Doris Jean Allen, Speaker of the California Assembly

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Allen_(politician)

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Find A Grave Memorial# 17467633 - Doris Jean "Dori" Frazee Allen, Herbertson

Birth: May 26, 1936, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, USA

Death: September 22, 1999, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado, USA

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Los Angeles Times -- California and the West: Doris Allen, First Female Speaker of Assembly, Dies: Politics: Brief, stormy, Democratic-backed tenure of the Orange County Republican led to her recall. She was 63. September 23, 1999, NANCY HILL-HOLTZMAN and JEAN O. PASCO, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Doris Allen, the first female speaker of the California Assembly, whose war with fellow Republicans led to her recall by Orange County voters in 1995, died Wednesday of cancer. She was 63.

Allen had survived two earlier bouts with cancer. Doctors recently discovered tumors in her stomach during gall bladder surgery in Sacramento, where she had lived out of the limelight since her defeat in Orange County.

Allen died in a hospice in Colorado Springs, Colo., where she moved three weeks ago to be with her daughter, Joni Dreyer, and her family.

"When the dust settles," said Allen's longtime chief of staff, Sam Roth, "her record in legislative accomplishments and policy achievements will rank near the top of Orange County's delegation. She never compromised on principle. That's the legacy people should care about."

Elected to the Assembly in 1982, Allen spent 13 years focusing on education, including a popular measure to allow inter-district transfers, and on environmental issues.

But the legislator probably will be remembered more for her brief, stormy reign as the first female speaker--an experience she likened to a stay in Dante's "Inferno."

She called the continuing attacks on her after she stepped down a "rape" of her reputation and career by the male leaders of the Republican Party.

Assembly Republicans, long the minority party and long chafing under Democrat Willie Brown's 14-year reign as speaker, had gained even ground with the opposition in the 1994 elections. They were poised in a special spring 1995 election to take a 40-39 edge in seats and were ready to put then-Assemblyman Curt Pringle of Garden Grove in the leadership slot.

But Allen, often an outsider among her GOP colleagues, sent them into a rage in June 1995 when she took advantage of a Brown-sanctioned deal to have all the Democrats vote for her as speaker.

Allen had never forgiven the GOP delegation for heavily backing Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine) when he and then-Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) ran against her in a hotly contested, three-way state Senate primary. Winning the speakership was payback for their treatment of her, she said in interviews.

A political brawl, heavily laced with gender politics, erupted in the GOP ranks. Republican Assemblyman Bill Morrow, now a state senator from Oceanside, cast the first--but hardly the worst--of countless aspersions against Allen, saying, "The first thing she ought to do is her hair." Other GOP leaders charged that she had sold out her party.

Allen gave as good as she got, yanking critics from committee posts and banishing enemies to closet-size offices, tactics that were standard practice with past speakers.

But the battles wore her down. By early September, she suffered what an aide called a "complete meltdown" after showing up 40 minutes late for a news conference and being unable to detail contents of a bill that she was supposed to discuss.

Then, a fund-raiser fell far short of its $300,000 goal. Finally, in talking to reporters, she stunned the Capitol when, referring to her Republican enemies, she said she was not about to be pushed around by "a bunch of power-mongering men with short penises."

The comment made her the subject of national attention, and aides persuaded her to step down as speaker and devote her energy to defeating a recall election set for that November.

With then-Gov. Pete Wilson supporting the recall, Allen lost overwhelmingly. She said later that the bitter defeat plus the stress of the speakership damaged her health, leading to colon cancer.

Despite her travails, Allen said in the interview that she had no regrets about breaking ranks to become Assembly speaker.

Born in Kansas City, Mo., and raised on horse ranches in good times and hovels in bad, Allen once described her father as a strict, eccentric John Wayne wannabe who would use his belt to discipline her. She emerged from the extremes of her childhood independent, strong and undaunted.

"I'm not one you can break my spirit," she said during the speakership fray.

Though Allen's voting record showed her to be a typical conservative, she irked party colleagues by working with Democrats who controlled the Legislature to get laws passed on the environment, education and safety at schools.

In 1990, Allen sponsored a successful ballot measure to ban gill net fishing off the California coast to protect seals from being snared in the nets.

