By Steve Fox
In 2012, after 23 years of elective service, I cast my lot for California State Assembly.
A month after that election and the day before swearing in the new legislature, they were still counting ballots. To my surprise, the majority flipped and I had won by 145 votes out of 132,000 cast. All my friends called me and said they were one of the 145.
Sacramento was also taken by surprise. My opponent had already had his name put on his assembly office and had hired staff. He had to come back to our district. The speaker then called me up and said, “Congratulations, you won. You can fly up tomorrow and be sworn in.”
When speaker Perez asked me what I wanted, I told him I wanted to help as many people as possible accomplish as much as possible and as fast as I could, just in case this was my only term.
While in office, I lobbied the governor and succeeded in getting him to return $2.7 million of redevelopment funds back to the city of Palmdale to be used to finish building 1,000 low-cost homes. I worked for two years and got the Assembly, Senate and governor to authorize a $420 million aerospace tax credit to create more local jobs.
But then there were projects I could only start. I got the Assembly to pass a bill to authorize the building of a four-year state college in our district. But then the colleges and the Senate wanted another year to analyze it. I didn’t get re-elected, and my successor, Tom Lackey, didn’t introduce the bill. He dropped the ball. I had pushed through the recreation enterprise zone to give businesses a tax discount. After I left, Tom Lackey again dropped the ball and didn’t reintroduce the bill. This, too, faded under his watch.
The main accomplishment of former California Highway Patrol Officer Tom Lackey has been legislation in parking tickets. While in Sacramento, I served as chairman of the Assembly’s Committee on Community Colleges. I also tackled lobbying for a new funding formula to help our local schools (the middle-class scholarship act), and I co-authored a $600 million bond for homeless veterans.
Now I’d like to have the state authorize that veterans can be treated at any medical facility at no cost to themselves. I also plan on having the state raise the salaries of our medical employees to a higher level.
I will cut our taxes and stimulate our local economy. I will have the state create opportunity and put more money in the pocket of the consumers. If people agree with the progress I offer, then there is only one direction to take: “Check the box for Fox!”
Ron B Gone says
He did beat Ron Smith. That was pretty funny.
Bob says
23 years of elective service, and he’s still a total failure!
Michaela Cox says
I will not vote for this man. He is a joke. He represented me in a.criminal case in Dept A-7 at Michael Antonovich Courthouse and I was appalled to watch his level of incompetence in a simple misdemeanor case. Everyone in that courtroom told me I’d be better off representing myself which is what I ended up doing. He is bot very well regarded as an attorney so I’d hate to see him bumble around as a representative of our district.