Campbell joins Republicans in anti-bond vote

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- Following through on his protest of a Democrat-led

energy bill, Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine) voted this week against

Gov. Gray Davis’ plan to issue $10 billion in bonds so the state can

purchase electricity.

Campbell, in office only three months, has been on the front lines of

the Legislature’s attempt to solve the crisis brought on by the state’s

deregulation of the utilities.

Last month, Campbell was one of 18 members tapped by Assembly Speaker

Robert Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) for a special legislative committee to

deal with the issue.

On Thursday, after a marathon session a day earlier that dragged into

the morning hours, Campbell joined many of his Republican colleagues in

voting against bond-bill AB1X.

“I had a lot of objections to this bill, and I still do,” Campbell

said Friday. “What I am against is an elaborate, byzantine bond

situation.”

Campbell said the bill, written by Assemblyman Fred Keeley (D-Santa

Cruz), shifts too much of the debt burden onto the shoulders of the

state’s taxpayers.

He also reiterated his objection that the bill doesn’t do anything to

add new power generation in a state desperately short on electrons.

The bill allows the state to enter into long-term contracts with

out-of-state producers to buy power at a discounted rate. The state has

been shelling out more than $40 million a day to keep the lights on.

Keeley’s bill was passed largely by Democrats, who hold the majority

in the Assembly and Senate. Only four Republicans crossed the aisle to

support the bill, which passed with a minimum 54 required votes.

“What we’re doing is taking the first steps in creating a state power

authority,” said Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana). “This is an

ideological thing.”

State Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine), one of 26 current legislators who

voted for deregulation in 1996, also voted against AB1X when it passed

the Senate on Wednesday.

Johnson did not return repeated calls for comment.