Before her time in the Legislature, Allen served six years on the board of the Huntington Beach Union High School District, where she led a drive to oppose forced busing.

In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her son, Ron Herbertson of Sacramento; her mother, Eloise Reppeteau of Lakewood; sisters Donna Thompson of Colorado and Pamela Krueger of Lakewood; and five granddaughters.

Funeral services are pending. She will be buried after a private service in Cripple Creek, Colo. A California memorial tribute is being planned for the end of October.

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Doris J. Allen was the first women 'Speaker of the Assembly' in the State of California Legislature.

Embattled Speaker In California Resigns - NEW YORK TIMES - Published: September 16, 1995

The Assembly Speaker, Doris Allen, resigned her leadership post on Thursday after months of abuse from her fellow Republicans for having cut a deal with the former Speaker, a Democrat, to succeed him in the sharply divided Assembly. "I'm very happy to be stepping out of Dante's 'Inferno,' " Ms. Allen said.

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Doris Allen served in the California Assembly from 1982 to 1995 and as Speaker of that body from June 5 to September 14 1995, before being recalled from office by her constituents.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Allen was a Republican, but when Republicans gained a one-vote majority in 1995, threatening longtime Democratic Speaker Willie Brown's hold on power, Brown convinced Allen and another Republican, Brian Setencich, to vote with the Democrats. Brown had Allen elected Speaker, but in name only, since Brown continued to lead the legislative body as head of the Democratic caucus.

Allen's defection outraged her Republican colleagues, led by Curt Pringle, as well as her Republican constituents, who in November 1995 recalled her from office. Before her removal, however, Allen resigned as Speaker, handing the gavel over to Setencich. However, in January 1996, when Brown resigned his seat in the State Assembly and was sworn in as Mayor of San Francisco, Setencich would lose that vote, restoring the Republicans' majority and allowing them to elect Pringle as Speaker in January 1996.

Allen died of stomach and colon cancer at her home in Colorado Springs, Colorado on September 22, 1999.

Date Party Office Votes Result

11-07-1978 Republican AD-71 33342 Loss

11-04-1980 Republican AD-71 46559 Loss

11-02-1982 Republican AD-71 48103 Win

11-06-1984 Republican AD-71 80006 Win

11-04-1986 Republican AD-71 57728 Win

11-08-1988 Republican AD-71 76700 Win

11-06-1990 Republican AD-71 48923 Win

11-03-1992 Republican AD-67 95444 Win

11-08-1994 Republican AD-67 93952 Win

Political History

1990: Primary Candidate, California State Senate

1991: Special Primary Candidate for SD-35 (Lost; 16%)

1995: Speaker, California State Assembly

1995: Recalled in a Special Election

1998: Primary Candidate for AD-67 (Lost; 15.7%)

HR 39 Relative to commending Doris Allen.

BILL NUMBER: HR 39 INTRODUCED 09/09/99

BILL TEXT

INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Thompson

SEPTEMBER 9, 1999

House Resolution No. 39--Relative to commending Doris Allen.

WHEREAS, Doris Allen, former member of the California State Assembly and highly regarded professional, political, and civic leader, has brought great credit and distinction to herself through her many life and career achievements, and it is appropriate at this time to extend to her the commendation and praise of the people of California; and

WHEREAS, Doris Allen, who was born in Missouri, established residence in Westminster, California, in 1960, and attended the University of Wyoming, Long Beach Community College, and Golden West College; and

WHEREAS, Doris Allen was elected to the California State Assembly in 1982 to represent the 71st District of Orange County, and her vast experience led to her taking an early leadership role in Sacramento; and

WHEREAS, She became renowned for her dedicated and diligent service on a number of influential Assembly committees, and she achieved a "first" in California when, on June 6, 1995, she became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Assembly; and

WHEREAS, Doris Allen brought with her to the State Assembly experience amassed through her active participation in the local community, which included being a member and President of the Huntington Beach Union High School District Board of Trustees and a member of the West Orange Consortium for Special Education, which serves handicapped students in six different school districts; and

WHEREAS, In 1978, she founded, and was Director of, the Orange County Bus-Bloc, a nonprofit organization that worked to prevent the forced busing of students from Orange County into Los Angeles schools; and

