose a new direction for California. The Speaker (Mountjoy repeatedly referred to Brown as the Speaker, although at the moment he is not) today proposes by manipulation of the rules . . . to turn (his) back on the law and cast me out of the Assembly so he can regain the speakership of the California Legislature.”

“I think that’s a travesty of justice,” Mountjoy added. “I think it’s dead wrong. It’s not good for this district. The question that needs to be asked of Willie Brown is: What is it about democracy that you don’t like?”

Mountjoy’s sharp rhetoric drew some gasps, but afterward Mountjoy, who served in the Assembly all 14 years that Brown was Speaker, conversed jovially with Brown.

Asked if they are still friends, Mountjoy gushed, “Oh, he’s a great dinner companion.”

Brown said: “Let me tell you something, I don’t think we’ll ever cease being personal friends. That’s got nothing to do with politics.”