Remembering Senator Bob Beverly

Above, Assembly Minority Leader Bob Beverly and Armand at a Paul
Bannai fundraising dinner on May 6, 1976. Photo by Kenneth Huthmaker.

The other day, I was thinking about the "old days" in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County when I was chairman of my assembly distict Republican central committee.

Back then, I was an elected member of the 53rd Assembly District Republican Central Committee. The committee chose me to be chairman. The GOP was well-represented in the South Bay with Paul Bannai as State Assemblyman in the 53rd Assembly District and Assemblyman Robert G. Beverly in the neighboring 51st Assembly District. Beverly was elected to the State Senate in 1976.

Since I have not lived in the South Bay since 1986, I hadn't heard much of state politics in the area. I knew State Senator Robert G. Beverly of Manhattan Beach had been in retirement, but haven't heard any news about him for some time. He was known in some GOP circles as "the great white father of the South Bay."

So, this morning, I did a Google search and found that former Senator Beverly passed away at age 84 on October 13, 2009.

The Los Angeles Times wrote:

Robert G. Beverly, a Republican who served in the state Legislature for nearly 30 years and may be best known for consumer-protection legislation that led to California's lemon laws, has died. He was 84. 

Beverly, who also was a lawyer, died Wednesday of complications related to Parkinson's disease at his home in Manhattan Beach, said his son William.

Beginning in 1967, Beverly represented the South Bay in the Assembly. Nine years later, he jumped to the Senate to represent the 27th District, which eventually stretched from Rolling Hills to Downey. Term limits forced him to retire in 1996. 

Former Gov. George Deukmejian, who was a close friend, called the moderate Republican "a very effective legislator."

Although Beverly was a moderate, we got along well and he had a very capable staff that was led by his administrative assistant Tom Martin. Those were the days when California had a viable Republican Party. It has since become a one-party state ruled by lunatic leftists.

I am sorry to learn of Beverly's passing nearly 5 years later.