    
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
| | Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 02:07 pm: | |
Yee acrobatics...Gun control bill's co-author helps kill his own bill!
Monday, October 16, 2006 (SF Chronicle)
Gun control bill's co-author helps kill it
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
When it comes to political flips, it would be tough to beat the acrobatics of Assemblyman Leland Yee.
In the final 48 hours of the Legislature's 2006 session, the San Francisco Democrat managed to both brag about co-authoring a landmark gun control bill and then, at the urging of Republican gun fans, turn around and help kill the very same bill.
The measure, AB352 by Democratic Assemblyman Paul Koretz of West Hollywood, would have required new semiautomatic handguns sold in California to leave a microscopic number on the back of shell casings, to make it easier to identify the offending weapon in a crime.
Yee was so tickled at being one of the bill's co-authors that he put out a news release listing it as one of the reasons he was named to an honor roll by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
But when the bill came up for a final vote, Yee apparently had a change of heart, thanks to Republican Assemblyman Jay LaSuer of La Mesa (San Diego County), who argued that the technology for the shell-casing stamps was faulty.
The argument wasn't new -- and it hadn't stopped Yee from voting for the bill in the past. Nonetheless, Yee told us that "out of courtesy" to LaSuer, he had agreed to hold off on his "yes" vote "until something was worked out."
Yee, however, didn't bother to tell Koretz of his plans.
"And nothing was ever going to be worked out," Koretz said.
So it came as a surprise when the bill came back to the floor for what everyone figured would be a close vote -- and Yee abstained, beaching the measure.
A not-too-happy Koretz said he had confronted Yee about the change and basically got a shrug.
The next day, AB352 came back for reconsideration. This time, Yee was the acting speaker -- which meant he was running the floor on what was going to be another close vote.
When the measure came up, a couple of the Assembly members expected to vote "yes" weren't on the floor, and neither was Koretz. Usually in such moments, the acting speaker can slow down the count to allow the author time to round people up.
Not this time.
Much to Koretz's surprise, Yee shot through the count. The bill got 38 votes in the 80-member Assembly, three short of what it needed for passage. Koretz made it back in time to vote "yes" -- and Yee abstained again.
Yee told us he doesn't remember what he did when the bill was heard because "there were hundreds of bills coming up that day."
But our story doesn't end there.
Under Assembly rules, since Yee wasn't the deciding vote, he was allowed to go back after the bill had died and change his vote to "yes." Which he did.
Thus, Yee can still brag that he officially voted for the bill -- even though his actions helped kill it.
How's that for politics? |
