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their support in overcoming this inequity.

I was in Sacramento as early as 7 a.m. for breakfast meetings
and as late as 10 p.m. Finally, Bill Baker was able to secure the support
of the famous Willie Brown, who was Speaker of the Assembly. Willie
Brown literally ran the Assembly, so his support was absolutely impera-
tive. I shall never know how Bill Baker won him over, because Baker
was highly conservative Republican assemblyman, whereas Willie was
a liberal Democrat. One of the things I learned, however, was that op-
posing politicians will, at times, help one another.

It was impossible to secure support for giving tax-deprived cit-
ies a share of the taxes equivalent to the state average (19.3 cents). We
were lucky to win support for a seven-cent rate, and even that had to
be phased in over seven years. The letter that Senator Petris sent to his
fellow Senators proved to be highly helpful. The paid legislative repre-
sentative for Pleasant Hill was incredulous that I had been able to secure
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tion or funds to provide.
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ences. As is their custom, each legislative branch appoints three repre-
sentatives to a conference committee. The conference committee has
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One of the ground rules is that two-thirds of the Assemblymen and
two-thirds of the Senators must vote to accept the compromise bill. I
watched the conference committee in their meeting. One of the senators
was dead-set against us. One was favorable. It was vital to secure the
support of the other senator (Willie Brown was chair of the conference
committee and all three of the Assemblymen were prepared to support
the bill because Willie was supporting it). It was fascinating to watch
the interaction. Had Willie Brown called for a vote early in the meeting,
we would have lost. He recognized this and refused to call for a vote.
Instead, he kept the talk going in the committee. Bill Baker was in the
background, whispering in the ear of the Senator whose vote we must
have. Finally the Senator agreed and Bill signaled to Willie Brown, who
quickly called for a vote. The conference committee approved the pro-

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