California StateArchives State GovernmentOral HistoryProgram Oral History Interview with JOHN F, FORAN CaliforniaStateLegislator 1963-1986 April 23, May 14, 21,28, June4,2003 Sacramento, California By LauraMcCreery Regional Oral History Office University ofCalifornia, Berkeley RESTRICTIONS ONTHIS INTERVIEW None. LITERARYRIGHTS AND QUOTATIONS This manuscriptisherebymadeavailablefor researchpurposes only.No partofthe manuscriptmay be quotedfor publicationwithoutthe written permission ofthe California State ArchivistorRegional Oral History Office, University ofCaliforniaatBerkeley. Requests for permissionto quote for publicationshouldbe addressed to: CaliforniaState Archives 1020 O Street, Room 130 Sacramento, California 95814 or Regional Oral History Office The BancroftLibrary University ofCalifornia Berkeley, California 94720-6000 The requestshould include information ofthe specificpassagesand identificationofthe user. It is recommended thatthis oral history be citedas follows: John F.Foran,Oral HistoryInterview, Conducted2003 byLauraMcCreery, RegionalOral History Office, University ofCaliforniaatBerkeley,for the CaliforniaState Archives StateGovernment Oral History Program. TABLE OF CONTENTS-JohnForan INTERVIEWHISTORY i BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY ii SESSION 1,April 23, 2003 1 Irish origins—parentsand siblings—youthand schooling in San Francisco—St Joseph's Preparatory Seminary and SacredHeartHigh School—UniversityofSan Francisco [USFJ-U.S. Army service and leg injury duringthe KoreanWar,early 1950s—completing undergraduate study at USF, 1956-graduatingfrom USF law schooland passing the state barexam, 1959—marriageto CostanzaIlacqua(1958)andstarting afamily-recruitmentto stateattorney general's office,thenheaded by StanleyMosk-workingwith state appellate and supreme courts aspart ofAG's staff-close friendship with Leo McCarthy since high school and USF—Democratic political campaigns ofPhil Burton and others in San Francisco-state and national campaigns ofPat Brown, John F.Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson—runningfor 23'"'^ assembly districtseatvacated by John O'Connell, 1962. SESSION2, May 14, 2003 26 Working for StanleyMosk, Attorney General, duringPat Brown's governorship—Pat Brown's work style and his programs on highways, water, higher education-committee assignments as anew assemblyman, from 1963—fellow"freshman"—serving on and then chairing assembly transportation committee—transportationlegislators: Randolph Collier, Eugene McAteer, Tom Carrell—interactions with public works and highways departments andlaterCaltrans-adventof"one person, onevote"—redistricting—exodusfrom assembly to senate—Northernand Southern California power shifts inthe legislature—JesseUnruhasspeakerofthe assembly, 1960s-assemblyJudiciarycommittee andFinance andInsurance committee—constituency ofthe 23*^*^ assembly district (eastern San Francisco)—SanFrancisco mayors (George Christopher, Jack Shelley) and supervisors—locallegislators: Phil and JohnBurton, Willie Brown, MiltonMarks, Leo Ryan-Leo McCarthy's electionto assembly, 1968, and assembly speaker, 1974. SESSION3, May 21, 2003 63 Story ofbeing kidnapped with Leo McCarthy in the 1950s-authoringthe Pure Air Actof 1968—relatedauto and transportation issues-promotionofpublic transit and regional, multi-modaltransportationsystems-GoldenGateBridgeAuthorityandotherBayArea transit modes and agencies-The MetropolitanTransportation Commission, 1970— regional government-RonaldReagan's gubernatorial administration—bipartisan atmosphere ofthat era—Bob Monagan and BobMoretti as assembly speakers-Transit DevelopmentAct, 1974. SESSION 4, May 28, 2003 107 CaliforniaTransportationCommission: "anti-pork" funding—members, chairs-later changes to transportation funding in the 1990s-emphasis on local control—chairing the senatetransportation committee during Jerry Brown's governorship-raising gastax and vehicle-relatedfees to assure federal matching funds, 1982—subsequentgas tax and fee increases in the George Deukmejianadministration—joining withAssemblymanBill Bakeron the "pothole bill," SB-300-more on Metropolitan TransportationCommission, public transit, regionalism—importance oflong-range planning to transportation—effects ofterm limits—moreon assembly-chairing Ways-andMeans committee—starting "suspense flle"-seeking George Moscone's 8^*^ district senate seat, 1976—SanMateo constituents—PhilBurtonand reapportionment—working with local congressional legislators-making political peace withPhil and JohnBurton-comparing state senate to assembly—JimMills and David Roberti as pro tems-developing close friendship with DavidRoberti. SESSION 5, June 4, 2003 165 Legislationon criminal identificationsystemfrom latent fingerprints—tort reform