Oral History Interview with Eugene A. Chappie

317 Pages·2008·7.54 MB·English

California state Archives
state Government Oral History Program
Oral History Interview
with
EUGENE A. CHAPPlE
Member, California state Assembly, 1965-1974
Member, united states House of Representatives, 1981-1986
March 12, 1990, April 3, 1990,
April 5, 1990 and April 10, 1990
Placerville, California
By Donald B. Seney
California state Archives
Information [phone]
California State Archives
March Fong Eu Research Room [phone]
1020 0 Street, Room 130 Exhibit Hall [phone]
Secretary of State
LegislativeBill Service [phone]
Sacramento, CA 95814
(prior years)
RESTRICTIONS ON THIS INTERVIEW
None
LITERARY RIGHTS AND QUOTATION
This ~anuscript is hereby made available for research
purposes (J.'.i.y. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for
publication without the written permission of the California
State Archi.vist or the Oral History Program, Center for
California Studies, California State University, Sacramento.
RequE.sts for permission to quote for pubJ.ication should
be addres..:.ed to:
California State Archives
1020 0 Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
or
Oral History Program
Center for California Studies
Calitornia State University, Sacramento
6000 J Street
Sacra~ento, CA 95819
The request should include identification of the
specific passages and identification of the user.
It h recommended that this oral history be cited as
follows:
Eugere A. Chappie, Oral History Intervie;·],
Conducted in 1990 by Donald B. Seney, Ca~ifornia
State University, Sacramento, for the CaLifornia
Stat,eArchives, State Government Oral Hi..,tory
Pro~ln·.ni.
Information [phone]
California State Archives
March Fong Eu Research Room [phone]
10200 Street, Room 130 ExhibitHall [phone]
Secretary of State
LegislativeBillService [phone]
Sacramento, CA 95814
(prior years)
PREFACE
On September 25, 1985, Governor George Deukmejian signed
into law A.B. 2104 (Chapter 965 of the Statutes of 1985).
This legislation established, under the administration of
the California State Archives, a State Government Oral
History Program "to provide through the use of oral history
a continuing documentation of state pOlicy development as
reflected in California~s legislative and executive
history."
The following interview is one of a series of oral histories
undertaken for inclusion in the state program. These
interviews offer insights into the actual workings of both
the legislative and executive processes and pOlicy
mechanisms. They also offer an increased understanding of
the men and women who create legislation and implement state
development in California state government and of how both
the legislative and executive branches of government deal
with issues and problems facing the state.
Interviewees are chosen primarily on the basis of their
contributions to and influence on the pOlicy process of the
state of California. They include members of the
legislative and executive branches of the state government
as well as legislative staff, advocates, members of the
media, and other people who played significant roles in
specific issue areas of major and continuing importance to
California.
By authorizing the California State Archives to work
cooperatively with oral history units at California colleges
and universities to conduct interviews, this program is
structured to take advantage of the resources and expertise
in oral history available thorugh California's several
institutionally based programs.
Participating as cooperating institutions in the state
Government Oral History Program are:
Oral History Program
History Department
California state University, Fullerton
Oral History Program
Center for California Studies
California state University, Sacramento
Oral History Program
Claremont Graduate School
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Oral History Program
University of California, Los Angeles
The establishment of the California state Archives State
Government Oral History Program marks one of the most
significant commitments made by any state toward the
preservation and documentation of its governmental history.
It supplements the often fragmentary historical written
record by adding an organized primary source, enriching the
historical information available on given topics and
allowing for more thorough historical analysis. As such,
the program, through the preservation and publication of
interviews such as the one which follows, will be of lasting
value to current and future generations of scholars,
critizens, and leaders.
John F. Burns
State Archivist
July 27, 1988
This interview is printed on acid-free paper.
EUGENE A. CHAPPlE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTERVIEW HISTORY . . . i
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY.. ii
SESSION 1, March 12, 1990
[Tape 1, Side A] 1
Origins of the Chappie name-~Mother's family in
Italy--Farming in Cool, California--Father was a
bakery owner--Early childhood in Sacramento and at
the ranch in Cool--Secondary and vocational
education--First job in a tire shop and other
early employment--Enlistment in the army--ROTC
officer candidate school--World War II experience
in the South Pacific--The lesson of military life-
Leaving the military and returning to civilian
life--Background of first wife.
