L. B. Mallory

Infobox Officeholder
name = L.B. Mallory


order = 28th Chief Clerk of California Assembly
term_start = 2 January 1911
term_end = 8 January 1917 | predecessor = Clio Lloyd
successor = B.O. Boothby
party =
spouse =
profession = Broker
religion =


footnotes =

L.B. Mallory (1871- 1933) was the 28th Chief Clerk of the California Assembly. He was born Llewellyn Bell Mallory in Nebraska on October 23, 1871. Mallory was educated at Napa Valley College and Stanford University, A.B. 1897. His full-time profession was as a Broker in the Bay Area. His business was located in Los Gatos, California. Mallory served as an Assistant Clerk in the California Assembly in 1909. He was elected for 3 terms as Chief Clerk, serving from 1911 to 1917. [ Biographical information from "California Blue Book, 1913," Office of State Printing, Sacramento. Note: The California Legislature was a part-time institution prior to 1967, so during L.B. Mallory's era, Chief Clerks maintained full-time outside employment during their clerkships, hence Mallory's employment as a broker in Los Gatos.]

Mallory was associated with the Progressive Party. [ Prior to the 1940s, Chief Clerks and their staffs were generally majority party loyalists. The clerk's office is now nonpartisan. See H.R. 28 (Nunez), 2007-08 Regular Session, California Assembly. Adopted on April 1, 2008.] He was elected Chief Clerk during the Progressive wave of the 1910 election, which swept Progressive standard bearer Hiram Johnson and others into power. After his swearing-in as Chief Clerk in January 1911, Mallory's first act was to appoint Thomas G. Walker, who had served a few days as Chief Clerk during the 1910 extraordinary session, as First Assistant Chief Clerk. [ "Asssembly Journal", 1911 Regular Session, January 2, 1911.] In 1915, Mallory hired 21 year old law school student Arthur Ohnimus as a committee clerk. (Ohnimus would quickly rise up through the ranks of assistant clerks and would himself go on to serve as Chief Clerk for 37 years.) [See H.R. 28 (Nunez), 2007-08 Regular Session, California Assembly. Adopted on April 1, 2008.] Mallory served six years as Chief Clerk. He died in March 1933 at age 62. [ "Assembly Journal", 1933 Session, March 28, 1933.]

In California, the Chief Clerk is a nonpartisan officer of the Legislature, responsible for advising the presiding officer on parliamentary rulings, guiding legislators on legislative procedures, and overseeing the records and votes of the house. ["California's Legislature", 2006 Edition, E. Dotson Wilson, California Assembly, p.148.]

Footnotes

Sources

*"Journals of the Assembly", California Legislature, 1911, 1913, 1915, 1917, 1933. View Assembly Journal archives online at http://www.asembly.ca.gov/clerk
*"California Blue Book, 1913". Office of State Printing: Sacramento, 1913-1915.