legislation, 1980s: SB-75 limits painand suffering damages-changingviews on torts- fiscal impactongovernment's "deeppockets"-constituents ofthe 8^*^ senate district- views onrepresentativegovernment—reelectioncampaignsfor the statesenate—wife'srole in political life—choosingto retire from state senate, 1986-appointmentat Nossaman GuthnerKnoxElliottin Sacramento—attorney and registered lobbyist: transportation emphasis—Quentin Kopp as successorin state senate—Kopp's campaignagainstLou Papan-recalling assembly speakership battle, 1980-Willie Brownsupplants Leo McCarthy-loss ofbipartisanlegislature in California-currentbudgetcrisis-term limits— foimding the Sacramento SeminarwithJohnKnox and Paul Priolo. INTERVIEW HISTORY Interviewer LauraMcCreery SeniorInterviewer, Regional OralHistory Office,University ofCalifornia, Berkeley Oral History Consultantsince 1996 B.A., San Diego State University M.S., San Jose State University Interview Time andPlace April 23, 2003 Session ofone hour Sacramento May 14,2003 Sessionofone and one-halfhours Sacramento May 21, 2003 Sessionofone andthree-fourths hours Sacramento May 28, 2003 Sessionoftwo and one-fourthhours Sacramento June 4,2003 Sessionofone and one-halfhours Sacramento Editing The intervieweredited for punctuation, paragraphing,and spelling, verifiedpropernames, and compileda table ofcontents and biographical summary. Mr. Foran reviewed thetranscript, making frequent but minor correctionsand additions. Tapes and Interview Records The audio recordings ofthe interview are inTheBancroftLibrary, University of Californiaat Berkeley. Records relatingto the interview are at the Regional Oral History Office. Masteraudio recordings are deposited inthe CaliforniaState Archives. Biographical Summary John F.Fpran isasecond-generationnative ofSanFrancisco, California. Bomin 1930, he attendedparochial schools andthe University ofSanFrancisco. Hewas wounded incombat while servingintheU.S. Army's 7thInfantry Division duringtheKorean War,afterwhich heretumedto his college studies. He holds aB.A. cum laude inhistory (1956) anda law degree (1959), both fromtheUniversity ofSan Francisco. He isamember ofthe StateBar ofCalifornia. Afterlawschool, Mr.Foranservedforthree years asadeputyto California'sthen-attorney general, Stanley Mosk. He then went onto private practice ofthe law asafounding partnerofthe San Franciscofirm ofLeonoudakis, Kleineger&Foran. Mr.Foranransuccessfully in 1962 for the 23rd Districtseat ofthe state assembly, where he served until ,1976.He chairedthe TransportationCommittee for four years, authoring both the Pure AirAct of 1968and the law creating theMetropolitanTransportationCommission. He also succeeded Assemblyman Willie Brownas chairofthe Waysand Means Committee, a positionhe heldfrom 1974to 1976.He played akey roleintheelection ofhis lifelong friend Leo McCarthy as assembly speakerin 1974. In 1976 Mr.Foran ran for the state senate in aspecial electionto replace SenatorGeorge Moscone. He wenton to representwestern San,Francisco in the 8th senatorial districtofthe Califomialegislaturefor ten years, where he again chaired the TransportationCommittee.He authored S.B. 215 of1981, informally knownasthe "gas tax bill," which represented asignificant multifacetedtransportationrevenue package. He was a memberofboth the State Public Works Boardandthe CaliforniaTransportationCommissionfor abouttenyears. Mr.Foranleft the assembly in 1986 to retumto private practicewiththe Sacramento firm Nossaman, Guthner, Knox&Elliott,LLP.Today he remains alegislativeadvocatebeforethe state legislatureand various departments and executive branch agencies ofstate government. [Session 1,April 23,2003] [Tape 1, SideA] McCREERY: This is LauraMcCreery speaking. On this tape, I'll be interviewing John Foranin his Sacramento office for the State Government Oral history Program. Well, we'll startoffwith a little background, so I'll askyouto state your date ofbirthand thentalk a little bit aboutwhereyouwere bom. FORAN: Okay, sure. I was bomin San Francisco, July 11,1930. I am a son oftwo San Francisco natives. Both my father and my motherwere bomin San Francisco, and bothofthem wentthroughthe earthquake of1906. My father lived south ofMarket [Street] at thattime, and my mother lived in theExcelsior district. They would tell us some stories aboutit, and it was very interesting. McCREERY; What did they tell you aboutthe earthquake? FORAN: Well,my father in particulartalked aboutthe chimney falling down in their home. My mother lived in a fairly small cottage in the Excelsiordistrict on ParisStreet. Whenthe earthquakehit, mostofthe then-residentialareas ofSan Francisco were pretty severely damaged, particularlyby the fire, so they actually took in the refugees from the otherparts