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Renegade Dem loses post to Low

Assemblyman Evan Low ,DCampbell, got a plum committee chair assignment — at the expense of a fellow Democrat who didn’t toe the party line on raising taxes for roadwork. Assembly Speaker Anthony

Rendon announced last week that he had removed Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, from what the Sacramento Bee described as the “politically lucrative” Assembly Business and Professions Committee, which handles consumer regulations, occupational licensing and product labeling bills.

Salas was moved to the Assembly Rules Committee, which assigns bills to relevant policy committees and makes other decisions to administer the house, while Assemblywoman

Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, filled Salas’ spot on the Business and Professions committee.

Salas, a centrist Democrat, voted against Senate Bill 1, carried by Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose. The measure raises the gas tax and adds a new vehicle

registration fee to pay for road repairs and public transit, saying voters should decide on tax increases. His defection had momentarily caused a panic in the Assembly chamber on April 13 when Salas’ Democratic Assembly members rushed to persuade him and a handful of other wavering members to vote for the bill.

Salas told IA on Friday that Rendon, D-Paramount, told him “he respected my decision to stand by my families in my district, but unfortunately he’d have to remove me from the chairmanship.” Salas said he respected Rendon’s decision as well.

“That’s always the prerogative of the speaker,” Salas said. “What weighed heavily on my mind was my commitment to the families back home. At the end of the day I had to do what I felt was right for my district.”

Low, asked by IA how he felt to be elevated to the position under such circumstances, said: “We are a Democratic caucus and just like a group of individuals, it’s a team sport, and I’m happy and willing to serve.”

Sen. Steve Glazer of Orinda, the sole Democrat to vote against SB 1 in the Senate, has so far avoided similar retribution from Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León.