Steve Julian
May 12, 2008
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Fabian Nunez has been speaker of the Assembly for the past four years. Tomorrow, he turns over the title to Assemblywoman Karen Bass. She'll be the first black woman to hold the post. KPCC Morning Edition host Steve Julian spoke with Nunez and asked the outgoing Assembly speaker what advice he had for the incoming speaker.
Fabian Nunez: You know, my thing with Karen is, you know, keep your head down, work hard, and stay focused on the issues that are important to you, because at the end of the day, you're going to be successful if you do those things. Now, you know, it's always interesting because, you know, one way or another, you're gonna get bad publicity.
And the thing about that, you know, the advice I've given Karen is, you know, just focus on the things you believe in, keep doing what you do, and try not to let things get under your skin. But I think, beyond that, Karen is a great leader, and I think she's got a lot to offer California.
Steve Julian: How do you feel about stepping aside now? You've got the budget battle coming up; are you relieved?
Nunez: Well look, I'm not necessarily relieved. To be honest with you, it's never, it's not easy leaving a job like this. I mean, you know, arguably, this is the second most powerful job in the state. And, you know, once you leave that job, you know, you're basically back to normal. The one thing I am looking forward to, I gotta tell you, is spending more time with my wife and kids, because this job is pretty stressful and takes a lot of your time.
And, you know, the demand on your time is pretty serious. And so, from one standpoint, I'm kind of relieved, but from another standpoint, I gotta tell you, it's hard to walk away from the job. But if you're gonna walk away from it, you know, if you got a person like Karen to hand the baton over to, then it makes it all worthwhile.
Julian: Fabian Nunez, you've been criticized for spending campaign money on lavish money, foreign travel, and the like. How will this story affect your legacy?
Nunez: I don't think this story, you know, I mean, you know, maybe it makes a couple people, you know, happy over at the L.A. Times, but you know, this is another example of the kind of gotcha politics that people play. I mean, you know, if this is the worst that they can say about me, is that, you know, when I've been on trade missions, where in fact, they should be celebrating the fact that I'm not spending taxpayer money.
How many times have city councils, or mayors, or governors, and, you know, my predecessors and others, have traveled the world? But you know, what the difference between that and me is that I've done it and I haven't spent taxpayer money doing it. And so, somehow, somebody wants to make that a crime. Well, it's not. It's totally a legitimate and legal expenses. With respect to whether or not any of this is going to slow me down, you know, I say no.
I mean, you know, the other day I did a press conference, and I said, as I leave the speakership, I'm traveling to Mexico to meet with the Mexican president. Someone says, are you worried about being criticized? I said, bring it on. Why? Because California is a huge economy. It requires that the people making decisions have a worldly perspective.
Julian: You said recently you've been willing to fail. Give me 10 seconds on what your top failure was as speaker.
Nunez: Well, I think my, you know, my top failure as speaker was not being able to convince my colleagues in the senate to do health care reform in California that makes access to health care a right, and not a privilege. You know, we had a bill that would have covered 70% of the uninsured in California, and most of them would have paid little to nothing to get a great health care plan. And it didn't happen. And the reason why it didn't happen is because I wasn't able to convince the advocates for single payer that it was better to pick the good over the perfect.
Julian: I wish you luck in the future.
Nunez: Thank you very much.
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