WHEREAS, Her community involvement also has included membership in the Westminster Chamber of Commerce, Soroptimist Club, Orange County Commission on the Status of Women, Westminster Citizens Forum, American Business Women's Association, and the Metropolitan Water District Speakers' Bureau; and

WHEREAS, Doris Allen has enjoyed the love and support of her two children, Joni and Ron; and

WHEREAS, As a respected public and civic leader, Doris Allen has provided a dynamic role model for all people who believe strongly in their obligation to improve the quality of life for future generations, and has left an indelible mark of excellence as her legacy; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the Members of the Assembly commend their former colleague and good friend, Doris Allen, for her outstanding record of dedicated service to the people of California; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly shall transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.

Burial: Mount Pisgah Cemetery, Cripple Creek, Teller County, Colorado, USA, Plot: block F, Row 006, Plot 034

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/sep/23/news/mn-13424/2

Doris Allen, First Female Speaker, Dies

Obituary: O.C. political pioneer was a GOP pariah in final years. Cancer claims her at 63. September 23, 1999, NANCY HILL-HOLTZMAN and JEAN O. PASCO, TIMES STAFF WRITERS. In a 1997 interview, Allen blamed the stress of her three months as speaker for the cantaloupe-size tumor removed from her colon. The cancer went into remission for a while. Despite her travails, Allen said in the interview that she had no regrets about breaking ranks to become Assembly speaker. "I was the first speaker Orange County ever had," she said.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised on horse ranches in good times and hovels in bad, Allen once described her father as a strict, eccentric John Wayne wannabe who would use his belt and even a horsewhip to discipline her. She emerged from the extremes of her childhood independent, strong and undaunted. "I'm not one you can break my spirit," she said during the speakership fray.

She eventually moved to Southern California, first living with her older sister and ending up in Orange County, where she ran for the school board. Her ultimate rejection by Assembly Republicans, led by Orange County's conservative corps, was ironic in one regard. She first rode to victory in 1982 on a conservative wave, pulling votes from once Democratic strongholds in a tight race that both parties viewed as one of most vulnerable seats statewide. She went to Sacramento with no mentors and few friends, and her naivete--she didn't know what a caucus was and once kept GOP leaders waiting 45 minutes--put her on the outs with her own party.

Though Allen's voting record showed her often to be a typical conservative, she irked party colleagues by working with Democrats who controlled the Legislature to get laws passed on education and public safety at schools. Some of those laws, as well as an environmental measure, were backed more by Democrats than Republicans. In 1990, for instance, Allen sponsored a successful ballot measure to ban gill net fishing off the California coast to protect seals from being mangled in the nets.

She also won a fight against the gun lobby in 1994 by getting a law passed that established a gun-free zone around campuses, with mandatory expulsion for getting caught with guns or drugs near schools. The law made possession of a gun at school a felony.

Not One of the Guys, She Perceived Slights - Throughout her career in Sacramento, Allen said she was never accepted or taken seriously by male Republican leaders because she was a woman. Allen never forgave the GOP delegation for heavily backing state Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine) when he and then-Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) ran against her in a hotly contested three-way state Senate primary. Winning the speakership was payback for their treatment of her, she said in interviews.

The 1995 recall election that cost Allen her office also took a toll on other Republicans. Four GOP aides pleaded guilty to misdemeanor campaign violations in connection with a scheme to put a decoy Democrat on the recall ballot to split the vote in the winner-take-all election.

Baugh, who won and later cast the deciding vote to make Pringle speaker, faced an investigation and criminal charges for campaign reporting violations. A new prosecutor dropped the criminal case early this year and turned the allegations over to the state Fair Political Practices Commission. Baugh paid a $47,900 civil fine in July to end the matter.

Former Dist. Atty. Mike Capizzi, who dared to prosecute fellow party members and by doing so faced the wrath of GOP leaders, was ignominiously dumped by his party in his losing bid for state attorney general in the 1998 primary elections.

Pringle served as speaker for a year, dethroned when Democrats regained control of the Assembly. Last year, Pringle, forced out of the Assembly by term limits, lost a bid to become state treasurer. Allen, meanwhile, won her place in the political record books, not only as the first female speaker of the Assembly but also as a speaker who served the shortest term of anyone in the 20th century.

