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Lawmakers Go Back In History To Commemorate State's 150Th
AP  /2/18/2000
By Steve Lawrence

BENICIA, Calif. (AP) _ With help from some modern
corporations, the California Legislature took a trip back
in time and heard about some of the prejudice in the
state's history.

Lawmakers met for brief, largely ceremonial sessions
Wednesday in the old Capitol building in Benicia to
commemorate California's 150th anniversary. But much of
the discussion focused on groups who weren't represented
in the state's early legislatures.

Eight women lawmakers wore 19th century garb and chanted
"We want the vote" in front of the old statehouse to remind
onlookers that women were not allowed to vote in California
until 1911 and didn't serve in the Legislature until 1919.

"Not everyone was here for the historic events that took
place 150 years ago," Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey,
reminded her colleagues before the start of the Senate
session. "This will be the first time women will vote in
these chambers."

There are now 31 women lawmakers.

Sen. Kevin Murray, one of six blacks in the Legislature,
noted there were also no blacks among lawmakers when they
met in Benicia, about 20 miles northeast of San Francisco,
in 1853 and that most blacks in the United States at that
time were slaves.

"It's not really a period that my people want to
celebrate," he said when asked why he didn't wear 19th
century clothing.

Edward Castillo, professor of Native American studies at
Sonoma State University, said many of the state's Indians
were killed by white "death  squads" or taken as slaves
during California's early years.

A hundred thousand Indians died during the first two years
of the Gold Rush, he said.

"I get students in university classes and they are
astonished when they hear this," he told lawmakers. "It
should be heard about in our high schools as well."

Assembly Minority Leader Scott Baugh, R-Huntington Beach,
agreed there were some "black marks on our history. But I
think we need to reflect and recognize that this is a proud
moment," he added. "We have made a lot of progress. We need
to rejoice in our heritage."

Castillo was among the speakers at a luncheon for lawmakers
and local leaders that was held at the old Benicia Arsenal,
a former military post, before the Assembly and Senate
sessions. The meal was paid for by private donors, including
such big-name corporations as Philip Morris, AT&T,
Exxon-Mobil and Coca Cola.

Spokesmen for Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San
Francisco, and Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los
Angeles, were not able to say how much the luncheon cost.

Benicia was California's fourth state capital, or the fifth,
depending on how you count. San Jose, Vallejo, Sacramento
and Vallejo again served as the statehouse's home before
lawmakers voted to move to Benicia in 1853.

They didn't stay long in the little waterfront town on the
Carquinez Strait. In February 1854, after some political
horse trading and skullduggery, Gov. John Bigler signed
legislation making Sacramento the capital again.

The horse trading took place between Bigler, a Sacramentan,
and state Sen. David Broderick of San Francisco. Broderick
and the rest of San Francisco's delegation agreed to support
Bigler's bid for a second term; Bigler backed Broderick for
a U.S. Senate seat. As part of the deal, the San Franciscans
also supported moving the capital to Sacramento.

Most of the rest of the Legislature was willing to move too.
Before lawmakers got to Benicia for their 1854 session, 200
to 300 Sacramento men got there first and rented all the
available hotel rooms. Lawmakers ended up sleeping in
saloons, state offices _ even stables.

The Benicia Capitol building is the only California
statehouse outside Sacramento that's still standing.

After the Legislature left the two-story brick structure
served as a courthouse, city hall, school, church, library,
dance and lecture hall before it was restored and made a
state historic site in the 1950s.

On Thursday, lawmakers sat at replicas of 1850s desks that
were equipped with candles, quill pens and spittoons for
their hour-long sessions, which included approval of
resolutions honoring Benicia and the sesquicentennial.

The Senate also managed to transact some real business,
voting 31-0 to approve Gov. Gray Davis' appointment of
former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers to the
California State University Board of Trustees.
 

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