ofSanFrancisco. The Excelsiorwasn'tvery well builtup, but they did have abackyard, and people went outthere and my mother's family let them sleep on the porch. It was done, I think, by many people where houses were still standing. Many refugees ofthe earthquake wentto the tent city in Golden Gate Park. McCREERY: Well,perhaps you'll tell me a little bit more abouttheir own backgrounds, and give their names. FORAN: Oh, sure. My father's name was James Edward Foran. He was at different times an electricalinspector, or he had an electrical contractbusiness, and then he became an electricalinspectorfor the city and countyofSanFrancisco. He was a city inspectoruntil he died ratherprematurely. He died at the age of fifty-eight in 1944. He was an ensignin the navy in World WarI,and he was a brilliantmathematician. People would sendproblems to him from all over, whichhe justenjoyed solving as a hobby. He did teach numerous young kids, high school kids and others, mathematics. He coulddo cube roots in his head. McCREERY: That's wonderful. Well, do youknow much abouthow long his family had beenin the city at thatpoint? FORAN: It's very difficultto trace backthe ancestry. Onbothsides, it's ofIrish ancestry. My mother's name was Egan. Hermaidenname was McDermott. Onmy father's side, my grandmother's maiden name was Meehan, and she married JohnForan. WhenI've beento Irelanda couple oftimes, it was hopeless tryingto trace anybodybecausein the 1916uprising, almostall ofthe custom house records were destroyed. So unless you knowthe parish where somebody was bom and baptizedyou couldn'treally trace anyone. I haven't beenable to trace anyone backthat far exceptone time whenwe were in Ireland. Some ofthem came from near Rascommon, which was where my mother's mother was from. But nottoo far fromRascommon, on my father's side,I guess,there's avillagecalledBally Foran. All ithas initisachurchand a bar and a grocery store [laughter]. But Ihave no way ofconnecting it,and there are otherspellings ofForan, Fordand O'Foran, Forain, which sounds more like the Normantype ofpeople. McCREERY: Well,talk a bit aboutyour mother's side ofthe family. FORAN: Onmymother's sidetherewerefourbrothersandone sister. Theygrewupin the Excelsior district ofSanFrancisco. Shewasat one time a telephone operator,but thenwhenshemarriedmyfathershedidn'twork anymore. She was quite a character. McCREERY: How so? FORAN: Oh,inmanyrespects. Sheusedto godowntowneveryday andexchange things,get atieonedayandreturnitthe nextday. Shejust lovedtogodown anddothingslikethat. Shewasjust acharmingladywhoeverybodywanted to talk to. One particularincidentoccurred whenI was at college at USE [University ofSanFrancisco]. I was a member ofthe studentcouncil government, so I had a tux and I had to go to a number ofthe schoolfunctions and dances. I asked her one time when she was going downtown ifshe would stopatSelix's, whichisonKearnyStreet,andpickmeupacummerbundto go with this tux. So she went downto Selix's and she wentinthere-she didn't hear too well—andshesaid,'Twantaconcubineformy son." Andthe guy said,"A what,lady?" Andthenshesaid,"a blackone." [Laughter] Andhe wentintothebackroomandcouldn'twaitonher. Hehadtohavesomebody else come out, he was laughing so hard. Anyway, I thinkthere was a columnist~atthat time, SanFrancisco hadfour newspapers—I think in the DailyNews it was mentioned by one ofthe columnists. [Laughter] McCREERY: [Laughter] It certainly communicates the colorful side ofthings. Well, what partoftown did your family live in whenyou came along? FORAN: In the outerMission, which is near St. Mary's Park. My sisterstill lives in St. Mary's Park. Shebuilt ahouse inthe earlyfifties there. I grew up there on Murray Street. My father owned apair offlats, so we lived in one flat and he rented outthe otherone. There was a Swedishlongshoremannamed Hendersonwho lived upstairs, and they were the renters, the tenants. McCREERY: And siblings? FORAN: Siblings. I have two sisters and one brother. The brotheris dead. He was an electrician. He was inthe MerchantMarine during World WarII. My younger sisterworked for the telephone company, Pac Bell, and she has retired. My othersister, my oldersister, was marriedto Tim McSweeney, who was with The SanFranciscoExaminerand ran the circulationdepartment. She didn't work until herhusband was in his lateryears. When she wentto work, she startedatthe Giants ballpark,andthenshewentto workfor the city registrarof voter's office. She's noweighty-two, and she workedimtil she was about eighty. She was in charge ofthe personnelretirement and pensiondepartment for the SanFrancisco municipal courts. Ofcourse, there aren'tmimicipal courts anymore; they've beencombined withthe superiorcourts. McCREERY: Now, what aboutyourearly schooling?