Their reasons for stepping down differed, but their action reflected the common, deepening fear among Democrats that the GOP majority in the House is solid, it has survived the turbulence of a series of miscues by Speaker Newt Gingrich and it is unlikely to be whittled away in next year's elections.

In the end, with nearly five decades in Congress between them, they decided that life in a Republican-ruled House will be far from pleasant.

The political effects of their action -- all of them bad for Democrats -- will be felt as soon as they leave. Dellums, once the fiery radical who clawed his way onto the Berkeley City Council and then scored an upset in his congressional election victory 26 years ago, is the 12th ranking Democrat in the House. In one of the great turnarounds of congressional politics, Dellums, the passionate critic of the military, rose to become chairman of the Armed Services Committee, a brief stint that ended when Republicans took back control of the House in 1994 after 40 years as the minority party.

Dellums, 62, is now the ranking Democrat on the committee, renamed the National Security Committee, although his political role there as a minority member is vastly diminished. With his departure, Democrats will be able to retain the seat -- there is no way Dellums' district will send a Republican to Congress -- but California will lose his seniority advantage. And if Democrats do win back the House, the state will lose the chairmanship of a powerful committee that decides billions of dollars in spending for the Golden State.

For Fazio, the decision to leave is bittersweet.

The 56-year-old Fazio, head of the Democratic caucus, is the No. 3 Democrat in the House and has been widely considered a major contender for the speakership. He is viewed by Democrats as a "man of the House," meaning in part that he places the concerns of his party and House above his own interests. But his role as a negotiator and deal-maker, and his willingness to carry unpopular legislation -- such as the congressional pay raise -- to provide political cover to vulnerable Democrats has sparked criticism in his increasingly conservative district. Once protected by a pro-Democrat reapportionment plan crafted by the late, wily Rep. Phil Burton, Fazio's district was redrawn in 1991 to correct a blatant Democratic bias. The result is that each new election appears to be tougher than the one before it, and his political base appears to be slowly shrinking.

Thus far, the favorite to replace Fazio is Barbara Alby, a conservative Republican Assemblywoman.

Like Dellums, Fazio's departure is a blow to California's influence in the house. But unlike the ideologue Dellums, Fazio's exit has a national significance. Fazio is a pragmatic, effective negotiator who cut deals that opposing parties can live with and somehow manages to protect California's interests -- no mean feat in a House that often appears paralyzed by partisanship.

His departure means that California will lose a powerful voice at the highest levels of the House.

I am reminded of Jerry Brown's answer when queried about his "experimental government" and what he would do if it didn't work (and it didn't)...he said (something like this), "I'll put on a hair shirt and sit in a cell and think about it..." That scared me then, and it scares me now. And I live a long, long way from Oakland, but in the state of California. Can a man who is so disdainful of government and what it does really be trusted to run one again?

We are just recovering from his decimation of the judiciary and all the reckless and destructive things Rose Bird did to the structure of the judiciary. Do we have to pay another bill for his dillitante behavior?

I sincerely hope that the responsible part of the Democratic Party will disavow Jerry Brown as the Republicans should disavow Pat Buchanan and his ilk. What America, California and Oakland need is economic progress, not a superimposed, thoughtless environmental policy that kills the goose that lays the egg to support it.

Please encourage others to express their thoughts; your readership is clearly tuned in to political realities, and I look forward to dialogue on these issues.

-S. Sloan

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