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Nicole Parra loses her office digs

By MARTÍN E. MARTÍNEZ / Vida En El Valle

SACRAMENTO -- After being uprooted from her offices in the state Capitol, Assemblymember Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, continues to insist she was right in making the decision that landed her in the doghouse.

After all, she said, she was looking out for the well-being of the Central Valley communities she represents.

"What I seek is just -- water for the people of the Valley. And if they remove me from the Capitol for that, it'll be well worth the effort," said Parra after moving into her new offices across the street from the Capitol.

Parra was evicted from her Capitol offices because she missed the Democrats' vote to approve a new state budget on Aug. 17. Parra said she left the meeting before the vote because the Assembly had not considered including a bond measure on the November ballot to ensure access to water in the Central Valley.

The eviction order was issued by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass who, as punishment for not voting on a matter as important as the budget, had Parra's belongings sent to a small office known as "the doghouse."

"The situation is that if there is no plan to provide water in the Central Valley, then we're going to cause even more damage to our area and we're going to find ourselves forced to import more food," said Parra, who is also chair of the Assembly Agricultural Committee.

Parra also said that she did the right thing not voting because people in the Valley are suffering by drinking contaminated water or not even having access to water to cover their needs.

Parra added that Bass knew in advance she would not be voting. Parra had sent Bass a letter announcing her intentions three weeks prior, as well as discussing the matter with her in person.

"It was no surprise to me that they punished me. I already knew they would, But what surprised me was that they didn't even give me enough time to pack my belongings," Parra said.

Nevertheless, Parra will be in her new offices for only a few weeks, as this is her last year in the Assembly.

No Latino Assemblymember has so far offered a comment on Parra's situation, a delicate matter that could lend itself to misunderstandings.

Among the few Assemblymembers who spoke is Patty Berg, D-Eureka, who defends Bass's position.

"I believe it was done because she (Parra) went in holding the speaker hostage on voting on this budget," said Berg. "There are two things you do when you are in the majority party when you are in this Assembly. One is vote on your leader and two is vote on the budget, because the budget has been negotiated among Democrats and it represents the majority's negotiated budget."

Berg added that Assembly Democrats have "spent millions of dollars ensuring that Nicole comes back three times in a row to our caucus."

The struggle to reach a bipartisan agreement on the budget continues. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called upon legislators to reach an agreement as soon as possible, but no response has come.

As of now, 58 days have passed since there was a state budget.

Send e-mail to: mmartinez@vidaenelvalle.com The Sacramento Bee contributed to this report.