A truce is called between Valley lawmaker, Speaker Fabián Núñez after spat.

By E.J. Schultz / The Fresno Bee

Juan Arambula is out of the doghouse.

A truce was called Friday in the California Assembly when Speaker Fabián Núñez, D-Los Angeles, said he was reinstating Arambula, D-Fresno, as chairman of the Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy.

The speaker stripped Arambula of the chairmanship earlier this month when Arambula failed to toe the party line on the infrastructure bond votes.

The reversal came after the two met earlier this week, Arambula said.

“He listened and he understands better why I did what I did,” he said.

Núñez was not available for an interview but said in a statement that “Assembly Member Arambula and I have mutually agreed that he is the best qualified person to chair the [committee]. There is important work to be done in California on a host of economic development issues, particularly for the Central Valley.”

Arambula abstained on all four bond votes in frustration that money for water storage wasn’t included in the $37 billion package, which was approved despite Arambula’s holdout. Voters will take up the bonds in November. Núñez was so angered that he tossed Arambula out of his four-room office, forcing him and his staff into the smallest of Capitol digs.

Arambula said the speaker offered to give him his old office back. But Arambula said he probably wouldn’t take the offer because he didn’t want to go through the hassle of moving again.

He also said he didn’t want to inconvenience the current occupant, Assembly Member Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo. It’s possible that Arambula will get a new office as a result of turnover from November’s election.

Both sides said no specific deal was struck allowing Arambula to get his old job back.

“My sense is that the speaker wants to include me in significant policy discussion and would like for me to play a role in helping him after the election,” Arambula said.

Many Fresno-area residents rallied to Arambula’s support, sending letters and e-mails to Núñez. But Núñez spokesman Steve Maviglio said “this was a decision based on discussions with Mr. Arambula, not on the opinions of a handful of letter-writers.”

Arambula, a moderate Democrat, is a popular politician in the Republican-leaning central San Joaquin Valley, enjoying a good relationship with business and economic development leaders.

The 54-year-old Arambula grew up working the farm fields of the Central Valley. He earned degrees at Harvard University, Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley. He climbed the ranks of local government before being elected to the Assembly in 2004. He faces no opposition for a second term.

Núñez issued the punishment in the early morning hours after the May 5 bond votes. The move drew praise from some analysts who said the speaker has a right to crack down on renegade members.

Arambula risked losing valuable clout in the Assembly as a result of the demotion. His committee is pursuing an aggressive agenda, including reforming the state’s enterprise zone program. The program is designed to give tax breaks to companies that invest in needy areas but has been criticized for a lack of oversight. The committee did not meet in Arambula’s absence.

Arambula’s water stance played well in the agriculture-dominated Valley, where disaster is seemingly one drought or flood away. Officials have been lobbying for state money for a proposed dam at Temperance Flat, upstream of Millerton Lake. Critics of the proposal want to wait until feasibility studies are completed before making decisions.

Resolutions in support of Arambula were passed by the Board of Supervisors in strongly Republican Madera County, as well as by the Fresno City Council and the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.

Local officials even discussed airing advertisements in Núñez’s district and sending bus loads of Arambula supporters to Sacramento.

Maviglio said those threats were “counterproductive.” Fresno Mayor Alan Autry responded that the ideas were “an appropriate reaction to an unconscionable decision.”

Still, the mayor praised Núñez for Friday’s reversal: “The speaker by doing this showed a lot of leadership.”

Rank-and-file Valley Democrats have given Arambula’s stand a mixed review, said Steve Haze, chairman of the Fresno County Democratic Central Committee. Some party activists, he said, worried that Arambula was too focused on the water issue to the detriment of other issues.

Arambula has stood by his abstention, though on Friday he said “there are many good things in the bonds,” including money for school construction, Highway 99 and housing.

Arambula said he told the speaker he was frustrated about not having a voice in the bond discussions. Most of the bargaining was done behind closed doors by a select group of leaders -- a common practice in the Capitol on big votes.

“I wanted to be able to have a chance to voice the concerns of our people and our region on decisions being made,” Arambula said. The speaker “indicated that that would happen in the future,” he said. “I believe we were both comfortable that we would be able to work well together.”

The ordeal has taken a toll, Arambula said. “It was a difficult time and what sustained me in the darkest days was the outpouring of support.”

The reporter can be reached at eschultz@fresnobee.com or (916) 326-5541.