[Tape 1, Side B) . . . . 16
Pride in Italian heritage--Making wine--The perils
of farming--What farming teaches you about
politics--Appointed to the EI Dorado County Board
of Supervisors in 1950 by Governor Earl Warren-
Election to the Board of Supervisors--Service on
the Board of Supervisors, 1950-1956; issues and
corruption--Decision to run for the sixth District
assembly seat.
[Tape 2, Side A] .. 34
The EI Dorado Irrigation District and the politics
of water in EI Dorado County--Placer County and the
Sacramento Municipal utility District secure water
rights--Water shortages in EI Dorado County and the
South Fork of the American River [SOFAR] project-
Start of legislative career in January 1965-
Meeting with Speaker Jesse M. Unruh--Meeting with
Govenor Edmund G. Brown [Sr.]--Chappie becomes
chair of the Assembly Social Welfare Committee-
Reforms in welfare law: Speaker Bob Moretti,
Governor Ronald Reagan--Interest in removing
architectural barriers for the handicapped-
Legislation to provide food for guide dogs--Jesse
Unruh as pOlitician and speaker.
SESSION 2, April 3, 1990
[Tape 3, Side A] 52
Committee assignments and the difficulty of
attending conflicting meetings--How committee
assignments were given; the role of the
Republicans in the assembly--The election of
Bob Monagan as minority leader--Joe Shell as
minority leader and candidate for governor-
Evaluation of Bob Monagan--The Republican party
becomes more conservative--Chappie becomes chair
of the Rules Committee--Ban on mini-skirts in the
Capitol building--Responsibilities and operation of
the Rules Committee--County fairs and auctions as
a way of campaigning--The use and preparation of
newsletters--The CAL Plan for electing a
Republican majority to the assembly--Financing and
staff in the 1964 election--The use of district
offices--Relationship with newspapers in the
district.
[Tape 3, Side B] ..•.. 73
The reapportionment of the California State Senate
in 1966--Appointment of senators forced out by
redistricting as jUdges--Chappie's views of senate
reapportionment--Effect of senate reapportionment
on northern California--Legislation introduced by
Chappie during first term--The Rattlesnake Bridge
bill--Legislation regulating home butchering-
Legislation relating to sewage and water quality at
Lake Tahoe--Passing legislation at the end of a
session--Playing pranks on other legislators--The
qualifications and contributions of Chappie's long
time secretary, Dorothy Delaney--District problems
handled through a roving staff assistant--Regional
planning in the Lake Tahoe Basin--The role of
Ronald Reagan and Paul Laxalt in Tahoe Basin
planning--The need for legislation dealing with
the district and difficulties in getting it
passed--Legislation dealing with architectural
barriers and the physically handicapped.
[Tape 4, Side A] 96
Handicapped access in the state and federal parks-
Appointment to the Federal Architectural
Transportation Barriers Control Board--Other
district legislation--Welfare reform--Pat Brown as
Governor--Differences between Pat and Jerry Brown-
Ronald Reagan's, early campaign techniques--Ronald
Reagan as governor and his relationship to the
legislature--Reagan's veto of the 1971
reapportionment plan and its negative effects on
the Republicans--Casper Weinberger as Finance
Director--Vern Orr--Meetings with Ronald Reagan-
Senator Milton Marks--Reagan as a leader and
negotiator--Speaker Monagan's appointment of Bob
Moretti as chair of the Assembly Finance and
Insurance Committee in 1968--Evaluation of Speaker
Moretti--The desire for power and the process of
obtaining it in the assembly.
SESSION 3, April 5, 1990
[Tape 5, Side A] . . . . . . 119
Ronald Reagan's staff: Robert Carlson,
Edwin Meese, III, William P. Clark, Robert H.
Finch--Jesse Unruh locks up the assembly in 1965-
Relationship with the state senate--Leadership in
the senate, Hugh Burns and James R. Mills-
Comparison of senate and assembly styles--The
negative effects of the one man, one vote
apportionment of the state senate--The legislative
reapportionment of 1970 and the effect on Chappie's
district--Reelection campaigns of 1966, 1968, 1970,
1972, 1973, 1976, 1978--Right wing politics in the
sixth District in the 1960s--The cost of political
campaigns--The use of computers in campaigns--The
role of the assembly Republican caucus in
elections--Making speeches--Fund-raising methods.
