DORIS ALLEN OUT AS SPEAKER : Some Constituents Fear Loss of Clout : Reaction: There's a mix of sadness and relief. Two Cypress council members can relate to Allen.

DORIS ALLEN OUT AS SPEAKER : Some Constituents Fear Loss of Clout : Reaction: There’s a mix of sadness and relief. Two Cypress council members can relate to Allen.

By MARTIN MILLER and SHELBY GRAD

Sept. 15, 1995 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Speaking as the first woman to serve as mayor of La Palma, Eva G. Miner said Thursday that she was saddened by Doris Allen’s move to step down as the first female Speaker of the California Assembly after just three months.

“I was very happy that a woman was elected Speaker of the house,” said Miner, a member of the La Palma council for the past seven years. “She never had a chance to prove herself.”

But what spoke loudest Thursday to Miner and others in Allen’s sprawling 67th Assembly District was old-fashioned politics. Depending upon their party loyalty and personal interest, Allen’s constituents reacted with a range of sadness, unease and approval.

For Miner, the news about Allen was a mix of all three. “It’s really for the good of the party,” said Miner, whose allegiance to the Republican Party outweighed other considerations. “I think she made the right decision.”

In Allen’s hometown of Cypress, two City Council members who face recall elections Nov. 7 said they were disturbed, but not surprised, by her resignation as head of the Legislature’s lower house.

Mayor Cecilia L. Age and Councilwoman Gail H. Kerry contend that recall proponents who have targeted them, as well as Allen, are misusing the mechanism to oust public officials for differences of opinion, rather than unethical behavior.

“It’s a total abuse of the system,” said Age, one of three Cypress council members targeted for recall for their approval of a disputed carpet warehouse in the city.

Kerry said Allen, a Republican, ably served the district and should not have faced a recall effort after becoming Speaker--in spite of being catapulted to the Speaker’s chair in a deal with former longtime Democratic Speaker Willie Brown in June.

“I’m disappointed. We were proud that the Speaker of the Assembly was our representative,” Kerry said. “If Republicans had come together [after Allen became Speaker], their concerns would have been overcome. But they decided to do battle.”

The 67th Assembly District runs from Seal Beach to Huntington Beach and inland to Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos and parts of Westminster, Buena Park, Garden Grove and Anaheim.

In light of the controversy sparked by Allen’s unusual pathway to office, however, few within the district should be stunned by her decision to give up the Speaker’s job, Age said.

Others regarded Allen’s fall from high office as a blow to local clout in Sacramento. Seal Beach Councilman Frank Laszlo, who praised Allen for pushing legislation that could provide the city with state money to combat beach erosion, feared his city has lost a powerful voice in state politics.

“I feel she’s done a good job representing us,” Laszlo said. “This is the first Speaker from our area. We felt it was a good deal that she was from here. I’m sad to see her step down.”

Sheila Elkin, executive director of the Cypress Chamber of Commerce, agreed.

“Orange County has some serious problems right now, and we had someone in the Assembly that understood that,” said Elkin, who lives a few blocks from Allen. “Now, that’s gone.”

But others didn’t think Allen wielded significant power in the Assembly anyway, and her departure from the top post won’t noticeably affect the district. Allen retains her Assembly seat.

“She wasn’t very effective as Speaker anyway because of all the infighting,” said La Palma Councilman Kenneth Blake. “She was really the black sheep up there. Now, I guess she is part of the flock--tainted--but part of the flock again.”