Allen and her husband James Allen were divorced in 1988 after 21 years of marriage. She is survived by her son, Ron Herbertson of Sacramento; daughter Joni Dreyer of Colorado Springs; mother Eloise Reptetea of Lakewood; sisters Donna Thompson of Colorado and Pamela Krueger of Lakewood, and five granddaughters. Funeral services are pending. She will be buried after a private service in Cripple Creek, Colorado. A local memorial tribute is being planned for the end of October, Nancy Smith said.

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Subject: Doris Jean Frazee

November 21, 2011

Dear William and Pamela Krueger, I am Noah Goddard and reside a few miles west of Lawrence, Kansas in Douglas County, about half an hour west of Kansas City on the Kansas Turnpike. I was born and raised in the small community of Freeman in western Cass County, Missouri.

I hope that you will not find this letter intrusive because that is not the purpose of my writing. Other members of my family and I are doing a genealogy search trying to put together a Goddard family history for future generations. While browsing on "find a grave.com" I came across the obituary of Ed Frazee. As I read further I also noticed that Doris had also passed away. I am terribly sorry to hear of their passing. It is never easy to lose a family member and loved one.

Both Doris and Ed had a positive and profound impact on me during the brief time that I knew them. I was 18 at the time and Doris was 19. I first met the family when they joined the Christian Church in our small community of Freeman, Missouri. Doris was a spiritually guided person and explained to me that going forward and making a public acknowledgement of her faith in Jesus Christ was important to her because she had said the words before but that those words took on a different and deeper meaning (in her heart and soul) as she stood before our congregation and renewed her personal commitment, and that it was something she had to do.

Ed was a kind of guy who gave you the impression that he thought he could conquer anything that he set out to do. He immediately became my role model. As I recall he had a '55 Chevrolet, two tone red and crème color. That was the first year Chevy came out with a V-8 engine. Ed traded it for a new Cadillac coupe Deville. Quite a guy! He also had a heavy construction business in Raytown with lots of earth moving equipment. In fact, that was his motto, "We Move The Earth." He had decals on all of his trucks and equipment with a picture of a big caterpillar with the dozer blade pushing a big round picture of the globe with his motto written underneath it.

He bought that old abandoned tree and brush-covered farm about 3 & 1/2 miles north east of Freeman, where we used to hunt wild game when I was a kid, and in a matter of months with a huge bulldozer transformed it into a paradise. He built ponds of various sizes in every gully and crevice. Doris and I built fires with the left over brush and wood and roasted marsh mellows and ice skated on the ponds. It was a memorable winter.

Sometimes we just stayed in and put logs in the fireplace. During those evenings around the fire Ed would tell us about how he loved his Colorado ranch and could hardly wait until he and his brother could get the Frazee Brothers Construction Company to making enough money so he could devote all of his time to ranching.

Doris would tell me of the wonderful times she had horseback riding on her dad's ranch in the Cripple Creek area. She even had a ring that was made of Cripple Creek gold. She liked it there. She said the peace and serenity of the mountains made her feel closer to God. So I am not surprised that she is at rest on Mt. Pisgah.

Ed used to tell me stories about his police experiences. I modeled after him and became a police officer after my tour of duty in the Air Force during the Vietnam era. I came to this area of Kansas after police work to teach criminal justice at Washburn University and then later became a consultant in my field before final retirement. So you might say that Ed influenced my entire adult career even though he likely never knew that.

After the house burned and they moved away from the Freeman area I lost contact with both Ed and Doris. I don't remember much about Eloise. Pamela was maybe in about second grade at the time. In fact, I would never have known about Doris if I had not accidentally come across Ed's obituary information on "Find a Grave.com." From reading all of the obituaries and news paper accounts it sounds as if Doris had a very fulfilling and successful personal and professional life.

I have included some pictures of me then and now so that you will know that I am a real person. I also attached some pictures of the house fire at the farm during the middle fifties. I sincerely thank you for letting me share my thoughts of more than a half century ago.

May God bless and keep you,

Noah L. Goddard,

nubians@earthlink.net,

Lecompton, Kansas