[Tape 5, Side B] 140
Fund-raising methods--Grover Connell and tainted
campaign contribution--Lobbying and lobbyists-
Legislation relating to snowmobiles and off-road
vehicles--How to lobby the legislature--What makes
a good lobbyist--Offers to become a lobbyist-
Senior political consultant for Flashman-Hillard-
Lobbying at local, state and national levels-
Lobbying before and after the passage of
Proposition 9 in 1974--The California Teachers
Association.
[Tape 6, Side A] . 163
Lobbying at the local, state and national levels-
Lobbying over water and development problems in
EI Dorado County--The Free Speech Movement at the
University of California, Berkeley--Chappie's
reaction to that crisis in his own district by
forming student councils to advise him--Approach to
problems in the legislature and in general--The
issue of taxes in the state legislature--The use of
newsletters and questionnaires to communicate with
the district--Attitudes towards environmental
legislation.
[Tape 6, Side BJ .. . . . 186
The environment as a political issue--Changes in the
assembly, Proposition IA--Jesse Unruh's methods of
paying the legislators more--The effect of changes
in the legislature on the relationship between
members--Committee assignments: Government
Administration, Land Use Planning, and
Intergovernmental Relations and Ways and Means-
Member of Commission on the Status of Women--Member
of Commission of the Californias--Member, Heritage
Preservation Commission--The Ophir Prison
Historical Monument hoax.
SESSION 4, April 10, 1990J
[Tape 7, Side AJ • • 202
Walt Disney Independence Lake project in sierra
County--Opposition of the Jerry Brown
administration--Highway funding during the
Jerry Brown administration, Rose Elizabeth Bird
and problems in agriculture--Relations with
Department of Fish and Game --Jerry Brown's
Supreme Court appointees and the defeat of Rose
Elizabeth Bird, Cruz Reynoso and Joseph Grodin--The
effect of the conservative Republican assembly
members elected in 1978--Why the Republicans
supported the defeat of Bird, Reynosa and Grodin-
How history will view Jerry Brown's governorship
compared to Pat Brown's governorship--The origins
of the controversy surrounding the Auburn Dam.
[Tape 7, Side BJ . • 220
American River authority--More on the Auburn Dam
controversy--The effect of the 1975-77 drought-
criticisms of Jerry Brown--The formation of the
California Arts Council--The Republican Assembly
caucus--Chappie as caucus chairman--Sponsorship of
abortion legislation--Change in views on the
question of abortion--The effect of the Webster
decision on abortion politics--The effect of
seniority in the legislature on influence--1976 and
1978 elections--Fund-raising political action
committee money.
[Tape 8, Side A] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
The 1974 campaign for governor by Republican
nominee Houston Flournoy--Ken Maddy's campaign for
governor in 1978--Efforts on behalf of Sam Hayakawa
and Pete Wilson in u.S. Senate campaigns--The
problem of legislators from other parts of the
state living in your district--The origins and role
of the rural caucus in the assembly--Election to
the u.S. House of Representatives--Ronald Reagan's
influence on Chappie's 1980 campaign for congress-
Arriving in Washington, D.C. as a new member of
congress--Committee assignments: Agriculture, Small
Business, Merchant Marine and Fisheries--Select
Committeee on Drugs and Narcotics Abuse--Threat on
life--Comparisons of the California assembly and
the u.S. House of Representatives--Decision to
retire from the House of Representatives.
[Tape 9, Side A] 260
The decision to leave the congress and the reaction
of Republican colleagues--Partisanship in the
House of Representatives--Dealings with Ed Meese
and Mike Deavor in Washington and entree to the
White House--Differences between Ronald Reagan as
governor and as president--The California
congressional delegation--Reapportionment of
congressional seats and the role of Phil Burton-
Activities after retirement from congress-
Reappointment to the EI Dorado County Board of
Supervisors between 1965-1989--Campaign for
reelection to the Board of Supervisors.
[Tape 9, Side B] . 283
Congressional elections in 1990--The effect of
politics on marriage--The enjoyment of a political
career.