Legislative Leadership and Campaign Support in California

This article argues that legislative leaders are rational goal-seeking actors but, unlike other legislators, they are motivated preeminently by the desire to retain power. To test this argument, the article examines the strategy used by California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown in distributing campaign support from 1982 to 1986. The findings indicate that Brown has followed a strategy different from the one traditionally associated with congressional leaders but that both act rationally to retain power. The difference in strategy is attributed to the state's control of reapportionment, which puts pressure on the Speaker to maximize his party's position in the Assembly.